“Class” (Entre les Murs) Wins the Palme d’Or Prize at Cannes in Unanimous Vote
“Waltz with Bashir” did not win the top prize at Cannes. In fact, it was totally stiffed by Sean Penn’s jury. From Time:
Another surprising omission was the Israeli animated documentary Waltz With Bashir, which had critics cheering from Day Two, when it was unveiled, up to the announcement of the awards. At the post-Palmares press conference, Penn acknowledged that he wasn’t pushing for Bashir, since there were so many other films that “called out and provoked us in a new way.” He added, “I think it will find its audience without us,” suggesting that the Jury wanted to give affirmative-action pushes to luminous films in need of the worldwide attention a Palme d’Or can bring.
I translate this as animation isn’t serious film. Frankly, Dimples thinks this stinks.
Waltz with Bashir – Will 2D Animation Win the Palme d’Or Prize at the Cannes?
From the BBC:
An animated documentary about a massacre in the Middle East is the current frontrunner to win the coveted Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Waltz with Bashir is a daring and provocative attempt by director Ari Folman to bear witness to an atrocity committed during his stint in the Israeli army in 1982.
Waltz with Bashir is 2D animation paired with 3D effects. Here’s the official trailer:
It looks like a beautifully made movie.
Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2008 June 9- June 14
Annecy is one of the greatest of all the animation festivals and it’s coming next month from June 9 to June 14 in Annecy, FR. Every type of animation from short film to television to theatrical feature animation will be represented at Annecy. Toondra.com is offering a great sampling of some of the films at this year’s Annecy Festival. Dimples is going to qualify this by saying that the Annecy site says the films are previewed on toondra.com but the toondra site seems to have only films from 2007. We’re a bit confused but the animation is great and worth a look whether it is from this or last year’s Annecy festival. Meanwhile back at dimples, here is a sampling of animation from Annecy 2006. Here is L’Enveloppe Jaune:
Australian International Animation Festival September 14-15
All folks in one of the most wonderful spots on this planet, Australia, listen up. You’re in for a treat next week as the Australian International Animation Festival comes to Southern Cross University, Lismore, September 14-15. From the Northern Rivers Echo News:
The films have been sourced from American, European and Asian festivals and with 17 sessions over two days, including a special schools program next Friday, September 14, there’s sure to be something for everyone.
Meanwhile, a master class on Saturday, September 15, will see one of Australia’s most accomplished animators/directors, Tim Adlide, give the low down on how to bring your animation to life – whether you’re working with flash cartoons, motion graphics, stop motion or 3-D CGI.
Dimples wants to call attention to Tim Adlide‘s forum which will be fantastic. He’s fantastic and he’s a hero to more than one of the Dimple’s team. He creates wonderful characters. Tim is giving a “master class” in creating flow effects in Flash at 3:10 pm on September 15. Don’t miss it. From the AIAF website:
Tim who will demonstrate the creation of “flow” effects for simulating wind, water and/or cloth waves using Flash. This is an advanced class for the adult audience already familiar with Flash.
Dimples sure wishes they could hop on a magic bus and be there, but, alas, we can’t. We’d love to hear from anyone who is able to attend this event.
[tags]Animation, 2D Animation, Flash Animation, AIAF, Australian International Animation Festival, Tim Adlide[/tags]
Animation Star Don Hertzfeldt at Platform International Film Festival in Portland
Check out this clip of Don Hertzfeldt in Portland.
Ottawa 2007 International Animation Festival
This is one great Animation Festival. Ottawa International Animation Festival, Sept. 19 – Sept. 23, 2007, is heralded as the biggest event of its kind in North America. Entry forms for the festival became available on March 21st. The deadline for entry form submission is June 1 and video must be in by June 15. The festival offers a wide variety of categories for your submission running the gamit from theatrical feature to school showreel. There’s even a separate category for high school students to submit their films. A great way to keep up to date on the happenings leading up to and during the festival is through their podcasts. From their press release:
“It’s that time again,” says Chris Robinson, the Festival’s Artistic Director. “This year we’re putting some emphasis on reaching out to the gaming, mobile, wireless and interactive world. With more and more animation being made for non-traditional distribution platforms, it’s important that the OIAF celebrate the work being done in these new forms, so we’ve expanded our New Media Competition to include mobile content and interactive educational and gaming animation as well as shorts made for the internet.”
This is a great event and Ottawa is a beautiful city. Make your reservations to attend now.
