When it comes to figuring out what makes sense for you in how you handle your career, there are a few basic principles that might help. It does not matter whether you are starting out or have been at this job thing for a while now. What matters is how you arrive at your destination and what are the values you bring along with you to work everyday.
What do you expect from a horror movie titled THE CABIN IN THE WOODS? A pretty young virgin? A handsome jock? A dumb blonde bimbo? The token nice guy? The stoner goof-off? Director/writer Drew Goddard and writer Joss Whedon provide all of these slasher movie clichés. You might expect the characters to be picked off one by one by, say, zombie rednecks. And you wouldn't be all that off. And yet Goddard and Whedon turn the tropes on their ear and provide us with a new meta, modern myth.
The movie doesn't start with the tried-and-true character types mentioned above, but begins in a very sterile-looking government facility. Sitterson (Richard Jenkins, THE VISITOR) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford, TV's THE WEST WING) chat about their top-secret project like it is a routine event. We wonder how their work project will affect the college students heading out to a remote cabin in the forest. Why is this agency watching these kids?
Time and place really matter in this dark drama. The film begins in a documentary style of shots from Oslo with voiceover of people describing their experiences moving and living there. Then we meet Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie, REPRISE) as he is walking through the woods. He comes upon a lake, weighs himself down with rocks and walks into the water to his impending death. This is the start of this original story about a recovering drug addict.
As you might expect Anders does not die in his attempt to end his life. He is finishing up a long stay at a drug rehabilitation center. His counselor speaks positively about his job interview that day. It's his chance to start his life over. Anders gets in a taxi and goes back to Oslo where all the demons of his old life live.
When I last left you I was on a bus from Pristina, Kosovo headed to Belgrade, Serbia where I was planning to meet my old friend Rastko Ciric and attend the first edition of the Festival of European Student Animation that he had organized. It was supposed to be a six hour trip. I knew that Serbia did not recognize Kosovo as a country and people travelling on a Kosovo passport could not cross this border but I had been assured that I would not have a problem since I was travelling on a United States passport.
As the bus approached the border crossing which was in the middle of nowhere, a Kosovo border guard collected our passports and then we waited while the guard disappeared into a small building with them. I always have a bit of a sinking feeling whenever I see my passport vanish into an official building, but after a few minutes the guard reboarded our bus, passports in hand.
Joe Carnahan's thriller is not your typical popcorn fare. It's main character is somber and suicidal. Then it strands that man in the cold Alaskan wilderness where wolves try to hunt him down. Whether or not the film is completely accurate about wolf behavior doesn't matter because it made me believe it was real.
The suicidal man Ottway (Liam Neeson, SCHINDLER'S LIST) is a survivalist who works for the oil companies to hunt down wolves in order to protect the workers from attacks. He boards a plane out of the remote region of the oil fields to head back to Anchorage. When the plane goes down he is forced to think on his feet and continue his job of protecting the workers in a far more extreme arena.
One could put this fill in the superhero genre, but this is not a tale of men in masks. The premise is simple – what would really happen if a group of teens one day gained superpowers? It takes three common character types of high school boys and looks at how they handle gaining telekinesis. Remember the mantra of teenaged superhero Spider-Man — with great power comes great responsibility. But not all teens are responsible.
Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan, LAWLESS) is an outcast who hides behind his video camera. Between the bullies at school and his alcoholic father at home, he can't cut a break. No wonder he's bitter and angst filled. His cousin Matt Garetty (Alex Russell, BAIT) tries to include him. And one night when he finds a giant hole in the woods, he brings Andrew along to film them investigating it. The next day they, along with the school's "Mr. Perfect" Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan, HARDBALL), find out they can lift things with their minds.
Anifest Rozafa is an international animation festival of films by and for children held yearly in Shkoda, Albania. As well as screening animation, the festival conducts seminars and workshops.
The 2012 Anifest Rozaka Children’Jury and the Adult International Jury gave following awards:
“ ROZAFA ANIFEST ” AWARDS 2012
Shkoder, september 29th 2012
The members of the International Jury
Mrs. Céline Ravenel (FRANCE) , Mrs. Francie Liebschner (GERMANY) , Mr. Artur Dauti (ALBANIA ), Mr. Robert Turlo(POLONI) , Mr. Sytki Brahimi (ALBANIA) .
