By Nancy Phelps.

This year Anima Brussels (4 through 13 March 20) pulled out all the stops to celebrate the festival’s 30th Anniversary.  In addition to the seven programs of World Shorts in competition and numerous feature films in and out of competition, there was an outstanding roster of who’s who from the world of animation. Peter Lord, Bill Plympton, Gil Alkabetz and Raoul Servais were just some of the luminaries in attendance.

 

 

By Dan Sarto

Another OIAF Grand Prix gets awarded, another Phil Mulloy feature takes top prize, another grumbling voice can be heard complaining about the winners.  Much like the start of Ontario’s moose hunting season, which I watched in awe Sunday on a TV at the back of a bar, as the Nelvana Grand Prix is announced, second-guessing the judging season once again begins in the province.  Hopefully, you won’t see too many animators hanging upside down, suspended from a crane over the bloody bed of a pickup truck.  But you never know.

 

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By  Dan Sarto

For some reason, every time I attend the festival in Ottawa, something happens along the way to remind just how fun it can be to visit this last great bastion of politeness and public drunkenness.   This trip was no exception.  Against my better judgment, breaking a solemn vow I made back in 2002, I flew through Toronto.  Back in 2002, the last year of my mullet phase, I was stopped by security at the airport in Toronto and held for close to an hour.  Whether it was my sunny disposition or dreadful hairstyle that put me on someone’s watch list, I’ll never know.  Some junior G-Man barely old enough to shave grilled me for 45 minutes, asking me the same set of questions over and over, as if I’d finally break down sobbing and divulge where Bruce Willis should go to find the nuclear device.   I kept thinking that Chris Robinson was somehow behind the interrogation, because this agent kept going into another room and coming back with more ridiculous questions about animation. It made me chuckle, which made my inquisitor even more annoyed, which probably attributed to the length of the grilling.  However, upon my release, I swore I’d never fly through Toronto again, a vow I upheld until Tuesday.

 

20th edition of the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film

Stuttgart – Heaven on earth for all fans of animated films! The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) is the biggest and one of the most important festivals for animated film worldwide. And from April 23 to April 28, 2013 it opens again the doors to the worlds of animation. Around 1,000 of the best international animated films will be shown in Stuttgart representing the whole spectrum of the genre. The Simpons, Shaun the sheep, Maya the bee or the Mainzelmaennchen – all animated heroes and cartoon characters are going to be around to celebrate the big animation jubilee together with professional visitors and fans.

The Madame Tutli-Putli team - director Maciek Szczerbowski, exec producer David Verrall, director Chris Lavis and producer Marcy Page. © 2008 AWN Inc.

Each year Alain Dudoit, the Consul General of Canada, Los Angeles, hosts a star-studded event to celebrate the Oscar nominees from Canada. Check out who the Madame Tutli-Putli and I Met the Walrus filmmakers got to meet.

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ILM artist Mark Siegel talks with I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin about John Lennon.

With the screenings so tightly packed, once My Love ended at Skywalker Ranch and the final film Peter and the Wolf began, a sedan raced off with our bags and the prints for the first four films to deliver them in time for the PDI/DreamWorks screening later in the day.

Bob Nicoll (closest to tree) talks about the EA facility while Maciek and Chris take a rest on the steps. © 2008 AWN Inc.

With the screenings so tightly packed, once My Love ended at Skywalker Ranch and the final film Peter and the Wolf began, a sedan raced off with our bags and the prints for the first four films to deliver them in time for the PDI/DreamWorks screening later in the day. After wrapping up the Q&A at Skywalker, the tour crew hopped into the van and headed to EA, where a screening in digital projection had already began. I Met the Walrus‘ Josh had planned to head to New York the next day for the Academy screening there, but the pace of the tour made him reconsider the extra flight, especially upon learning that he was the only one going, considering instead to stay behind and take a relaxing ride down the coast to L.A.

Oscar winner Torill Kove at the Canadian consulate general's luncheon. © AWN Inc.

I just had to write a congrats post to Torill and all the nominees.

Shane Acker at Skywalker Ranch. © AWN Inc.

For young animators, no story from last year’s Oscars was more inspiring than Shane Acker’s tale. His student film, 9, not only earned him an Academy Award nomination, but a feature production deal at Focus Features with Tim Burton and Night Watch director Timur Bekmambetov producing. The feature is now in production at Luxembourg-based Attitude Studios and the voice cast includes Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau. I really enjoyed 9 and I look forward to seeing the feature, which looks to be something potential unique in the world of 3D animation.