If you’re a writer you are familiar with the word. You just wrote an Academy Award-quality screenplay or an Emmy-quality series development, put together a solid pitch, gave it to the producer or exec with passion, and he or she responded with the most painful one-word epithet in the English language—Pass.
Following a brief hiatus in 2013, the 17th edition of Italian international animation festival Cartoons by the Bay takes place in Venice April 10-12, 2014.
I was always envious of those artsy types who were whizzes on this ingenius toy.
Chris Robinson’s ode to the brilliant Run Wrake, who left us far too soon in 2012.
Turbo’s supersonic racing snail gets his own Netflix spin-off series with Chris Prynoski as Exec VP.
The 2014 edition of Italy’s VIEW Conference will be held October 14-17; submissions for the 2014 VIEW Award and VIEW Social contest for short films employing animation or visual effects are now being accepted.
COMPETITION FOR ANIMATED SHORT FILMS
Animatricks Festival is launching its 2014 Call for Entries, inviting filmmakers around the world to submit their animated short films. International competition is arranged now for the first time alongside with the traditional competition for the best Finnish animated shorts. The prize for the international winner is 3000 euros. The festival takes place 25–27 April 2014 in Helsinki, Finland. Submission is open until 31 January 2014.
Animatricks wants to share the wonders of animation and show stories that cannot be told in any other art form. We are looking for films with unique storytelling, style and technique.
Just sit back and enjoy this odd, upbeat beauty by Brit student, Peter Millard:
It's been years since we've heard from JJ Villard, the creator of the ballbreaking films, Son of Satan and Chestnuts Icelolly.... but now he's back in the most unexpected place: TV.
In the six Cartoon Modern programs I had the opportunity to see many old favorites. I also learned about the Cartoon Modern movement in the Netherlands in the 1950’s and ‘60’s and the Contemporary Cartoon Modern program showed us that the legacy of the 1950’s is still very much alive.
Far too often when I see a film that I saw and loved years ago it turns out to be a big disappointment, but the UPA feature Gay Pur-ee” was as wonderful as the first time I saw it on the big screen when it was released in 1962. Judy Garland in her only animated film role was the perfect voice for the lovely, pampered house cat Mewsette, and Robert Goulet in his first film role brought the champion mouser Jaune Tom, who is in love with Mewsette, to life. The sequence of paintings of Mewsette in the styles of various famous artists such as Lautrec, Henri Rousseau, and Picasso is a delight for anyone who knows art history. Gay Pur-ee was 85 minutes of purr-fect pleasure for me.
Almost every Disney movie about princesses is about white European princesses with perfect faces and “ideal” hour-glass figures.
A little red headed girl showed me this. Dumb Ways to Die is a not so dumb PSA thing by a New Zealand animator whose name is not directly in front of me. There's a website too. Good for kids and dummies.
I was delighted when the Festival International du Court Metrage in Lille, France invited me to be on their jury this year. Nik and I had been to the festival last year to present a program on the history of animation and I had enjoyed the opportunity to see the live action short films in competition as well as the animation competitions which were in separate programs.
This year the festival made the jury’s job interesting and challenging by dividing the competition screenings into 3 International and 2 National (French) programs with live action and animation screened together in both categories. I thought that it was going to be difficult to judge both types of films in one program, like comparing apples and oranges, but good film is good film no matter what format it immediately stands out.
Taiwanese animation news and Rob Ford. Match heaven made in.
Beware: this video is incredibly accurate.
Don't even question me. Just sit back, shut up and savour this beautiful piece of life.
I quite enjoy the animation films of Joseph "Joe" Pierce. His work serves up a piercing perspective of family, community, social roles and groups.
KROK International Animated Film Festival celebrated its 20th birthday this year and oh what a nine-day birthday party it was! Breaking with the usual festival tradition of showing the first competition program at a theatre followed by a welcome dinner on the ship on opening night, we were taken to a beach club overlooking the Black Sea in Odessa. From the moment we arrived at the opening ceremony at the beautiful Otrada Beach Club, I knew that it was going to be a special year.
There were welcome speeches and a special salute by Yuri Norshtein to Edward Nazarov, Russian president of the festival who was sadly unable to sail with us this year. Then came a live demonstration of the unique art of Hungarian sand animator Ferenc Cako, a member of the jury this year. This was followed by a screening of the French feature film The Day of the Crows directed by Jean-Christopher Dessaint, and a sumptuous feast served under the stars on the club’s lawn.
KROK was not the only one celebrating a birthday this year. The renowned Pilot Studio, the first independent Soviet Film Studio, is 25 years old this year. The retrospective screening “Pilot Studio is 25 Years Old --- A story of success, struggle, and creation . . .” paid tribute to the legion of films that the studio has produced and the man whose vision and stubborn determination created this great studio again all odds, Alexander Tatarsky.
In Part 1 I explained how I pitched one series with $13,000 worth of artwork and another with two sentences on the fly, and I sold the two sentences. But why did my two-sentences sell? What was it about the concept? What made it so good?...
Acclaimed UK animator, Jonathan Hodgson tackles the painful truths behind Guantánamo Bay.
That's the punch line to a Fozzie Bear joke about Japanese animator, Atsushi Wada and his new film, Anomalies.
New Animation Festival in Chicago offers Championship Belts as prizes. Boxing matches to follow?
Rules for Entries can be found at: http://issuu.com/chilemonos/docs/bases_2014_ing
The festival will soon announce its international guests – be prepared to be surprised.
CHILEMONOS is preparing for its 2014 edition with screenings across Chile, with a selection of the best Latin American animated movies oriented for all the family.
This important new animation festival continues to grow in gigantic steps. A few months ago, the second edition of CHILEMONOS festival surprised us, presenting of some of the best animation in the world and highlighted international guests such as Brenda Chapman and Shinichiro Watanabe.
In its third edition, CHILEMONOS won’t stop its surprises and announces its coming to Chile and the world. Festival director Erwin “Wilo” Gómez comments “We want this animation party, CHILEMONOS, to reach all the fans of animation in the country. For this we are preparing to make simultaneous presentations of the festival in Chile’s different regions”.
The festival is not only expanding its reach inside Chile, but is also strengthening its ties with our neighbors. For the next festival 2014, we will present acclaimed movies from our South American neighbors, focusing on film for the family audience, screened in big cinemas.
Wilo adds “We know that children by nature are a massive animation audience, and for this we picked out special movies for them to come to the cinemas with their families”. Among the selected films are the Peruvian production “Rodencia and the Princess’s tooth”, “Foosball” from Argentina and “AninA” from Uruguay, among others.
Check out this beautiful short by one of the rising stars of Canadian animation, Elise Simard.
The movie that ushered in the new golden era at Disney is now out as a super special Diamond Edition.
