Apple has made available the trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s upcoming feature Ponyo in various formats including HD. Ponyo follows the story of an ordinary boy and his friendship with Ponyo, a goldfish who wishes to be human. Featuring the voices of Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Frankie Jonas, Ponyo opens across United States on August 14.
Frederator presents Drinking and Drawing
Drinking and Drawing is coming to New York City once again. These events are always a lot of fun, and I’m glad it’s back. The event is being held on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, at 7:30pm, at M1-5 Bar/Lounge at 52 Walker Street, NYC.
Disney Channel has bought a second season of Secret Agent Oso, the hit animated series starring Oscar-nominated actor Sean Astin.
The Playhouse Disney series follows Oso, a stuffed panda bear who works as a secret agent for U.N.I.Q.U.E., a secret group that helps kids accomplish every day tasks.
"I'm so proud of this show, especially because my kids have connected with it and that makes me cool in their book,” says Astin. “I can't wait to start recording Oso's new missions for the second season with our fantastic technical team and my incredibly talented castmates."
Since it premiered in April, Oso has been the top program in its daily timeslot. It’s also become a global hit, airing in more than 35 nations and dubbed into five languages.
Waltz With Bashir, the Oscar-nominated animated film from Israeli director Ari Folman, leads a heavy week of animation and VFX-heavy releases on DVD and Blu-ray.
Bashir, which told the tale of Folman’s experience as an Israeli soldier in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, was one of the most acclaimed films of the year. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, the film is available on DVD ($28.96) and Blu-ray ($39.99) and features a new English-language dub, a “making-of” featurette, animatics, a Q&A with Folman and a director’s commentary. Waltz With Bashir was nominated as the Best Foreign Language film at last year’s Academy Awards. It also was nominated for four Annie Awards, two BAFTA awards, and won the best foreign language film at the Golden Globes.
Fans of classic animation will also find plenty to love this week, with the release of Tom & Jerry: Chuck Jones Collection (Warner Bros., $26.99), a two-disc set of remastered cartoons directed by the beloved animation master.
Also coming to DVD is Inkheart, a VFX-heavy family film starring Brendan Fraser (New Line, $28.98 DVD, $35.99 Blu-ray).
Other animation releases of note include Death Note Re-Light #1: Visions of a God (VIZ, $24.92) and Dragon Hunters (Phase 4 Films, $14.99 DVD, $22.99 Blu-ray)
The Secret of the Kells, the long-awaited animated feature from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress and The Triplets of Belleville, will have its first U.S. screenings at the New York International Children’s Film Festival July 18 and 19.
Directed by Tomm Moore, The Secret of the Kells tell the story of a boy living in a remote medieval outpost who comes across a magical book that leads him on a dangerous quest into an enchanted forest.
An Irish, French and Belgian co-production, The Secret of the Kells won the audience award at the Annecy festival and has been acclaimed by critics around the world.
Chris Landreth, director of the acclaimed computer-animated short film The Spine, will be speak at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference in New Orleans.
Winner of an Academy Award for his 2004 short film, Ryan, Landreth is set to share insights into the development and the animation of The Spine in a special discussion set for Aug. 6.
Among the topics he intends to discuss are the “uncanny valley” and how he tried to avoid its impact in The Spine.
The Spine was produced by the National Film Board of Canada in association with Copperheart Animation and C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, with the creative participation of Autodesk Canada CO. and Seneca College School of Communication Arts.
The English dub of Hideaki Anno’s feature film Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone will premiere at this year’s Anime Expo. Set for July 2-5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The film, a sequel to the animated TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion, expands Anno’s vision with a complete redesign and the use of 3-D computer graphics.
The film will be shown Friday, July 3, at 5:30 p.m. in Room LP1.
British art director Bob Bell, designer of the fantastic and futuristic sets for several of Gerry Anderson's imaginative puppet-animated TV series, died in hospital June 6 after a prolonged illness. His age was not made available.
Bell may be best remembered by as the art director of Anderson's 1965 series Thunderbirds.
He joined AP Films in 1958, assisting art director Reg Hill on Torchy The Battery Boy. He soon showed his talents and was promoted to art director when production began on Fireball XL5 (1962). Bell remained in this role right through to Anderson's live-action 1972 series The Protectors.
He returned to Gerry Anderson Productions as associate producer on Terrahawks (1983) and then Dick Spanner (1986).
Other Anderson series where he was an art director included Stingray (1963) and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967 -- as supervising art director).
For the second Thunderbirds feature film, Thunderbird 6 (1968), he was the art director as well.
Bell also worked on such live-action feature films as The Wild Geese (1978) and Lion of the Desert (1981).
He served his country in the Royal Army during the Second World War, seeing action in North Africa.
Bell's funeral was held last Wednesday afternoon at Amersham Crematorium and afterward at The Hit Or Miss, Penn Street, Amersham. His family asked for flowers not be sent. However, donations will be gratefully received for the Alzheimers Society.
