This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
- 3/8/2024
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
This year, the International Film Festival Rotterdam had independent animation legend Bill Plympton as a special guest. He was interviewed, performed a masterclass, showing how his style of animation worked, drew sketches for attendants, the lot. A true gentleman. Also, he brought his newest feature film with him: a western called Slide. In it we see a mysterious guitar player arrive in Sourdough Creek, a small town with lumberjacks, fishermen, and a local saloon-slash-whorehouse where the town's mayor resides. This mayor, Jeb, is corrupt and rotten to the core. Together with his brother Zeke he tyrannically abuses his authority and kills anyone who stands in his way, including guitar players who play 'slow music'. This does mean the mysterious guitar player immediately gets a job...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/6/2024
- Screen Anarchy
The 30th Slamdance Film Festival announced its annual Sparky Awards on Thursday evening, with Giuseppe Garau’s The Accident from Italy taking narrative feature grand jury honours and Matt Moyer, Amy Toensing’s Inheritance prevailing in the documentary feature category.
The Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Zoe Eisenberg’s Chaperone and the Episodes Grand Jury Prize went to Restorage by E’an Verdugo.
Audience award winners included Omar Kamara’s African Giants for best narrative feature and Hadley Austin’s Demon Mineral for documentary feature.
The Agbo Fellowship was awarded to Kiarash Dadgar, whose short film The Steak...
The Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Zoe Eisenberg’s Chaperone and the Episodes Grand Jury Prize went to Restorage by E’an Verdugo.
Audience award winners included Omar Kamara’s African Giants for best narrative feature and Hadley Austin’s Demon Mineral for documentary feature.
The Agbo Fellowship was awarded to Kiarash Dadgar, whose short film The Steak...
- 1/27/2024
- ScreenDaily
The 2024 Slamdance Film Festival has announced its winners with Giuseppe Garau’s The Accident landing the narrative Grand Jury prize, and Matt Moyer and Amy Toensing’s Inheritance landing the top doc prize.
African Giants from director Omar Kamara took the audience award for best narrative feature, with Demon Mineral from Hadley Austin taking the prize for doc feature.
In the Unstoppable section, which feature projects by filmmakers with disabilities, Good Bad Things from director Shane Stanger took the top prize.
“This year’s award-winning films leave an indelible mark on the world of independent cinema. Each one delves into groundbreaking storytelling and the spirit of human resilience, highlighting the extreme filmmaking talent on show at Slamdance ‘24,” said Slamdance director Taylor Miller. “We thank our programmers, sponsors, industry partners, and everyone at The Yarrow for creating an inclusive environment in which the filmmakers have been discovered by record-breaking audiences.”
See...
African Giants from director Omar Kamara took the audience award for best narrative feature, with Demon Mineral from Hadley Austin taking the prize for doc feature.
In the Unstoppable section, which feature projects by filmmakers with disabilities, Good Bad Things from director Shane Stanger took the top prize.
“This year’s award-winning films leave an indelible mark on the world of independent cinema. Each one delves into groundbreaking storytelling and the spirit of human resilience, highlighting the extreme filmmaking talent on show at Slamdance ‘24,” said Slamdance director Taylor Miller. “We thank our programmers, sponsors, industry partners, and everyone at The Yarrow for creating an inclusive environment in which the filmmakers have been discovered by record-breaking audiences.”
See...
- 1/26/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Inheritance,” “The Accident” and “Good Bad Things” are among the award winners at the 30th annual Slamdance Film Festival. The winners were announced Thursday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Park City – The Yarrow in Park City, Utah.
The three films feted the Feature Grand Jury Prizes, while the Audience Awards went to “African Giants,” “Demon Mineral,” “Good Bad Things” and “Night Drives.”
The festival also announced the recipient of their Agbo Fellowship from Slamdance alumni Joe and Anthony Russo. It went to Kiarash Dadgar, whose short film “The Steak” was programmed as a part of the Narrative Shorts competition and included a $25,000 prize with mentorship from the brothers.
“This year’s award-winning films leave an indelible mark on the world of independent cinema. Each one delves into groundbreaking storytelling and the spirit of human resilience, highlighting the extreme filmmaking talent on show at Slamdance ’24,” Taylor Miller, Slamdance director, said in a statement.
The three films feted the Feature Grand Jury Prizes, while the Audience Awards went to “African Giants,” “Demon Mineral,” “Good Bad Things” and “Night Drives.”
The festival also announced the recipient of their Agbo Fellowship from Slamdance alumni Joe and Anthony Russo. It went to Kiarash Dadgar, whose short film “The Steak” was programmed as a part of the Narrative Shorts competition and included a $25,000 prize with mentorship from the brothers.
“This year’s award-winning films leave an indelible mark on the world of independent cinema. Each one delves into groundbreaking storytelling and the spirit of human resilience, highlighting the extreme filmmaking talent on show at Slamdance ’24,” Taylor Miller, Slamdance director, said in a statement.
- 1/26/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Caroline Brew, Diego Ramos Bechara and Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie, will be among those taking part in on-stage talks at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 25 to Feb. 4.
Harry narrates the latest film by Amanda Kramer, “So Unreal,” an essay-documentary about the relationships between cinema, humanity and technology. On Jan. 27, the two will give an IFFR Talk discussing their work as artists with distinctive esthetics whose careers have developed across film and music.
As previously announced, other speakers in the IFFR Talk program include actor Sandra Hüller, and directors Anne Fontaine, Marco Bellocchio, Bill Plympton and Billy Woodberry.
Directors attending with their titles in the Limelight section, which is for films from established filmmakers, include Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante with “Lost in the Night,” Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland with “Green Border” and Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania with “Four Daughters,” which is shortlisted for an Oscar.
