San Diego International Children's Film Festival will showcase full-length films for children of all ages & teens, shorts for children ages 7 & under, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego's historic Balboa Park.
The festival held its first-ever event in April, showing 65 short films from around the world. Actor-director LeVar Burton appeared at the festival, as did several other filmmakers.
Andrew Osmond chats with Lloyd Price, supervising animator on Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, about bringing Aardman superstar plasticine duo to the big screen.
The Savannah Film Festival, presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design, will honor animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman with Lifetime Achievement Awards in Animation, Saturday, Nov. 5, at the closing ceremonies of the 2005 festival. The duo have collaborated on such films as TITAN A.E., ANASTASIA, AN AMERICAN TAIL and THE SECRETS OF NIMH.
Spike TV has made the biggest film licensing deal in its 22-year history with its purchase of the exclusive rights for all six of STAR WARS films for six-years, reports VARIETY. The serious coin Spike will pay is between $65-70 million, which is about $15 million more than most insiders expected the films to sell for. A bidding war between Spike, NBC Universal's USA Network and Sci Fi Channel and Turner's TBS and TNT drove up the price. Key to the deal is that Spike will have the first network window for REVENGE OF THE SITH in April 2008.
Brand New School of Santa Monica has produced more than two-dozen short films to highlight the new features of the 2006 Volkswagen Passat. The :15 films are part of a unique marketing campaign for the car conceived by ad agency Arnold Worldwide. Volkswagen plans to post the films on its website.
Zoom Girl Media Lesbian Shorts Competition World Wide WebFebruary 1, 2006Deadline: November 30, 2005
Zoom Girl Media is accepting entries for its first competition to name outstanding lesbian-themed comedy short films. Filmmakers are invited to submit original comedies, 10 minutes or under in length, dealing with lesbian themes and related cultural and social issues. Films will be judged on originality of subject matter, production values, technical excellence and overall merit.
Monday, Oct. 3, 2005, is the deadline for makers of eligible live-action and animated short films, as well as for countries submitting films in the Foreign Language Film Award category, to submit their entry forms and supporting materials to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 78th Academy Awards consideration.
The Orinda Film Festival supports films from around the world that inspire, educate, challenge and provoke audiences to explore other viewpoints and forms of expression. It offers a wide range of categories, including narrative features and shorts, documentaries, animation, experimental films and music videos. For more information, visit www.orindafilmfestival.org.
Innamation Films revealed the new companys development slate of animated content for television and direct-to-video distribution, leading off with a full length, original animated property, THE CHRISTMAS RESCUE, about a trio of woodland friends that band together to save Christmas by finding Santa when he is swept off course during a storm. Other properties in development include a re-telling of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD and GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS.
Milano Film Festival is a 10-day event made up of not only films, but also concerts, installations, meetings at the bar-trattoria and parties. This international film competition is open to short and feature films of any genre. The directors will be present while their films are screened. The festival will give filmmakers a chance to network and give students a chance to learn from a global talent pool. For more information, contact the festival via Paladini, 8, 20133 Milano, Italy, phone: +39 02 713 613, e-mail: info@milanofilmfestival.it or on the Web at milanofilmfestival.it.
Lupus Films and Picture Production Co. (PPC) has started development on PINKY & PERKY, a new CGI series. The plot of the series will center on two Laurel & Hardy-liked brothers who are the hottest trotters in town. They have to overcome their differences once they are given their own live childrens TV show full of mad games, wild cartoons, gunge tanks and top celebrity guests.
On Sept. 15, 2005, Animation Block Party ended the sweltering NYC summer with a festival that featured more than 60 short films in three September screenings at BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn. Animations from Canada, Australia and Europe meshed well with the top festival films from the U.S. The genres featured were diverse, ranging from stop-motion to experimental films, personal narrative work, music videos and gross-out humor.
The ResFest is a touring digital film festival sponsored by RES MAGAZINE, one of the premier digital film magazines in the world. The tour will showcase the works of the most creative artists in the world, and will travel through North America, Europe and Asia. The featured works will include short films, music videos and animated films.
