By Dan Sarto

With a full afternoon planned at Disney Feature Animation, the group wasted no time getting started.  Our host, Stephanie Morse, toured us through the maze of halls, with stops every now and again to check out walls adorned with artwork from Frozen, their upcoming feature set for release this coming November 27^th.  Soon, however, it was back to the screening room for audience Q&A. 

Once again, our filmmakers displayed great patience as they answered mostly the same set of questions they’ve been answering at numerous screenings, interviews and meetings ever since they were nominated.  I enjoy these Q&A sessions because though the questions may be the same, each time a filmmaker speaks, they add something new, share greater details or a new story you haven’t heard before.  You never know what tasty tidbits they may share in a moment of fatigue.

 

 

FUNimation continues to provide not just anime, but great live-action flicks from the East! Here are the latest acquisitions. 

The just released DVD set of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie should be afforded a spot in the collection of any animation fan as well as any serious student of the medium.  Packaged in several different editions, including a 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack  (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy), the film and accompanying supporting materials are absolutely radiant – tremendous picture quality and high supplemental material production values make for a great viewer experience. 

Would you have the guts to sneak into John Lennon's hotel room? © Josh Raskin.

I Met the Walrus director Josh Raskin and Jerry Levitan have written in to answer The Six Questions. If you don’t already know about their film, it’s based on audiotapes that Jerry made as a teen when he snuck into John Lennon’s hotel room and asked for an interview. Josh then transformed the sound recordings into a whirlwind of images that depict and comment on what is being said. The funny and poignant film says just as much about Jerry as it does about the rock ‘n roll icon Lennon.

It’s nice to see our little neck of the woods get a bit of attention from mainstream media now and then, especially with meaningful and thoughtful commentary about films that while known to many in the industry, for the most part are unknown to most everyone else on the planet.

KPCC, a Southern California public radio station, has published an excellent audio review, complete with transcription, of the new Animation Show of Shows short film DVD collection.  The piece, by Charles Solomon, simply and succinctly gets to the heart of what makes independent animation so special. 

If I haven’t been returning calls or emails over the last few days you will soon know why. As the festival is winding down my wife and I are on a mission to pack in as much as we can. I have a short film in the festival this year and feel like we need to give it our all (can always sleep when we get home). It's time to take off the gloves switch off the phones and hit the streets! Here is a rundown of our last gasp trying to soak it all up. If you are in a rush power scroll / skim through this info and use the ratings system to stop as you like.

 

 

Chatter about studio Manglobe’s anime adaptation of Natsume Ono’s manga Sarai-ya Goyou (House of Five Leaves) has only lightly sugared the internet since 2010 commenced. But during the Tokyo Anime Fair this project decided to whet our appetites even further. 

 

 

Things haven’t changed much for the Social Welfare Agency. The Five Republics Faction and the Mafia still plague Italy’s peace and security. And amidst this lurking chaos, the cybernetic guns of innocent little girls are the gatekeepers of tranquility. 

So here I am in Ottawa, and the film I submitted this year to the festival was rejected. Not only this year but none of my films have made competition here. (I once made the Ottawa student film festival - does that count?)

Not only that, but I'm blogging on the festival and my blogs are really positive. 

So I'm thinking, maybe I should put in some heavy doses of criticism so the folks at the OIAF won't think I'm kissing their royal Canadian asses. But I don't care if they think that. Let them. I'll blog what I want.

 

 

RPG fans listen up! Are you ready to join Tobias Martin and his comrades for free? That’s right, I’ve got ten pass codes for Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment to give away. And let’s make this simple. From February 17th until February 28th drop me an email with Vandal Hearts Giveaway in the subject line. Winners will be selected randomly. Also, these codes are divided in half: five for the PlayStation Network and five for Xbox Live. So, in your email specify the platform you desire.