Fontaine will attend the world premiere of her 19th feature film,...
Harry narrates the latest film by Amanda Kramer, “So Unreal,” an essay-documentary about the relationships between cinema, humanity and technology. On Jan. 27, the two will give an IFFR Talk discussing their work as artists with distinctive esthetics whose careers have developed across film and music.
As previously announced, other speakers in the IFFR Talk program include actor Sandra Hüller, and directors Anne Fontaine, Marco Bellocchio, Bill Plympton and Billy Woodberry.
Directors attending with their titles in the Limelight section, which is for films from established filmmakers, include Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante with “Lost in the Night,” Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland with “Green Border” and Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania with “Four Daughters,” which is shortlisted for an Oscar.
Fontaine will attend the world premiere of her 19th feature film,...
- 1/16/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Sandra Hüller, who is an awards contender with “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” will be one of the guest speakers taking part in the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Talks program later this month.
In her talk, Hüller will “delve into her acting trajectory, discussing the highlights of her career, but also lesser-known performances – including work in the theater and other arts,” the festival said. She will talk about her approach to acting and character with an emphasis on “The Zone of Interest,” playing at this year’s festival, and the different methods of the directors she has collaborated with through the years.
The program also includes a talk by Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, who comes to IFFR with his latest examination of Italian history, “Rapito.” In this wide-ranging talk, Bellocchio will “reveal his passion as a filmmaker and his emotional connection to all stages of the filmmaking process.
In her talk, Hüller will “delve into her acting trajectory, discussing the highlights of her career, but also lesser-known performances – including work in the theater and other arts,” the festival said. She will talk about her approach to acting and character with an emphasis on “The Zone of Interest,” playing at this year’s festival, and the different methods of the directors she has collaborated with through the years.
The program also includes a talk by Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, who comes to IFFR with his latest examination of Italian history, “Rapito.” In this wide-ranging talk, Bellocchio will “reveal his passion as a filmmaker and his emotional connection to all stages of the filmmaking process.
- 1/9/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Other speakers at festival include Marco Bellocchio, Billy Woodberry and Anne Fontaine.
Sandra Hüller has joined the line-up of special guests confirmed for the talks programme at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), which runs from January 25-February 4.
Hüller will discuss her recent work, including on Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, which plays in the IFFR 2024 Limelight section, and on the Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy Of A Fall for which she won the European Film Award for best actress in December 2023.
Also speaking in the IFFR Talks programme is Italian director Marco Bellocchio whose latest feature Rapito is screening at the festival.
Sandra Hüller has joined the line-up of special guests confirmed for the talks programme at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), which runs from January 25-February 4.
Hüller will discuss her recent work, including on Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, which plays in the IFFR 2024 Limelight section, and on the Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy Of A Fall for which she won the European Film Award for best actress in December 2023.
Also speaking in the IFFR Talks programme is Italian director Marco Bellocchio whose latest feature Rapito is screening at the festival.
- 1/9/2024
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Sandra Hüller Set For Rotterdam Talks Program
Awards season frontrunner Sandra Hüller has joined the roster of speakers lined up for the talks program of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. She joins 16 previously announced talks guests who also include L.A. Rebellion filmmaker Billy Woodberry, veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio, animation maestro Bill Plympton, French director Anne Fontaine and avant-garde German director Alexander Kluge, who continues to blaze a trail at the age of 91 with his new AI work Cosmic Miniatures. As previously announced, IFFR opens with Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South and 14 titles are in the running for its top Tiger award.
Bavaria Fiction Restructures Development Team
Germany’s Bavaria Fiction is rejigging its development team with Thomas Kren placed in charge. Work has begun to restructure the unit, with Kren expanding his existing role to “accelerate and coordinate...
Awards season frontrunner Sandra Hüller has joined the roster of speakers lined up for the talks program of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. She joins 16 previously announced talks guests who also include L.A. Rebellion filmmaker Billy Woodberry, veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio, animation maestro Bill Plympton, French director Anne Fontaine and avant-garde German director Alexander Kluge, who continues to blaze a trail at the age of 91 with his new AI work Cosmic Miniatures. As previously announced, IFFR opens with Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South and 14 titles are in the running for its top Tiger award.
Bavaria Fiction Restructures Development Team
Germany’s Bavaria Fiction is rejigging its development team with Thomas Kren placed in charge. Work has begun to restructure the unit, with Kren expanding his existing role to “accelerate and coordinate...
- 1/9/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow, Jesse Whittock and Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Festival runs January 19-25 in person, January 22-28 online.
Slamdance Film Festival has announced the roster for its upcoming 30th anniversary edition, which is bookended by Carol Dysinger’s previously announced post-Afghanistan War documentary One Bullet and Vanessa Hope’s IDFA closing night documentary Invisible Nation, a profile of Taiwanese first female president Tsai Ing-wen.
Running January 19-25 in person and January 22-28 online, this year’s event returns to Yarrow Hotel in Park City where the festival launched and will showcase 32 features, of which 17 are world premieres, as well as 75 shorts, and five episodics.
Festival organisers said this year...
Slamdance Film Festival has announced the roster for its upcoming 30th anniversary edition, which is bookended by Carol Dysinger’s previously announced post-Afghanistan War documentary One Bullet and Vanessa Hope’s IDFA closing night documentary Invisible Nation, a profile of Taiwanese first female president Tsai Ing-wen.
Running January 19-25 in person and January 22-28 online, this year’s event returns to Yarrow Hotel in Park City where the festival launched and will showcase 32 features, of which 17 are world premieres, as well as 75 shorts, and five episodics.
Festival organisers said this year...