Near-capacity crowds attend peek at new "Ice Age"
Sneak previews of Twentieth Century Fox's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" played exclusively in 3D to an average 90% capacity in 330 theaters throughout the United States on Sunday, with numerous sellouts in markets big and small.
Commented Bruce Snyder, Fox's president of domestic distribution: "The Father's Day sneaks resulted in excellent word of mouth among theatergoers. The reaction from the nearly sold out showings bodes extremely well for our July 1 opening."
In Fox's first 3D film, the sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters Ice Age (2002) and Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) are back for an incredible adventure.
This time, they break through the ice to discover a whole new prehistoric world of dinosaurs. Manny prepares to face a new challenge -- fatherhood leaving Sid to feel left out of his friend's growing family. Determined to start a family of his own, Sid discovers three enormous eggs and decides to adopt the baby dinosaurs that soon hatch.
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg, and Queen Latifah. Directed by Carlos Saldanha and co-directed by Michael Thurmeier, the CGI-animated family comedy was produced by Lori Forte and John C. Donkin. It was written by Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss and Yoni Brenner from a story by Jason Carter Eaton.
"Slaves," "Amma" win at CFC short film festival
"Slaves," a Swedish-Danish co-production, and Canadian director Aparna Kapur's "Amma" were the animated films that were among the 10 winners at this year's CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival.
Presented by Telus, the festival presented over $60,000 in cash and prizes to this year's top filmmakers Sunday in Toronto. Offering one of the largest prize packages for short film in the world, the WSFF honored filmmakers in the presence of over 400 industry delegates and filmmakers from around the globe.
The Best Animated Short honor and a Sony digital camcorder went to Hanna Heilborn and David Aronowitsch for Slaves, described by festival organizers as a "powerful and haunting documentary."
Kapur received the Jackson-Triggs Award For Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker and a cash prize of $5,000 for Amma, the richly animated story of a girl's bond with her grandmother.
The WSFF is one of only three Canadian festivals accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the Oscars each year. Winners of the awards for Best Live-Action Short and Best Animated Short become eligible for the Academy Awards.
WSFF Canadian award winners are eligible for Genie Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars.
"The CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival is delighted to honor these talented visual artists," said festival director Eileen Arandiga. "Ranging from live action, animation, documentary and experimental films from Canada and across the globe, this year's selection of award-winning shorts prove that the short film form continues to be a powerful cinematic art form."
Hanna Heilborn and David Aronowitsch's Slaves, named Best Animated Short at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival.
Scene from Aparna Kapur's Amma.
Christian Bale Says ‘Batman 3’ Might Not Happen
If not for the offer of “whipping lessons” from Michelle Pfeiffer, the Catwoman of 1992’s “Batman Returns,” last week would have been a complete downer for Batman movie fans. On Wednesday, a rumor hit the ‘Net that director Christopher Nolan might not return for a third film after “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” and we’ve seen little reason to disqualify it thus far.
Heck, when we spoke to Batman actor Christian Bale on the set of his upcoming film “Public Enemies,” even he sounded uncertain about the Dark Knight’s big-screen future.
Ben studied animation under former Disney animator Milt Neil at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. He has been in the animation industry since 1984. He started doing animation for small commercials, then years later moved on to J.J. Sedelmaier Productions working on the "Cluckin' Chicken" parody for Saturday Night Live, which led to MTV, where he worked on "Beavis and Butt-Head", doing storyboard revisions, character and prop design, layout. animation on the hallucination sequence on the feature "Beavis and Butt-head Do "America" and also MTV's "The Maxx", doing character layout. As a freelancer, he's worked for various companies including Disney TV, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, HBO Family, Miramax, Warner Bros., Saatchi and Saatchi, General Mills and Comedy Central. Currently, he's still doing the freelancing thing, while developing some personal projects for pitching.
Apple has made available the trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s upcoming feature Ponyo in various formats including HD. Ponyo follows the story of an ordinary boy and his friendship with Ponyo, a goldfish who wishes to be human. Featuring the voices of Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Frankie Jonas, Ponyo opens across United States on August 14.
Disney Channel has bought a second season of Secret Agent Oso, the hit animated series starring Oscar-nominated actor Sean Astin.
Waltz With Bashir, the Oscar-nominated animated film from Israeli director Ari Folman, leads a heavy week of animation and VFX-heavy releases on DVD and Blu-ray.
The Secret of the Kells, the long-awaited animated feature from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress and The Triplets of Belleville, will have its first U.S. screenings at the New York International Children’s Film Festival July 18 and 19.
Chris Landreth, director of the acclaimed computer-animated short film The Spine, will be speak at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference in New Orleans.
The English dub of Hideaki Anno’s feature film Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone will premiere at this year’s Anime Expo. Set for July 2-5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
British art director Bob Bell, designer of the fantastic and futuristic sets for several of Gerry Anderson's imaginative puppet-animated TV series, died in hospital June 6 after a prolonged illness. His age was not made available.
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