Binocular Briefs – January 2024
The latest survey of under-the-radar animated shorts currently traveling the festival circuit or new to online viewing.
The latest survey of under-the-radar animated shorts currently traveling the festival circuit or new to online viewing.
The 2023 NYC Women’s Fund Recipient, artist and filmmaker Catya Plate, brings the third short of her award-winning stop-motion animated trilogy to the festival’s monthly screening event in Los Angeles, January 31.
Studio’s new division produced and animated Roland Lane’s new short film, which celebrates the world’s beauty while emphasizing its fragility, now showing in 8k on 360-degree floor-to-ceiling screens at Outernet London.
‘The Boy and the Heron,’ ‘Elemental,’ ‘Nimona,’ ‘Robot Dreams,’ and ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ nab noms for best animated feature, while ‘The Creator,’ ‘Godzilla Minus One,’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,’ ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,’ and ‘Napoleon’ take the top spots for best visual effects.
ASIFA-Hollywood celebrates the best the industry has to offer at animation’s most prestigious and glamorous awards ceremony, coming February 17, 2024, at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
‘The Boy and The Heron,’ ‘Chicken Run: Dawn of The Nugget,’ ‘Elemental,’ and ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ get the nod for Animated Film with ‘The Creator,’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,’ ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part,’ ‘Napoleon,’ and ‘Poor Things’ selected for Special Visual Effects.
Dave Mullins and Brad Booker’s Oscar-shortlisted animated short, inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1971 song, ‘Happy X-Mas (War is Over), and animated in Unreal Engine at Wētā FX, showcases a game of chess, set on a battlefield, with a carrier pigeon delivering instructions on next moves - on the board and in the trenches - leading to a forgone conclusion: there are no winners in war.
The 2D animated kids’ series, based on the Roblox game, follows 4 friends who form a team to save the Piñataverse while involved in game-like shenanigans; available for international sale, the previously released ‘Smashling’ shorts are available on Nelvana’s ‘Keep It Weird’ YouTube channel.
Best Animated Feature nominees ‘Nimona,’ ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,’ ‘Suzume,’ ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,’ and ‘The Boy and the Heron’ top the expansive list of category nominations; animation’s biggest awards ceremony is scheduled to return live on Saturday, February 17 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
Aardman’s ‘Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget’ makes the cut in 2 categories - Outstanding British Film and Animated Film - while ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ is selected in Animated Film and Special Visual Effects.
Launched in 1982, the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film returns April 23-28, with a focus on Irish animation.
The 2-day festival returns to Dingle, Ireland, on March 22 for a weekend of creativity, art, and storytelling.
The event celebrates the legacy and innovation of Francophone animation with U.S. and NYC feature film premieres, ‘First Look’ presentations, filmmaker talks and a Student Short Film competition; event runs January 23-28 in NYC.
The latest survey of under-the-radar animated shorts currently traveling the festival circuit or new to online viewing.
Ryo Orikasa’s animated short, inspired by Henri Michaux’s book of poetry and drawings, explores the limits of language and perception; accolades include ‘Grand Prize for Short Animation’ at OIAF 2023.
The 19th edition of the festival is accepting submissions for competition in multiple categories; the festival runs October 4-13, 2024, in Bucharest.
VFX category narrowed down to 10 films; voting for nominations runs next month, January 11-16, with nomination announcements set for January 23.
The annual conference concludes its latest edition, which ran December 12-15 in Sydney; 5,690 attendees from more than 40 countries gathered, including technical and creatives in research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education, and emerging technologies.
New show, developed from the first short in Nick’s Intergalactic Shorts Program ever picked up for series, will debut February 12, 2024; it follows best friend and roommate trio Rock, Paper and Scissors, who compete over everything in hilarious and wildly absurd ways; watch the short first on Xmas day.
In the new short from Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Daniel Sousa, the team behind the award-winning ‘Kapaemahu,’ an island warrior who descends into a strange underwater world after being wounded in battle falls in love with the shapeshifting octopus that saves his life.
A conversation between the director and National Film Board of Canada producer takes us inside their collaboration on the award-winning NFB/Folimage animated short that examines bereavement and coping with the loss of a parent through the imaginative eyes of a child.
Christopher Lennertz’s 3DCG heartfelt short about a grandfather’s journey to understand his grandson’s message of love and pride stars 2023 Tony Award winner Alex Newell, the first-ever non-binary actor to win a Tony, and multi-Grammy Award winner Philip Lawrence, with ‘Nimona’s ND Stevenson serving as executive producer.
Pushed to Disney+ when released during the pandemic, three of Disney and Pixar’s animated features finally head to the big screen nationwide, offering fans their first chance to see them the way they were meant to be seen; tickets go on sale January 2.
‘Moirai - Thread of Life’ takes Best in Show with Jury's Special Award going to ‘Hair Universe;’ winners among 38 films selected to screen at this year’s Electronic and Animation Theaters.
From Framestore Films & Inflammable Films Production, the live-action, VFX-driven short transports viewers to a semi-submerged London of 2053; filmed with innovative first-person production techniques, the movie delivers an exciting cinematic experience.