- 12/4/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
In Korea, the age of 19 marks the brink of adolescence – and in the same way, the Seoul Indie-Anifest seemed to be at a crossroads. Its programming this year looked both to the past and to the future. The special guest selection juxtaposed classic American animator Bill Plympton with a much younger contemporary, Jérémy Clapin; the film programming spilled over into more segments and now, web animation; and, in due turn, the festival turnout seemed greater in number than ever before.
Within the Korean selections of Independent Walk and First Flight, then, it is almost fitting to see the tension between past and future present in the awards. “Echo” (Kim Sangjoon), which follows a cannibalism case in the 1990s, took home the coveted “Star of Indie” Grand Prize this year. On the other hand, the speculative future of “How to get your man pregnant” (Noh Gyeong-mu) scooped the Prize for Independent Walk,...
Within the Korean selections of Independent Walk and First Flight, then, it is almost fitting to see the tension between past and future present in the awards. “Echo” (Kim Sangjoon), which follows a cannibalism case in the 1990s, took home the coveted “Star of Indie” Grand Prize this year. On the other hand, the speculative future of “How to get your man pregnant” (Noh Gyeong-mu) scooped the Prize for Independent Walk,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Animayo, Spain’s leading animation festival, is celebrating its 18th edition with the help of Disney legend Andreas Deja who will be presenting his independently-produced short, “Mushka.” “Having Deja choose Animayo to debut his film in Spain is the greatest honor,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which unspools May 3-6 on the island of Gran Canaria.
A hand-drawn 2D animated story about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a Siberian tiger in 1970s’ Soviet Union, “Mushka” is Deja’s directorial debut. His lauded Walt Disney Animation Studio credits include “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
Other notable Spanish premieres at Animayo include that of Jan Bubenicek and Denisa Grimmova’s “Even Mice Belong in Heaven,” about two mortal enemies, a mouse and a fox, who after an accident, find themselves in animal heaven.
Animayo will also treat attendees to...
A hand-drawn 2D animated story about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a Siberian tiger in 1970s’ Soviet Union, “Mushka” is Deja’s directorial debut. His lauded Walt Disney Animation Studio credits include “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
Other notable Spanish premieres at Animayo include that of Jan Bubenicek and Denisa Grimmova’s “Even Mice Belong in Heaven,” about two mortal enemies, a mouse and a fox, who after an accident, find themselves in animal heaven.
Animayo will also treat attendees to...
- 5/2/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Leading animation festival will open with Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds.
French director Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Wind is to open the Annecy International Animation Film Festival which runs from June 11-17.
The film – about two young sisters who discover a passage between this world and the extraordinary universe of The Kingdom of the Winds - is one of 11 titles selected for the festival’s official competition, where it will compete for the Crystal award.
Scroll down for full list
Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry’s Kensuke’s Kingdom – which is...
French director Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Wind is to open the Annecy International Animation Film Festival which runs from June 11-17.
The film – about two young sisters who discover a passage between this world and the extraordinary universe of The Kingdom of the Winds - is one of 11 titles selected for the festival’s official competition, where it will compete for the Crystal award.
Scroll down for full list
Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry’s Kensuke’s Kingdom – which is...
- 4/28/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Celebrating six decades as the animation industry’s premier international showcase and cementing a growing position as Hollywood’s preferred French getaway, the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival revealed its 2023 program in Paris on Thursday, unveiling a formidable selection of world premieres and industry debuts.
If only for the breadth of this year’s official selection, Annecy looks set to for its most fulsome and abundant edition.
Among the 11 titles competing for this year’s Cristal – Annecy’s top prize – Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi drama “Mars Express” and Jim Capobianco & Pierre-Luc Granjon stop-motion Leonardo da Vinci epic “The Inventor” will make their world premieres. Other eagerly anticipated titles include “Chicken for Linda!” from Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, “Four Souls of Coyote” from by Áron Gauder, and “The Inseparables” by Jérémie Degruson.
Titles like Liu Jian’s “Art College 1994” and Sepideh Farsi’s “The Siren” will arrive in the idyllic French...
If only for the breadth of this year’s official selection, Annecy looks set to for its most fulsome and abundant edition.
Among the 11 titles competing for this year’s Cristal – Annecy’s top prize – Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi drama “Mars Express” and Jim Capobianco & Pierre-Luc Granjon stop-motion Leonardo da Vinci epic “The Inventor” will make their world premieres. Other eagerly anticipated titles include “Chicken for Linda!” from Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, “Four Souls of Coyote” from by Áron Gauder, and “The Inseparables” by Jérémie Degruson.
Titles like Liu Jian’s “Art College 1994” and Sepideh Farsi’s “The Siren” will arrive in the idyllic French...
- 4/27/2023
- by Ben Croll and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 2023 edition, running from June 11 to 17.
More than 13,000 animation professionals are set to descend on the French festival’s lakeside setting for its traditional mix of screenings programs across all formats, Work-in-Progress and First-Look sneak peeks, and presentations going behind the scenes of upcoming animation productions.
Competition title Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds by French director Benoît Chieux opens the festival. The fantasy follows the adventures of two young sisters as they try to make their way home after getting trapped in the world of their favorite book.
A Cat In Paris and Phantom Boy director Alain Gagnol co-wrote the screenplay for the feature lead produced by Paris-based Sacrebleu Productions.
The film, which world premieres in Annecy, is among 11 titles competing for the festival’s Crystal award.
Another three French productions debut in Competition: Chiara Malta and...
More than 13,000 animation professionals are set to descend on the French festival’s lakeside setting for its traditional mix of screenings programs across all formats, Work-in-Progress and First-Look sneak peeks, and presentations going behind the scenes of upcoming animation productions.
Competition title Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds by French director Benoît Chieux opens the festival. The fantasy follows the adventures of two young sisters as they try to make their way home after getting trapped in the world of their favorite book.
