The Short Shorts Film Festival 2006Various Cities, JapanJune 3-11, 2006Deadline: December 20, 2005
The Short Shorts Film Festival is Japans largest festival for short films. The Academy Award accredited festival takes place in nine cities and 13 venues including Yangon, Myanmar and across Japan; Tokyo, Sapporo, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Osaka, Hakodate, Nagoya and Matsumoto.
In January, Turner Classic Movies will be highlighting the work of Japans top animation house, Studio Ghibli. Each Thursday, TCM will devote its evening programming to two films from the famed production company. Kicking off the tribute on Jan. 5, 2005, the network will broadcast Hayao Miyazakis masterpieces PRINCESS MONONOKE and SPIRITED AWAY. On Jan. 12, the channel will turn its attention to Miyazakis aerial adventures NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF WIND and CASTLE IN THE SKY. Next, on Jan.
Universal Pictures became the third major movie studio to support digital distribution with Christie/AIX, following similar agreements with Twentieth Century Fox and The Walt Disney Co.s Buena Vista Pictures.
Universal will make its future feature films available to the DCI-compliant digital projection systems deployed by Christie/AIX, the subsidiary of Access Integrated Technologies Inc. (AccessIT), which is launching a nationwide rollout of 4,000 systems. Christie/AIX expects to install the first 150 systems in multiple exhibitor locations by Dec. 31.
Lions Gates SAW II (with vfx from C.O.R.E.) carved up a surprising $31.7M at the box office for its Halloween weekend bow ended Oct. 30, 2005. Sonys THE LEGEND OF ZORRO (with vfx from Peerless Camera Co. and Digiscope) debuted in a distant second with $16.3M. Universals PRIME followed in third, as another newcomer, with $6.2M. Slipping to fourth was DreamWorks DREAMER: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY (with vfx by Hammerhead), which brought in $6.1M for a two-week cume of $17.3M.
Frederator Studios founder Fred Seibert has launched Channel Frederator, the world's first cartoon video podcast created expressly for distribution of world-class content on portable video devices, such as the Apple iPod and the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP).
Episodes released weekly will contain several shorts from original and vintage cartoons submitted by producers from around the world, packaged into 10- to 15-minute episodes by the Channel Frederator programming team.
Ken Olshansky joins Granada Kids as vp, creative affairs: kids, responsible for developing pre-school and animation programming with a specific focus on the U.S. market.
He will be based in New York and travel frequently to London to work with the teams based there.
Olshanskys extensive experience includes serving as svp at Scholastic, overseeing CLIFFORDS PUPPY DAYS (PBS) and the Emmy Award-winning I SPY (HBO). Previously he was vp, creative affairs, at Sunbow Ent., and was the creative force behind THE CRAMP TWINS (Cartoon Network, BBC).
Leaders from Asian countries gathered for a high-level seminar which opened Oct. 28, 2005, in Tokyo to enhance Asia-wide cooperation to produce animated movies, games and other cultural products, reports KYODO NEWS. Ministers from Japan, China, South Korea, India and the 10 members of the Assoc. of Southeast Asian Nations are gathered to recognize the importance of movies and animation produced and widely circulated in the region.
Stephen King and Marvel Comics have joined forces to launch a new comicbook series adapted from King's magnum opus, THE DARK TOWER. Kings first foray into comics will begin its first issue April 2006.
Spike TV has announced the nominees for the Video Game Awards 2005 (VGA), hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, who was a winner at last year's show for GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vin Diesel, The Rock, Missy Elliot, Snoop Dogg, Carmen Electra, Xzibit and Ozzy Osbourne are also set to appear at the third annual awards event.
The Spike TV "Video Game Awards 2005" takes place on Nov. 18 at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles with the two-hour "games vs. games" extravaganza premiering on Spike TV Saturday, Dec. 10 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT).
Animation World Magazine readers can now download the latest Acrobat edition of the publication. For July AWM focused its attention on comics, comic strips and illustration. With the digital comics world continuing to grow, Janet Hetherington explores the exciting new breed of digital comics creators and publishers. Also Hetherington takes a look at why graphic novels are leaping from comic shops and bookstore shelves to big screens across North America and beyond.
Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co. and Comcast Corp. announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to sell Susquehanna Communications (SusCom), the cable television and broadband services division of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff, to Comcast. Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff announced earlier this year that it would sell the business, citing changes in corporate and family circumstances.
The Animation Guild has posted the October issue of their newsletter, The Peg-Board, on their website, which is hosted by Animation World Network.
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz.
This week in AWN's Forums, a junior member poses the question why is Disney so popular?
BIONICLE 3: WEB OF SHADOWS is the third in the series of CG-animated features made for DVD (Buena Vista Home Ent., $29.99). With one final duty to fulfill before they can build their new home on the island of Mata Nui, six great Toa heroes return to Metru Nui and find their once-glorious city shrouded in shadows and overrun by a sinister army of spidery, web-slinging Visorak.
Inspired by last years enormously successful THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE and encouraged by a flurry of interest in three-dimensional digital cinema, Walt Disney Pictures will unveil its first all CG-animated feature, CHICKEN LITTLE, in a new Disney Digital 3D process when it bows Nov. 4. This event marks the first digital 3D theatrical presentation.
Building upon the legacy of the swashbuckling hero, Zorro, Imaginary Forces (IF) designed the main title sequence for Sony Pictures THE LEGEND OF ZORRO. IF's Michelle Dougherty acted as director and art director on the film's teaser and main titles, working closely with IF founder/creative director Peter Frankfurt, as well as supervising Antonio Banderas during the shoot for the main titles.
AJA Video, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, has begun shipping KONA LHe, the first PCI Express HD capable device for the new Power Mac PCI Express G5s. AJA is now shipping a total of four products that support the PCIe G5 systems: the award-winning Io family of video converters, Io, IoLA, IoLD along with KONA LHe. Underscoring its commitment to future-safe products, the AJA Io product line has been compatible with the last three generations of Mac G4, G5 and PowerBooks systems.
Pixologic Inc., makers of the award-winning modeling, texturing and painting application, ZBrush, announced the release of two new plug-ins: Displacement Exporter and Multi-Displacement 2.
Continuing to grow, visual effects, animation and finishing studio KromA has added producer/sales representative Jen Lahotski to its staff. Lahotski will work to support the companys current expansion into visual effects work for television and feature films. Her responsibilities will include new business development and client relations. She will also help to facilitate in-house production.
Abbey Home Media has secured yet another international deal for its hit animated pre-school series WIDE EYE, co-produced with the BBC.
The Rome-based distribution company Dall'Angelo Pictures has just signed an agreement with RAI (Italian State Television) for the broadcast of WIDE EYE in Italy and the series is due to start broadcasting next year on RAI 3.
The cyber worlds dark side, distorted figures and high frequency waves are only a few of the CG backgrounds featured in Artbeats' new Code Rush and Code Storm royalty-free stock footage collections. Code Rush is a grunge-filled title that traverses virtual wastelands, moves through cities ravaged by mysterious debris and travels through time warps riddled with fantastic geometric shapes. Code Storm is a bizarre collection of frenzied display screens and digital chaos that is sure to evoke creativity.
MatchMover Pro 4.0 is currently shipping and offers a powerful new central automatic tracking engine, based on the power of SMART. In addition to providing radical new performance levels, MatchMover Pro 4.0 boasts a brand new look, with redesigned icons, colors and a slick, minimalist feel. A complete re-writing of export formats allows a perfectly smooth import of results, as well as additional features such as direct non-linear distortion management within Maya, 3ds Max, XSI and LightWave 3D.
Rendercore Inc., a worldwide leader in remote rendering solutions, announced complete integration and support lluminate Labs Turtle 1.1.5.3 on Rendercore's state-of-the-art render farm, based in downtown Los Angeles.
Cartoonist Aaron McGruder recently met with reporters around the country to discuss the upcoming Adult Swim premiere of the cartoon version of his in-your-face BOONDOCKS comic strip, which debuts Nov. 6, 2005, at 11:00 pm. That it was a virtual meeting via a telephone conference call gave the event the feel of an electronic séance, with an unseen moderator/medium directing unseen participants to pose their questions to the unseen subject whom for all we knew couldve been a ringer filling in for McGruder.