One unique new aspect of this year
Founded in 1996, the MadCat Women's International Film Festival was formed as a new platform for women artists to screen their work. MadCat showcases some of the best avant-garde independent and experimental films and videos from around the world. The festival seeks provocative and visionary films and videos from around the globe that are original in their use of the medium. The festival is committed to showcasing women directors who challenge the use of sound and image and explore notions of visual storytelling.
MTV Films announced that it has acquired an option on the worldwide film rights to the award-winning, action-horror videogame property, THE SUFFERING, from Surreal Software, a subsidiary of Midway Games Inc.
What do Wilma Flintstone, Spider-Man and the Pink Panther have in common? These classic characters have all been recruited to promote popular products. Janet Hetherington looks into why animated celebs have become spokespersons of choice.
Kidtoon Films, a company that distributes family films to theaters for weekend morning screenings, has announced it has acquired two new Warner Bros. Animation titles the Tom & Jerry feature THE FAST AND THE FURRY and SCOOBY-DOO IN WHERE'S MY MUMMY? Kidtoon programs also include shorts and sing-alongs.
"The Kidtoon Film promotional theatrical release brings beloved classic characters in new, fun-filled movies to the big screen for kids," said Dorinda Marticorena, vp of kids and sports marketing for Warner Home Video.
Numerous animated flicks will be on the big screen at this year's Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, to be held from September 20 to 26 at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.
The fest has announced its roster of 324 films, selected from more than a record-setting 2,400 worldwide entries, up 10% from last year. It will showcase 86 world premieres, 27 North American premieres and 15 U.S. premieres. Some of the animated films:
6:30 pm, Tuesday, Sept. 20 Opening Night: International Award Winners
Telluride IndieFest showcases the best independent films and screenplays in the world and does not require films to 'premiere' at its event. The event limits films and screenplays to 1,000 entries. ALL selected artists will have the opportunity to have their entry presented to some of the most-respected Hollywood talent agencies, production companies and film distributors. For more information, visit tellurideindiefest.com.
London-based Moving Picture Co. (MPC) will handle VFX work on director Danny Boyles latest sci-fi feature, THE UNTITLED SUNSHINE PROJECT, announced this week by DNA Films and Fox Searchlight Pictures. MPCs vfx supervisor is Tom Wood (KINGDOM OF HEAVEN). Principal photography began Aug. 22 in London. Boyle is once again teamed up with scribe Alex Garland, who last worked together on 28 DAYS LATER, which MPC also worked on.
The annual Rushes Soho Shorts Festival has announced its winners. The Annecy Student Award winner OVERTIME, which pays tribute to the work of Jim Henson, took home the Vue Animation Award. The film was produced by Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berlano and Damien Ferrie via Supinfocom. The animation runners-up were CITY PARADISE by Gaelle Denis at Passion Pictures and MAESTRO by Geza M. Toth at Kedd Ltd.
SplutterFish announced that Frantic Films has placed a large order for Brazil r/s, SplutterFishs award-winning 3D rendering suite, to be the primary rendering backbone in its new large-scale production pipeline. Early Brazil r/s adopter Frantic Films will increase its reliance on Brazil r/s based on its own in-house benchmark testing.
What do BATMAN BEGINS, LAND OF THE DEAD and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY have in common? All three summer films employed high-resolution scanning services from Eyetronics to create digital effects in less time.
Eyetronics offers lightweight 3D scanning equipment that can produce a full body scan in 90 seconds, versus the 20 to 30 minutes normally required.
The Pimp defends experimental animation, especially cameraless/scratch animation.
Paramount has announced that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello have been cast as the wives of Port Authority officers rescued from the World Trade Center in the studio's untitled Oliver Stone project, reports VARIETY. Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena have already been cast in the respective roles of Sgt. John McLoughlin and Officer William J. Jimeno. The film is scheduled to start filming in New York this fall.