A Cat In Paris and Phantom Boy director Alain Gagnol co-wrote the screenplay for the feature lead produced by Paris-based Sacrebleu Productions.
The film, which world premieres in Annecy, is among 11 titles competing for the festival’s Crystal award.
Another three French productions debut in Competition: Chiara Malta and...
- 4/27/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Filmmakers and executives, creatives of music, theater and art remembered Tom Luddy as friend and mentor, tastemaker and cultural force who deployed an astonishingly vast network to nurture talent and bring people and projects together over decades.
The co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival passed away in February.
“I am thinking of getting a tattoo of you on my arm,” said Irish director Mark Cousins at tribute event at the Paris Theatre over the weekend. “Here is Hitchcock on my arm, and here is and Kira Muratova. Maybe you would fit between the two?” He added, “For the rest of my life, I will see partly through your eyes. I miss you and I love you.”
“Tom Luddy was a constant presence. The sun around which so many of us have revolved,” said Ken Burns. The two met when Burns screened Huey Long at Telluride in 1985. “For the next 35-plus years,...
The co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival passed away in February.
“I am thinking of getting a tattoo of you on my arm,” said Irish director Mark Cousins at tribute event at the Paris Theatre over the weekend. “Here is Hitchcock on my arm, and here is and Kira Muratova. Maybe you would fit between the two?” He added, “For the rest of my life, I will see partly through your eyes. I miss you and I love you.”
“Tom Luddy was a constant presence. The sun around which so many of us have revolved,” said Ken Burns. The two met when Burns screened Huey Long at Telluride in 1985. “For the next 35-plus years,...
- 4/17/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
(Welcome to Animation Celebration, a recurring feature where we explore the limitless possibilities of animation as a medium. In this edition: "I Married a Strange Person!")
In the 1990s, MTV ran an animated showcase called "Liquid Television," which was a groundbreaking collection of early computer-animated shorts, highly-influential hand-drawn shorts, and was the launchpad for several high-profile originals, like Mike Judge's "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "Æon Flux." MTV snagged some of the most adventurous and experimental shorts from seasoned animators and designers of the era, including Charles Burns, Richard Sala, David Daniels, and Bill Plympton.
The latter was behind the 1987 Academy Awards-nominated short, "Your Face," which featured a man singing about the face of his love, as his own face begins to distort into increasingly unusual positions. He would go on to direct the animated musical feature, "The Tune," which was self-funded and incorporated footage from his shorts "The Wiseman,...
In the 1990s, MTV ran an animated showcase called "Liquid Television," which was a groundbreaking collection of early computer-animated shorts, highly-influential hand-drawn shorts, and was the launchpad for several high-profile originals, like Mike Judge's "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "Æon Flux." MTV snagged some of the most adventurous and experimental shorts from seasoned animators and designers of the era, including Charles Burns, Richard Sala, David Daniels, and Bill Plympton.
The latter was behind the 1987 Academy Awards-nominated short, "Your Face," which featured a man singing about the face of his love, as his own face begins to distort into increasingly unusual positions. He would go on to direct the animated musical feature, "The Tune," which was self-funded and incorporated footage from his shorts "The Wiseman,...
- 1/10/2023
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
In proudly weird Portland, Oregon, far from the Hollywood moviemaking machinery, an animation empire arose in the mid-’70s. It was fueled by a hippie-collective exuberance and one man’s “burning ambition,” as a colleague describes the enterprising energy of Will Vinton, the company’s driving force, in the engaging and insightful Claydream.
With incisive use of clips from the Vinton catalog and discerning interviews with Vinton and those who knew him, Marq Evans has made a film that pays tribute to its subject but is no starry-eyed celebration. Not unlike the characters Vinton and his collaborators brought to the screen through Claymation (a Vinton coinage and registered trademark), the doc combines exhilarating whimsy with dark and complex emotions. And any film that incorporates deposition footage is not likely to be headed toward a simple happily-ever-after.
Those legal proceedings pitted Vinton against Phil Knight,...
In proudly weird Portland, Oregon, far from the Hollywood moviemaking machinery, an animation empire arose in the mid-’70s. It was fueled by a hippie-collective exuberance and one man’s “burning ambition,” as a colleague describes the enterprising energy of Will Vinton, the company’s driving force, in the engaging and insightful Claydream.
With incisive use of clips from the Vinton catalog and discerning interviews with Vinton and those who knew him, Marq Evans has made a film that pays tribute to its subject but is no starry-eyed celebration. Not unlike the characters Vinton and his collaborators brought to the screen through Claymation (a Vinton coinage and registered trademark), the doc combines exhilarating whimsy with dark and complex emotions. And any film that incorporates deposition footage is not likely to be headed toward a simple happily-ever-after.
Those legal proceedings pitted Vinton against Phil Knight,...
- 8/12/2022
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Book of Genesis contains two competing creation stories: There’s the one where an all-powerful deity conjures everything in six days, and the version where a more anthropomorphic god rolls up his heavenly sleeves and makes man from clay.
Guess which one the visionary stop-motion artist Will Vinton would have preferred.
Co-inventor of the “Claymation” technique, Vinton wanted to be the second Walt Disney. Colorful eyegasm “ClayDream” celebrates all that Will Vinton Studios achieved — its most beloved characters include the California Raisins, rabbit-eared Domino’s Pizza menace “the Noid” and Eddie Murphy series “The PJs” — while musing about what might have been, had control of the company not been wrested away from him by Nike honcho Phil Knight, who rechristened it Laika and put his son Travis in charge.
That was an unhappy end for Vinton (who died in 2018), to be sure, but like the Old Testament origin story, this saga has multiple versions.
Guess which one the visionary stop-motion artist Will Vinton would have preferred.
Co-inventor of the “Claymation” technique, Vinton wanted to be the second Walt Disney. Colorful eyegasm “ClayDream” celebrates all that Will Vinton Studios achieved — its most beloved characters include the California Raisins, rabbit-eared Domino’s Pizza menace “the Noid” and Eddie Murphy series “The PJs” — while musing about what might have been, had control of the company not been wrested away from him by Nike honcho Phil Knight, who rechristened it Laika and put his son Travis in charge.
That was an unhappy end for Vinton (who died in 2018), to be sure, but like the Old Testament origin story, this saga has multiple versions.
- 8/5/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Two-time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton has boarded the series “Guard Dog & Bill Plympton in Brazil,” directed by Brazilian animator Cesar Cabral.
Cabral’s stop-motion “Bob Spit: We Do Not Like People” won best feature at the Quirino Awards last May.
Currently in pre-production, “Guard Dog” follows the celebrated over-anxious or just neurotic yellow canine of te title alongside his creator Plympton. “The series’ general idea is to bring Guard Dog and his owner –in this case Plympton himself – to tour Brazilian cities and draw their tourist and artistic impressions of our country,” director Cabral told Variety.
The Coala Filmes and Cup Filmes co-production is backed by Federal incentive body Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual (Fsa).
To air on pay TV Canal Brasil, the three-minute, 18-episode series will mix 2D and stop-motion techniques and will complement a 52-minute documentary on Plympton traveling through Brazil in the company of Cabral and Cup Filmes producer,...
Cabral’s stop-motion “Bob Spit: We Do Not Like People” won best feature at the Quirino Awards last May.
Currently in pre-production, “Guard Dog” follows the celebrated over-anxious or just neurotic yellow canine of te title alongside his creator Plympton. “The series’ general idea is to bring Guard Dog and his owner –in this case Plympton himself – to tour Brazilian cities and draw their tourist and artistic impressions of our country,” director Cabral told Variety.
The Coala Filmes and Cup Filmes co-production is backed by Federal incentive body Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual (Fsa).
To air on pay TV Canal Brasil, the three-minute, 18-episode series will mix 2D and stop-motion techniques and will complement a 52-minute documentary on Plympton traveling through Brazil in the company of Cabral and Cup Filmes producer,...
- 6/9/2022
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Even with two Oscar nominations under his belt, a resume that includes commercials for Geico and music videos for Kanye West and Weird Al, animator Bill Plympton remains committed to the DIY ethos and unique hand-drawn style that launched his career 35 years ago. “That’s the great thing about animation — there are no rules, so you can do anything you want,” he said during a Q&a following a screening of some of his shorts at the 15th annual Mendocino Film Festival Sunday. “I like to try and break the rules as much as possible.”
Plympton and his humorously provocative work had a receptive audience in the remote Northern California community known for its wine, weed, and art, delighting the audience with the kind of intimate programming that’s just not possible at the largest festivals. He also offered a first look at his upcoming Kickstarter-funded feature “Slide,” took...
Plympton and his humorously provocative work had a receptive audience in the remote Northern California community known for its wine, weed, and art, delighting the audience with the kind of intimate programming that’s just not possible at the largest festivals. He also offered a first look at his upcoming Kickstarter-funded feature “Slide,” took...
- 6/6/2022
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
Chances are, you landed on this review because you’re trying to game your Oscar pool, looking for a clue as to what will win the always-underseen shorts categories — in a year when they were unceremoniously booted from the telecast, no less. Well, if it’s predictions you’re looking for, there’s little contest among this year’s cartoon contenders: Academy favorite Aardman Animations has delivered a delightful frontrunner in “Robin Robin.” But don’t stop reading there! In an unusually adult-leaning year, the traditionally kid-friendly category is well worth watching in its entirety, whether in theaters or on demand, thanks to stalwart distributor ShortsTV.
The program opens with “Robin Robin,” which seems poised to earn Aardman its fifth Oscar. This half-hour Christmas musical was hatched by Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, who joined the Bristol-based studio for the express purpose of co-directing this Netflix holiday special, about a...
The program opens with “Robin Robin,” which seems poised to earn Aardman its fifth Oscar. This half-hour Christmas musical was hatched by Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, who joined the Bristol-based studio for the express purpose of co-directing this Netflix holiday special, about a...
- 3/25/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
With fears our winter travel will need a, let’s say, reconsideration, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming could hardly come at a better moment. High on list of highlights is Louis Feuillade’s delightful Les Vampires, which I suggest soundtracking to Coil, instrumental Nine Inch Nails, and Jóhann Jóhannson’s Mandy score. Notable too is a Sundance ’92 retrospective running the gamut from Paul Schrader to Derek Jarman to Jean-Pierre Gorin, and I’m especially excited for their look at one of America’s greatest actors, Sterling Hayden.
Special notice to Criterion editions of The Killing, The Last Days of Disco, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle, and programming of Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load, among the better debuts in recent years.
See the full list of January titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020
5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952
After Migration: Calabria,...
Special notice to Criterion editions of The Killing, The Last Days of Disco, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle, and programming of Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load, among the better debuts in recent years.
See the full list of January titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.
-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020
5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952
After Migration: Calabria,...
- 12/20/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Oscilloscope has acquired North American rights to Marq Evans’ Claydream, which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.
Marq Evans’ feature documentary revolves around claymation icon Will Vinton’s legal fight with Phil Knight. The Nike founder in the late 1990s came in as an investor and eventual took over the famed stop-motion production company Will Vinton Studios, which rose to prominence inventing the California Raisins, Dominos Pizza’s the Noid and the talking M&Ms as well as countless movies, TV series and commercial successes.
The film, produced by XYZ Films, Starburns Industries (Anomalisa), The McCaw and One Two Twenty Entertainment, is being sold by XYZ heading into the virtual AFM. O-Scope is planning a 2022 stateside release.