[tags]OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Animation[/tags]
The “Mighty B” on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon has released its official 2007/08 list of shows. A new 2D animated cartoon offering will be the “Mighty B” created (concept-wise) and voiced by Amy Poehler from Saturday Night Live. From Starpulse:
“Mighty B,” picked up for 20 episodes, stars Amy Poehler as the voice of Bessie Higgenbottom, the world’s most ambitious and lovably unhinged 10-year-old “Honeybee” scout. As a member of the Honeybees, Bessie wears her uniform every single day, leads her troop with a zeal General Patton would have admired and has earned more Bee Badges than any Honeybee in history. But a bunch of badges still elude her, and Bessie’s not stopping until she has every last one.
The cartoonists collaborating on the concept for “Mighty B” are Cynthia True and Erik Wiese. From Zap2it:
Poehler co-created the cartoon with “The Fairly OddParents” staff writer Cynthia True and the Emmy- and Annie-nominated storyboard artist and writer Erik Wiese.
[tags]2D animation, nickelodeon, mighty b, Amy Poehler, Cynthia True, Erik Wiese[/tags]
Platform International Animation Festival June 2007 Portland Oregon
Just what the world needs; another animation festival. Actually, there’s always room for more and this one promises to be a good one. Sadly, the US of A doesn’t have the greatest animation festivals. In our opinion, the UK and Canada have the best. We’d like to see more and better festivals here. Portland, OR is planning an interesting new festival set to debut in June, 2007. From the organizers’ press release:
Looking to fill the need for a major animation event in the U.S., the PLATFORM International Animation Festival will be a literal platform for artists, innovation, debate and discussion as well as set the stage to explore new developments in animation. The Festival program will feature premieres and retrospectives, exclusive screenings, guest speakers, exhibitions, workshops with leading artists, parties and networking opportunities with industry insiders. The Festival is being solely sponsored by Cartoon Network.
“This is an important period for animation because the rapid growth of technology changes the possibilities of our craft every day,” said Kotlarz, producer of animation projects and former director of animation festivals in Cambridge, Bristol and Cardiff in the UK. “We want animators to be able to find new answers and new opportunities with the best in the industry. Whether the animated submissions are created for theaters, cell phones or for the sides of buildings, if it is brilliant and innovative, we want to show it.”
PLATFORM represents a brand new breed of festival. Along with being an international competition with cash prizes, the Festival will break boundaries into other art forms including comics, illustration, character and toy design, motion graphics, gallery art and live action cinema.
“In all the talk about this new platform and that new platform, no one is really talking about what makes good content for these areas, or how to grow a generation of creators for these platforms. That’s why Cartoon Network is proud to be the sole sponsor of this important new international festival and competition. PLATFORM will serve as a special place where emerging artists and talents can learn, grow, be inspired and showcase their work,” said Michael Ouweleen, Cartoon Network’s Senior VP, Programming & Development.
That sounds pretty good to Dimples if they can pull it off. Visit the Platform website for more information and for a look at some absolutely great flash animation.
[tags]2D animation, Platform Animation Festival, Cartoon Network[/tags]
Bristol International Short Film Festival 2006 – Daniel Gray and Tom Brown
The 12th Bristol International Short Film Festival was held in Bristol, UK last week. Bristol is always an interesting festival for animation fans. This year was no exception. Many of this year’s films will be available for viewing on BBC-3 after Dec. 8th. One of the films winning an award this year is an intriguing student animation from Daniel Gray and Tom Brown called “T.O.M.”. The short animated film won the Cartoon D’Or Nomination. It’s not entirely clear what that award is but winning this award puts Daniel and Tom’s film made at the University of Wales in the running for further more prestigious European awards. From their web page:
News from Bristol’s Encounter Festival is that we didn’t win our category. We did how ever win the British nomination to the Cartoon D’or, which was a complete suprise because we didn’t even know we were in that section. So we come away with something pretty cool.
“T.O.M.” looks more than pretty cool to us here at Dimples’ central command center. They’ve created a myspace page for their film and you can view the trailer there.
[tags]2D animation, Bristol Film Festival, Cartoon D’or, Daniel Gray, Tom Brown, T.O.M.[/tags]
Beryl and Joanna Quinn at Swansea Animation Days 2006
Joanna Quinn and her studio partner Les Mills are winning awards all over the place for their latest animated adventure, “Dreams and Desires: Family Ties”, starring Quinn’s Beryl character.
BERYL is an unlikely hero. Middle-aged, not beautiful, overweight and an underdog…
The award-winning new film Dreams and Desires – Family Ties follows Beryl as she explores more about her life and it is seemingly a welcome return to the character who became popular after outings in Girls’ Night Out and Body Beautiful.
In the past four months, Dreams and Desires has won 14 major awards and it looks like there are more to come. It’s hard to beat that.
Here’s a picture of Quinn with Bill Plympton.
Quinn is best known in the States for her Charmin commercials but, as you can see, that’s only the tip of the iceberg with this extremely talented animator. You can own a little bit of Joanna Quinn’s art. The Adventures of the Charmin Bear