BEST ANIMATED FILM of Rozafa Anifest : LUMINARIS / Argentina / Juan Pablo Zaramella
Best animated short film for children : THE STORY OF LITTLE PAOLO / France – Belgium / Nicolas Liguori
Best animated short film from students : GALLERY / Poland / Robert Proch
Best animated short film for adults : DOVE SEI, AMOR MIO / Croatia / Veljko Popovic
Special mention : NULLARBOR / Australia / Alister Lockhart and Patrick Sarell
Special mention for an Albanian film : The meaning of life / Jani and Irida Zhonga
AWARDS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVE SECTION ( Animated Films made by Children)
BEST ANIMATED FILM of “Rozafa Anifest 2012” by children “ Granny Fly Swatter ” / Croatia / Filmmakers :Jakov Skok 12 years , Anja Kundid 11 years
First prize : goes to animated film made by children “Snub-nosed Elf” – “ Qerratai mosperfilles ”/ Hong Kong / Filmmakers : Ling Fung SHEK , Ngo Yin IP , Chi Keung WONG , Man Ho WAN , Ki YUEN TSANG
Second prize : goes to animated film made by children “ The Ball from Space ” – “ Topi nga hapesira “ / Germany / Filmmakers : Team “ Jugendfilm e.V.”
Third Prize : goes to animated film made by children “ The Lost Moon ” / Albania & Greece / Filmmakers : Joan Kamberaj
BEST ANIMATED FILM of “ Rozafa Anifest 2012” , by augjenca TRING DIGITAL TV “ The Meaning of Life ” – “ Esenca e Jetes ” / Greece & Albania / Jani and Irida Zhonga .
Everybody knows that Moe Howard, as well as his cohorts Curly, Shemp and Larry, were creative geniuses. But not so many know that Moe’s son-in-law, Norman Maurer, was a genius in his own right.
VIEW Conference has announced their complete lineup of workshops, ranging from fighting robots to animation, product design to sound design, character creation to camera mapping, and game design to storytelling.
There’s a reason to celebrate in 2013: The Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart (ITFS) will take place for the 20th time! And in its anniversary edition, too, the festival will offer a platform to directors and production companies to present their films as well as a chance to fans of animated film to watch animated short and feature films, to meet well-known filmmakers and young talents, and participate in numerous workshops, informational events and presentations for six days.
Since its foundation in 1982, the festival has developed into an essential event within the field of animated film in Germany and is regarded as one of the biggest and most important festivals for animated film around the world. Around 80,000 viewers and approximately 2,500 accredited people attended the festival last year. Both professionals and friends of animated film appreciate the quality and up-to-date programmes as well as the unique atmosphere at Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz. They come to Stuttgart to gain information, to educate themselves and to establish contacts. The high-profile conference FMX will take place in parallel to ITFS. With the Animation Production Day (APD) – held in cooperation with FMX and organised by Michael Schmetz Mediaconsult – the festival offers an additional marketing platform for the animation sector.
Dear filmmakers, producers, students and distributors, Now is your chance to submit your animated films for the 4th GOLDEN KUKER – SOFIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL!
IAFF GOLDEN KUKER will be held from May 7 to 12, 2013 in Sofia, Bulgaria. You are kindly invited to participate in our festival’s competition this year with your animation films produced after 1st January 2011! Our call for entries is open until January 1, 2013. No entry fee!
Submit your film online via VIMEO | www.wetransfer.com | www.yousendit.com | www.dropbox.com or via ftp.
Submit a film in the following ways:
* fill out the online entry form electronically (http://animationfest-bg.eu/en/submit), print it out for your records and in order to send a signed copy, and click SUBMIT to send it online.
VIEW director Maria Elena Gutierrez announced that vfx supervisor Dan Glass will give a world premiere presentation on the feature film “Cloud Atlas.”
Paul Thomas Anderson is the master. His films feel epic even when they're essentially dealing with just two characters as he does here. It's because he mines the central theme for all it has to give. On the surface the film is about a cult leader and his latest devotee. But it is also a post war story and can even be extrapolated to the meaning of life. Anderson asks who is your master?
We are introduced to Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix, GLADIATOR) during World War II when he is on the beach with his fellow soldiers trying to unwind. He builds a naked woman in the sand, talks about how to get rid of crabs, all the while he guzzles down booze from his flask. He shocks his fellow soldiers and makes a strong impression on the viewer. When he comes home from the war, he is confused, lost and angry. He drifts from being a department store photographer to a day laborer on a cabbage farm until one night he stumbles upon the yacht occupied by Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE).
