Babelgum is pleased to announce that all finalists for the inaugural Animatron Online and Mobile Animation Film Festival are available for public screening and voting.
Press Release from Babelgum
LONDON / NEW YORK (September 15, 2010) – Babelgum is pleased to announce that all finalists for the inaugural Animatron Online and Mobile Animation Film Festival are available for public screening and voting. Nearly two hundred professionally produced animated shorts are now freely accessible to anyone with Internet access or Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and/or Google Android mobile devices.
Audience Awards will be given to films in each of four categories receiving the highest number of votes and announced following the end of the Animatron Jury Awards competition on October 10.
In addition, select winners of the Animatron Jury Awards will be screened for the public in East Hampton on October 10 during the Hamptons International Film Festival, followed by a panel on “The Future of Animation,” moderated by New Yorker cartoon editor and Cartoon Bank founder Bob Mankoff.
Entries to the Animatron competition came from more than two dozen countries, including Albania, Taiwan, Greece, India, Spain, Russia, Romania, Poland, Japan, Germany, Canada, Italy, Brazil, the U.S., and the U.K. Many of the participants are professional animators whose work has screened in festivals around the world. Diverse in tone and compositional approach, the films in competition run the gamut from compact 60-second gags to hilariously confessional monologues, multi-character dramas, and extravagant fantasy.
Karol Martesko-Fenster, SVP and General Manager of the Babelgum Film & Animation Division, said, “We’re pleased to be highlighting the work of independent animators while focusing on the craft of this important filmmaking form at the Hamptons International Film Festival along with some of the top innovators in the industry. Animation is one of our key focuses at Babelgum, and the Animatron Festival demonstrates our ongoing commitment to honoring the work of talented filmmakers and providing innovative new ways to distribute their work.”
“The films entered into the Animatron competition reflect a broad range of technical styles and interests,” said Animatron juror Tommy Pallotta. “Some films related very personal stories with humor and intelligence, others grappled with social issues like environmental destruction and race relations with truly impressive flair. It was a pleasure judging the contest and seeing how professional filmmakers are using the animation form in versatile and often surprising ways.”
The Babelgum Animatron Online and Mobile Animation Film Festival celebrates the very best in international independent animated short filmmaking, providing international exposure as well as lucrative opportunities for emerging talent. Finalists have the potential to win cash prizes totalling $20,000, with awards given to 1st place and runner-up contestants in each of the four categories, as well as a Grand Jury Prize winner. Babelgum will co-present the Hamptons Animation Showcase, an eclectic animated shorts program at the 2010 Hamptons International Film Festival, with additional support on marketing and media visibility from Shooting People, the social network for independent filmmakers, and RingTales, a company that specializes in animating syndicated comic strips (Dilbert, The New Yorker)
“We have a special emphasis on the art of animation this year,” said Holly Herrick, Programmer and Special Projects Producer at the Hamptons International Film Festival, “so partnering with Babelgum on this new cross-platform initiative made perfect sense to us. Besides, it’s a great boon for independent animators looking to find a broader audience for their short films.”
“As the first global online and mobile festival for professionally produced animation, the Animatron festival fills an empty, much-needed niche,” said James Mullighan, creative director at Shooting People. “We’re happy to partner with Babelgum and promote Animatron to our members, and I’m delighted that so many of our filmmakers have made it into the final competition. The range and quality of submissions I’ve seen is impressive, to say the least.”