Vinton’s output was legend, fueled by the popularity of his California Raisins which belted out “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” in ads for the California Raisin Advisory Board. They alone spawned two TV specials,...
Marq Evans’ feature documentary revolves around claymation icon Will Vinton’s legal fight with Phil Knight. The Nike founder in the late 1990s came in as an investor and eventual took over the famed stop-motion production company Will Vinton Studios, which rose to prominence inventing the California Raisins, Dominos Pizza’s the Noid and the talking M&Ms as well as countless movies, TV series and commercial successes.
The film, produced by XYZ Films, Starburns Industries (Anomalisa), The McCaw and One Two Twenty Entertainment, is being sold by XYZ heading into the virtual AFM. O-Scope is planning a 2022 stateside release.
Vinton’s output was legend, fueled by the popularity of his California Raisins which belted out “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” in ads for the California Raisin Advisory Board. They alone spawned two TV specials,...
- 10/25/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
“Pearl Diver” by Norway’s Margrethe Danielsen has swept Spain’s 16th Animayo Gran Canaria Festival awards, making off with the International Grand Jury Prize as well as plaudits for best student short film, stop motion and comedy for adults.
“Pearl Diver” follows three odd couples: a hedgehog that falls in love with a balloon, two oysters anxious to meet; and an Arctic couple drifting apart.
The stop-motion animated short was produced at Volda University College and has already won a string of awards worldwide. Aside from scooping a cash prize of €3,000 and a trophy, “Pearl Diver” qualifies to compete for the Academy Award’s short list of qualifying animated shorts.
Italy’s “Where Night Falls” by Francesco Filippini nabbed the best 3D, best comedy for all ages and best screenplay awards. The short revolves around a boy and his grandmother as they set off on a shamanic journey to discover their roots.
“Pearl Diver” follows three odd couples: a hedgehog that falls in love with a balloon, two oysters anxious to meet; and an Arctic couple drifting apart.
The stop-motion animated short was produced at Volda University College and has already won a string of awards worldwide. Aside from scooping a cash prize of €3,000 and a trophy, “Pearl Diver” qualifies to compete for the Academy Award’s short list of qualifying animated shorts.
Italy’s “Where Night Falls” by Francesco Filippini nabbed the best 3D, best comedy for all ages and best screenplay awards. The short revolves around a boy and his grandmother as they set off on a shamanic journey to discover their roots.
- 6/7/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Animayo Gran Canaria, Spain’s prominent Canary Islands-based animation festival, has expanded threefold as it divides its multiple activities into three sections: In-person over May 5-8; an avatar-based virtual event on May 13-15; and online from May 17 through October.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has been a blessing; it came as a shock at first but we found a creative solution,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which also includes VFX and video gaming.
By deploying an avatar-based virtual event platform dubbed Roomkey (formerly Teooh) that enables professional and enterprise communities to sit and interact in the same digital space, Animayo Gran Canaria became the first animation festival in the world to go virtual last year. “We lured up to 45,000 participants in 2020 and expect to reach or surpass that tally in this edition,” Perea said. “Going virtual has been a blessing for mid-sized festivals as it has allowed us to expand...
“The Covid-19 pandemic has been a blessing; it came as a shock at first but we found a creative solution,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which also includes VFX and video gaming.
By deploying an avatar-based virtual event platform dubbed Roomkey (formerly Teooh) that enables professional and enterprise communities to sit and interact in the same digital space, Animayo Gran Canaria became the first animation festival in the world to go virtual last year. “We lured up to 45,000 participants in 2020 and expect to reach or surpass that tally in this edition,” Perea said. “Going virtual has been a blessing for mid-sized festivals as it has allowed us to expand...
- 4/27/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
As “The Simpsons” marks another milestone this Sunday with its 700th episode, fans can be rest assured that there are many more to come beyond that. Fox recently renewed the animated institution for another two seasons, bringing the show to Season 34 (and a grand total of 757 episodes) in 2023. But what happens after that?
“We’re going to definitely do 757,” said executive producer Al Jean. “I wouldn’t say that’s the end but I don’t know how much further we can go.”
He laughs at the idea of making it to an even 1,000 episodes, noting that it would take another 12 years to pull off that feat. But it’s not out of the question, and Jean notes that with virtually every classic series being rebooted — including animated entries like “Beavis & Butt-Head” — he doesn’t think “The Simpsons” would stay dormant for long even if production stopped. “As soon as they cancel us,...
“We’re going to definitely do 757,” said executive producer Al Jean. “I wouldn’t say that’s the end but I don’t know how much further we can go.”
He laughs at the idea of making it to an even 1,000 episodes, noting that it would take another 12 years to pull off that feat. But it’s not out of the question, and Jean notes that with virtually every classic series being rebooted — including animated entries like “Beavis & Butt-Head” — he doesn’t think “The Simpsons” would stay dormant for long even if production stopped. “As soon as they cancel us,...
- 3/19/2021
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
Albert Brooks is back as a guest voice on “The Simpsons” this Sunday for the first time in six years, and Variety has a sneak peek at his latest role on animated series.
In “Yokel Hero,” Cletus (Hank Azaria) becomes a singing sensation, with the help of Homer (Dan Castellaneta). Then Cletus turns on his fans, ruining everything. Brooks makes a guest-voice appearance as the “Slick Manager” (that’s the character’s name) at “United Parasites Management Company,” eager to sign Cletus and make him a star. Scroll down to watch the first-look clip.
“Yokel Hero,” which airs Sunday, March 7 at 8 p.m. on Fox, is the first time Brooks has provided a guest voice on “The Simpsons” since 2015.
