Empathy is receiving a lot of academic attention lately. There are 131 books on Amazon.com that have the word “empathy” in the title. There is a website that is dedicated exclusively to discussions about empathy and compassion:  http://cultureofempathy.com/.  The subject is being approached from every possible perspective - psychological, social, political, artistic and neurological.  Since the illusion of life for an animated character is a quest for empathy, Ed Hooks weighs in on this critically important subject.

Still image from The Main Complaint by William Kentridge. (Image courtesy of "Duckrabbit Speaks.) 

A grand show of early animation and current work by South African artist William Kentridge.

Illustration from Directing the Story by Francis Glebas

So you’ve got an idea for a first film... Where do you go from here?

Craig Barron has posted a really nice short film tribute to film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, who this past Saturday received the Governors Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

Here are the latest anime titles soon to be released by FUNimation.

Eye in the sky view of the auction. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)

Word coming from the Bay Area is that the Totoro Forest Project auction at Pixar was a stellar success. The world's top film animators, comic book artists and illustrators came together after creating original works of art inspired by the iconic animated film My Neighbor Totoro for an auction to benefit the Totoro No Furusato (Totoro's Homeland) National Fund – also known as the Totoro Forest Fund on September 6, 2008, at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA. The Totoro Forest Fund is dedicated to preserving Sayama Forest, a large park outside Tokyo that inspired the beloved film by respected Japanese movie director Hayao Miyazaki. AWN is proud to present some of the exclusive pics from the event to share with you.

Pixar is living through a new golden age.  The string of hit films, the triumph of Up, the promise of the studio’s ambitious new projects, all fill the space with a glow.  I’ve visited Pixar before, and each time I’m aware that someday I’ll be telling people not yet born that, yes, I visited Pixar.

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In this animated world, villainy is a corporate venture. Master criminals live among the average citizens, clearly out in the open. The gothic mansion of baddie Gru sticks out in the same row of suburban family homes. To fund criminal ventures, the villains apply for loans from the Bank of Evil (formerly known as Lehman Brothers).

Gru (Steve Carell, GET SMART) wants to be the top criminal mastermind, but he has competition in the newcomer Vector (Jason Segal, I LOVE YOU, MAN), who just stole the Great Pyramid, which he has stowed in his backyard, painting it blue so that it blends in with the skyline. Gru; along with his mad scientist cohort Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand, GET HIM TO THE GREEK) and hundreds of his minions, yellow pill-shaped sidekicks who get giddy over troublemaking; go to the Bank of Evil to get the funding for his biggest caper yet — steal the Moon. But before he can get to the Moon, he has to build a rocketship and steal a newly created Chinese shrink ray. The key to getting the ray — three orphans named Margo (Miranda Cosgrove, TV's ICARLY), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher).