Nancy Denney-Phelps's Recent Posts

I always look forward to ANIMA BRUSSELS , not just because it is in Brussels which is only a 30 minute train ride from my home in Gent, but because it is a wonderful opportunity to see a wide array of animation.  The Festival, housed in the beautiful Art Deco Flagey building, takes place February 20 through the 28^th, Carnival week vacation in the city, and features programs for all ages.From Hayao Miyazaki’s new masterpiece,  Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which I was lucky enough to see earlier this year to a tribute to American film maker Ralph Bakshi there will be something for everyone at ANIMA BRUSSELS.   Bakshi created the first X rated animated film with his 1972 adaptation of R. Crumb’s emblematic underground comic strip Fritz the Cat.

Riga, Latvia is one of my favorite cities.  The Daugava River running through the center of the city before it reaches the Baltic Sea makes it a wonderful city to walk through.  Riga is a historians delight, full of architecture that reflects the diversity of cultures, from the 12^th Century German conquest and art nouveau delights to 1991, when the country won independence from the former Soviet Union.  The architecture of the Soviet period is still interesting to give you a feel of how the city was when it was still part of the Soviet Block.

Sergei Eisenstein was born in Riga and his father, a famous architect, designed many of the beautiful art nouveau buildings.  The city reminds me very much of St. Petersburg.  It has the same beautiful yellow and rose hues of paint and when the sun light hits at the right angle the city glows – sort of like those evenings in San Francisco when the sunset hits the windows of the buildings and they glow golden.

The beautiful mountain town of Monodendri, Ioannina, Greece was the perfect setting for the 2^nd annual Animart. From July 13 through the 20^th, 54 college age students and 6 professionals from the world of animation gathered in the picturesque village for workshops ranging from clay animation, hand drawn cartoon animation and Maya to sound design and composing music for animation. Vassilis Boutos, director of the European Animation Center, is the organizer and energy behind Animart.

Students from three different South Eastern European countries completed very creative films. Participants were not required to have any prior animation experiences, but with a combination of excellent instructors and some hard work by the students, everyone had a sense of accomplishment at the end of the week.

While post production continues, viewers around the world are getting a seek
preview of the new feature film clay animation production from the Academy
Award winning team behind HARVIE KRUMPET. MARY AND MAX has been made in
Melbourne Australia, filmed over 57 weeks. The large team of set and model
builders, armature designers and sculptors have build over 1500 sets, props
and characters and now with actual production complete Writer, Director and
Designer Adam Elliot is welcoming the opportunity to share with you a sneak
peek at the world of MARY AND MAX.

The website features the story synopsis and character outlines, as well as
images from the film. The site also features links to all our partners and
details on our cast and crew. Also for fans of stop motion animation there
is a wealth of behind the scenes details including "Making of Mary and Max

and webisodes "that reveal the ugly truth" about the production, as well as a
news and comments page for your thoughts and of course a shop!

I first met Merlin Crossingham when Wallace and Gromit invited him to accompany them to the wonderful Russian/Ukrainian animation festival that takes place each year on a cruise ship.  The three of them had the cabin across from Nik and I and in the course of the voyage we all became on first name basis.

Merlin was the second unit director on Curse of the Were Rabbit and also a key animator. Since then he has co-directed a series of Creature Comforts for CBS. It is nominated for an Emmy, and so he will be off to LA at the weekend for the awards. Recently he has also been directing stop motion commercials for Aardman. Currently he is supervising the animation on the latest Wallace and Gromit.  Merlin told me that it is “A half-hour special for Christmas this year, but not a Christmas-y story though, it’s a bread based murder mystery. Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death”.

One thousand feet up, things are not as they should be……

Two men, one crane and a very big box.

Crained was created to fill a week in the life of two animators, shot with plasticine on glass in HD. In order to make an animated film in five days some rules were laid down. Shoot with whatever was to hand, shoot fast and blind (no video assist), and to live with whatever came out at the end.Cained is as close to guerrilla film making as animation can be.

Merlin has thrown down the gauntlet to any other animators who have a week of free time on their hands and are crazy enough to want to stay in the studio instead of going on holiday. 

To enjoy the fruits of their labor, visit:

http://www.4mations.tv/clip.aspx?key=72B72B8EA1FACEA4&ctx=medialist&type...