Executive producer Al Jean touted Brooks’ appearance this time out as longer than normal, “almost all of the third act… and of course, he’s always hilarious. It’s really funny to record him,...
In “Yokel Hero,” Cletus (Hank Azaria) becomes a singing sensation, with the help of Homer (Dan Castellaneta). Then Cletus turns on his fans, ruining everything. Brooks makes a guest-voice appearance as the “Slick Manager” (that’s the character’s name) at “United Parasites Management Company,” eager to sign Cletus and make him a star. Scroll down to watch the first-look clip.
“Yokel Hero,” which airs Sunday, March 7 at 8 p.m. on Fox, is the first time Brooks has provided a guest voice on “The Simpsons” since 2015.
Executive producer Al Jean touted Brooks’ appearance this time out as longer than normal, “almost all of the third act… and of course, he’s always hilarious. It’s really funny to record him,...
- 3/5/2021
- by Michael Schneider
- Variety Film + TV
Outside episodic television, adult animation is seldom procured at studios in the U.S. Still; the medium has found stateside keepers of mature content among independent creators. Dash Shaw, alongside fiercely autonomous storytellers like Don Hertzfeldt and veteran Bill Plympton, is one of the most visionary American animation filmmakers pushing past the thematic and aesthetic boundaries imposed in family-friendly fare.
Read More: 25 Most Anticipated 2021 Sundance Film Festival Premieres
In “Cryptozoo,” his follow-up to the hilarious disaster teen comedy “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea,” Shaw, who’s also quite prolific in the comic book arena, has gone bolder and more intricate in a kaleidoscopic adventure best dubbed as the “Jurassic Park” of mythical creatures.
Continue reading ‘Cryptozoo’: Dash Shaw’s Spectacular Animated Adventure Is the ‘Jurassic Park’ Of Mythical Creatures [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
Read More: 25 Most Anticipated 2021 Sundance Film Festival Premieres
In “Cryptozoo,” his follow-up to the hilarious disaster teen comedy “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea,” Shaw, who’s also quite prolific in the comic book arena, has gone bolder and more intricate in a kaleidoscopic adventure best dubbed as the “Jurassic Park” of mythical creatures.
Continue reading ‘Cryptozoo’: Dash Shaw’s Spectacular Animated Adventure Is the ‘Jurassic Park’ Of Mythical Creatures [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
- 1/29/2021
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Playlist
International attention to Indian animation has certainly refocused after the release of “Bombay Rose”, and this particular short is no exception. Freelance animator Shaheen Sheriff tempts smiles and laughter in this year’s “Asian Focus” of Cartoon Underground’s International Competition with their five-minute film, “Watchmakers at Time’s End.”
“Watchmakers at Time’s End” is Screening at Cartoons Underground
“Watchmakers at Time’s End” revolves around a Kerala watchmaker’s dilemma in a whimsical alternate universe. At one point, a meteor hit the Earth so hard that the Earth has been tilted off-center from its axis; since then, it has been nigh impossible to measure time. One day, however, a mysterious substance falls from the heavens – one that allows the watchmaker to accurately tell time again. The joy is only short-lived, however, once another meteor shower destroys what little is left.
The film is certainly charming. With the zany...
“Watchmakers at Time’s End” is Screening at Cartoons Underground
“Watchmakers at Time’s End” revolves around a Kerala watchmaker’s dilemma in a whimsical alternate universe. At one point, a meteor hit the Earth so hard that the Earth has been tilted off-center from its axis; since then, it has been nigh impossible to measure time. One day, however, a mysterious substance falls from the heavens – one that allows the watchmaker to accurately tell time again. The joy is only short-lived, however, once another meteor shower destroys what little is left.
The film is certainly charming. With the zany...
- 12/11/2020
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
If you’re looking to dive into the best of independent and foreign filmmaking, The Criterion Channel has announced their August 2020 lineup. The impressive slate includes retrospectives dedicated to Mia Hansen-Løve, Bill Gunn, Stephen Cone, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Alain Delon, Bill Plympton, Les Blank, and more.
In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...
In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...
- 7/24/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Without Spike & Mike, two hippie friends from Riverside, California, who pioneered the animation festival in the late ’70s, the indie short wouldn’t have become the cultural phenomenon that has helped shaped the industry today. That’s the takeaway of the celebratory documentary, “Animation Outlaws,” directed by stop-motion animator Kat Alioshin (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”), available now on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Fandango Now, PlayStation, and Vimeo.
“Beyond anybody in the world, we stepped up and did it first, and premiered it first, and made it first — and that’s why the documentary is so important to me,” said Spike Decker, who first promoted rock bands and classic horror movies with the late Mike Gribble (who passed away from cancer in ’94) before segueing into animation festivals. Their “Spike & Mike’s Animation Festival” and the “Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation” (launched in ’90) made the art form “something more dangerous...
“Beyond anybody in the world, we stepped up and did it first, and premiered it first, and made it first — and that’s why the documentary is so important to me,” said Spike Decker, who first promoted rock bands and classic horror movies with the late Mike Gribble (who passed away from cancer in ’94) before segueing into animation festivals. Their “Spike & Mike’s Animation Festival” and the “Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation” (launched in ’90) made the art form “something more dangerous...
- 7/17/2020
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Mike Gribble, co-founder of Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation, was just 42 years old when he died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 — an awful case of a larger-than-life film-world figure dying before his work was done. That probably would have been the perfect time for Kat Alioshin’s short, oh-so-adulatory “Animation Outlaws,” which plays more like a pop-art tribute video than a well-rounded documentary about Gribble and marginally less eccentric accomplice Craig Decker (aka “Spike”).
As it is, the film arrives long after the world of animation has been permanently reconfigured, thanks to a rebellious CG venture known as “Toy Story” and a little innovation called the internet. Today, it could be difficult to convince college kids — who grew up on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, and for whom anime has moved mainstream — that there was a time just a few decades back when Disney was practically the only game in town.