JURY
* Saraswathi Balgam, founding director of Rhythm & Hues India, president of ASIFA India* Charlotte Bavasso, founding partner/managing director of Nexus Productions (Lemony Snicket)* Peter Bishop, animator (Captain Star, Bromwell High)* Isaac Littlejohn Eddy, animator (Cat, Dog, Stoop) and cartoonist (The New Yorker, Time)* Tommy Pallotta, producer (A Scanner Darkly, Waking Life) and director (American Prince)* Bill Plympton, director and animator (Idiots and Angels, Hair High, Guard Dog)* Frank Rivera, animator (Nickelodeon, PBS) and founder of Animation Mafia studio* Jeff Scher, painter and filmmaker (A Year in the Animated Life, HBO, PBS)
CATEGORIES
Eligible films can incorporate any known animation technique, including CGI, stop-motion, Flash, handdrawn/cel, live-action mixed, claymation, paper-cut, Pixilation, RotoScope, 3D, machinima, and all others. There are no restrictions on production year or whether the film has been previously distributed or entered into any online and/or offline film festival. The award categories are as follows:
HUMOR: Cartoons/animation that look at life slightly askewFANTASY: Sci-fi, horror, adventure, outer space, imaginary worlds, genre-basedREAL LIFE: Animated documentary, RotoScope, interview-based filmsMINIS: Under 60 seconds AWARDS* The Audience Awards will be given to an outstanding film in each category receiving the highest number of votes determined solely by the voting totals from the global online and mobile Babelgum and Hamptons International Film Festival audiences. * The Jury Awards will be given to an outstanding film in each of the four categories, determined by members of the Jury. Four first-place winners will receive a $2,500 cash award and four second-place winners will receive a $500 cash award. * The Grand Jury Award will be given to an outstanding film in any category, chosen by members of the Jury. The winner will receive a $5,000 cash award. The voting period starts today and continues until 11:59 PM EST on October 10, 2010.Further information about the deadlines for viewing and voting are available at http://www.babelgum.com/animation-film-festival.
About Hamptons International Film FestivalThe Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the Independent film - long, short, fiction and documentary - and to introduce a unique, varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to the public. The Festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all. For more information about the Festival, and to become a member, please visit our website atwww.hamptonsfilmfest.org.
About Shooting People (www.shootingpeople.org)Shooting People is the world's largest networking organization dedicated to the support and promotion of independent filmmaking. Over 35,000 members in the UK and US share tips recommendations and news using Shooting People's website, the nine Daily Bulletins to get their films cast and crewed, and individual Member Profiles to exhibit themselves and their work to their peers, the industry and the world. Founded in 1998 by filmmakers Jess Search and Cath le Couteur, Shooting People’s patrons include Mike Figgis (Founder Patron), Sally Potter, Morgan Spurlock, Christine Vachon, Michael Nyman, Penny Woolcock, and Jason Solomons.
About RingTales (www.ringtales.com)RingTales is a new media company founded by Jim Cox and Michael Fry that animates print comics for all digital media. RingTales holds the exclusive rights to animate Dilbert and the New Yorker Cartoons and several other popular comics including Pearls Before Swine, Bloom County, Over the Hedge, Cul de Sac, Lio, and Pooch Café. RingTales animations have been viewed over 180 million times since March 2007. Jim Cox is a long-time feature animation writer and producer. His credits include co-executive producer on the 2006 DreamWorks Animation feature animated hit Over the Hedge, writer/producer on Ferngully, story on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and screenwriter on The Rescuers Down Under and Oliver & Company. Michael Fry is a four-time internationally syndicated cartoonist. He currently writes the comic strip Over the Hedge, which inspired the DreamWorks Animation film of the same name that earned $335 million dollars in worldwide box office.
About Babelgum (www.babelgum.com)Babelgum is an integrated web and mobile video content platform free for users and supported by advertising available on-demand to a global audience. Babelgum Mobile is an original application currently available in the United States, UK, Italy, Germany, France and Spain which brings regionally tailored programming to smart phones – at present iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android - via 3G and WiFi ( www.babelgum.com/mobile). Positioned between user generated video hubs and network TV-oriented destinations, Babelgum focuses on the third part of the ecosystem: innovative, editorially curated and professionally produced content on very specific passions – music, comedy, film, animation, urban culture, nature, and the environment. Babelgum’s programming is comprised of exclusive original productions as well as independent and mainstream titles. Babelgum’s content partners include, among others, EMI, Sony Music, the New York Times, Funny or Die, PBS, BBC, VBS, Lonely Planet, Coolhunting, National Geographic, ContentFilm International, Shine Limited, Cinetic Rights Management, iThentic, Gong Anime, FilmBuff, WorkBook Project, Cinelan, Reverse Shot, Shooting People, Film Independent, Power to the Pixel, and the Spirit Awards as well as the Encounters, Los Angeles, and Hamptons film festivals. The company has also set up a series of online contests to nurture independent film, music and art talent: the Babelgum Online Film Festival, the Babelgum Music Video Awards and the Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize, chaired respectively by Spike Lee (BOFF1 & 2), Michel Gondry, and Isabella Rossellini. Babelgum is an independent and privately held company with offices in the UK, United States, and Italy.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