Ellen Besen applauds OIAF's return, at least in part, to the NAC.
More questions - Is performance a form of art or does art need to be a painting or a sculpture or what?Literature, Dance, Music certainly, photography probably, ceramics, or fashion (can a dress be seen as art and it’s designer an artist?)You may answer, “Who cares? But what fun is there in that? It leaves nothing to think or talk about. Like a road trip, the fun is in the trip itself, not the destination and so it is with any discussion about art, philosophy, film, baseball, politics and even religion.
Tomorrow is the final day for the unique CG short film animation training project created by Czech animation education group Anomalia and taught by Arconyx Animation Studio head Kenny Roy.
SumOfUs has launched an online petition calling for Disney to "Stop using your children's characters to promote dangerous body images."
When we shirk off our responsibilities or any thought to how we arrived at our current predicament, we live in a state of denial, a false protection against the fear we have of taking charge of our lives.
When looking to integrate voice controls to mobile apps, developers are faced with a growing and often bewildering array of implementation options. To help sort through the technology and design options, we recently spoke with Ben Lilienthal, co-founder and CEO of OneTok, a new company that aims to make it easier and cheaper for developers to speech-enable their apps.
Today it takes an experienced eye to differentiate a synthetic actor from a real live one. It is amazing. It's a genuine achievement. So what is wrong with this?
Surprise, surprise - I’m not at 30,000 ft. as I write this latest blog but on a high-speed train, traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg in Russia.
A Heritage Museum is situated in an urban house dating from the 18th century that contains examples of regional clothing, beautifully crafted jewellery, musical instruments, and every day household items from the past. The town also hosts a large open air market twice a week as well as the oldest mosque in Kosovo and a monastery located in the mountains is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
There are numerous cafes serving delicious freshly grilled meats and local bean dishes as well as excellent local beer made from the water that flows from the surrounding mountains. Each evening the main square comes alive as people come out to promenade after the heat of the day and small children take to a fleet of electric cars that are for rent in the square.
Festival fever can hit hard - you’re all pent up ready for a good time- and then just as suddenly it’s over…
This Oscar winner is a classic drama. It pits two families against each other. Each of the members have a different role to play in the increasing tension between the characters. The story begins with a simple conflict between a husband and wife. Their decision to divorce is just the start of the story, which unravels in expected ways, leading to a charge of murder. The fact that the film is Iranian is inconsequential and yet works its way into the core of the film.
Simin (Leila Hatami, LEILA) has filed for divorce because her husband Nader (Peyman Moadi, ABOUT ELLY) has decided to stay behind in Iran to take care of his ailing father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi) instead of moving abroad with her and their teen daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi). She don't see the purpose for him to stay when his father has Alzheimer's and no longer recognizes him, while he sees no other option because he still remembers the past. She moves out of their apartment and in with her mother, secretly wishing her leaving will convince her husband to give in. She doesn't want to get a divorce but doesn't understand her husband's feelings. In turn he does not understand her feelings, for honor means a great deal to him. Their daughter is trapped between the two not knowing which way to go, so she stays with her father because she knows her mother will not leave without her. This story is so universal to many families, in many cultures.
Richard Linklater has a wide range of movies on his resume. You have his trippy animated films like WAKING LIFE and A SCANNER DARKLY and his more conventional comedy SCHOOL OF ROCK. BERNIE is a dark comedy that doesn't easily fit into any of the groups of his previous films. However there is something in its core that reminded me of his films SLACKER and DAZED AND CONFUSED. Place and time are key in those films and they also play a role in this one.
Based on the true story Bernie Tiede, the film is the tale of two unique characters coming together. But it is also a tale about the small town of Carthage, Texas. Bernie (Jack Black, HIGH FIDELITY) came to Carthage to serve as the town's assistant funeral director and quickly became the most liked person there. He was a kind gentleman who had a way of easing the grief of those who had just lost a loved one. This made him good at his job, but his smooth talking helped, as well. Bernie could up-sell a customer on a coffin like the employee of the month at McDonald's does with extra large fries. His civic dedication to the town made him even more popular. However his biggest challenge was winning over the widow Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine, THE APARTMENT).