As it is, the film arrives long after the world of animation has been permanently reconfigured, thanks to a rebellious CG venture known as “Toy Story” and a little innovation called the internet. Today, it could be difficult to convince college kids — who grew up on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, and for whom anime has moved mainstream — that there was a time just a few decades back when Disney was practically the only game in town.
- 7/16/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Any community or movement requires the support of curators and fans to flourish. Spike and Mike are credited with investing in a market where one didn’t exist and without them it’s quite possible we’d never have the likes of The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation was born when two concert promotors from Riverside, California: Craig “Spike” Decker and Mike Gribble, who started showing cartoons between acts. Originally sourcing from smaller distributors, college campuses, and the National Film Board of Canada, they grew their brand to compete with others and found their niche with their Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. Originally a touring show that started in non-traditional venues on college campuses, the tour grew to include independent cinemas. That’s where I discovered it–on our annual family trip to Disney. Although intended for audience members 18 and older,...
- 1/29/2020
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Four female Italian bandits known as “Le Drude” are the protagonists of “My Body Will Bury You” a Sicily-set revenge drama/Western set in 1860 that is among standout titles presented to prospective buyers and sales agents during the Rome Mia market’s What’s Next Italy showcase.
This second feature by Alessandro La Parola, whose bittersweet comedy debut “E se domani” won some prizes and critical accolades, is loosely based on the director’s research about the period when Garibaldi in his effort to unify Italy invaded Sicily, then a lawless territory where gangs of female rebels formed. Footage of the film (pictured) revealed a genre-bender that mixes period costumer, Western, and action tropes. The trigger-happy killer among the four fierce women — who have joined forces to avenge cruelties that they, and others, have been subjected to — is played by Sicilian actress Margareth Made who emerged in Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baaria.
This second feature by Alessandro La Parola, whose bittersweet comedy debut “E se domani” won some prizes and critical accolades, is loosely based on the director’s research about the period when Garibaldi in his effort to unify Italy invaded Sicily, then a lawless territory where gangs of female rebels formed. Footage of the film (pictured) revealed a genre-bender that mixes period costumer, Western, and action tropes. The trigger-happy killer among the four fierce women — who have joined forces to avenge cruelties that they, and others, have been subjected to — is played by Sicilian actress Margareth Made who emerged in Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baaria.
- 10/21/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Shivani Pandya Malhotra joins forces with Emirati filmmaker in marketing and consultancy venture.
Former Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) managing director Shivani Pandya Malhotra and Emirati director and producer Mohammed Saeed Harib have launched a new marketing and consultancy venture called NearEast Entertainment.
The company, which is based in Dubai, will offer strategic marketing services and consultancy, targeting the TV, music, film, arts and live events sectors throughout the Mena region.
One of its key focuses will be working with filmmakers from the region, to help them secure finance for their projects, establish connections with industry professionals from across the...
Former Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) managing director Shivani Pandya Malhotra and Emirati director and producer Mohammed Saeed Harib have launched a new marketing and consultancy venture called NearEast Entertainment.
The company, which is based in Dubai, will offer strategic marketing services and consultancy, targeting the TV, music, film, arts and live events sectors throughout the Mena region.
One of its key focuses will be working with filmmakers from the region, to help them secure finance for their projects, establish connections with industry professionals from across the...
- 9/24/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Drawing a cartoon feature by hand, frame by frame, used to be the only way to make one. But with the rise of computer imagery, it didn’t take long for hand-drawn animation to become a highly specialized pursuit. At the megaplex, hand-drawn animation has officially gone the way of the dodo bird, but it still pops up in the indie world, where hand-drawn features are now artisanal curiosities. That’s part of the fun of going to them.
The veteran animator Bill Plympton, born in 1946, is a religious believer in the form. He has never stopped animating by hand — and more than that, in the six features he has made, he insists on drawing each and every frame himself. Now that’s devotion, if not obsession.
“Revengeance” marks the first time that Plympton has shared the director credit on a feature, and the film doesn’t have Plympton’s...
The veteran animator Bill Plympton, born in 1946, is a religious believer in the form. He has never stopped animating by hand — and more than that, in the six features he has made, he insists on drawing each and every frame himself. Now that’s devotion, if not obsession.
“Revengeance” marks the first time that Plympton has shared the director credit on a feature, and the film doesn’t have Plympton’s...
- 8/4/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
One of the most prestigious events of its kind, and undoubtedly the oldest, France’s Annecy Intl. Animated Film Festival is set to once again become the temporary international capital of cartoons from June 11-16. Whittled down from more than 3,000 entries, the festival’s official selection boasts more than 200 features and shorts hailing from the world over, with the directors of competition films vying to join past winners including Wes Anderson, Hayao Miyazaki and Bill Plympton. But perhaps just as important, the festival, which notched a milestone last year with 10,000 accredited attendees, provides a state-of-the-art summit of artists and execs from all across the variegated walks of animated film.
Annecy’s feature competition slate boasts a range of crowd-pleasers (such as Nora Twomey’s “The Breadwinner” and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai”) and more left-field entries such as Nina Paley’s “Seder-Masochism” and Santiago Caicedo’s “Virus Tropical.” None of the...
Annecy’s feature competition slate boasts a range of crowd-pleasers (such as Nora Twomey’s “The Breadwinner” and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai”) and more left-field entries such as Nina Paley’s “Seder-Masochism” and Santiago Caicedo’s “Virus Tropical.” None of the...
- 6/6/2018
- by Andrew Barker
- Variety Film + TV
In 1993, after not being accepted into any major film festival of the time, such as Sundance, filmmaker Todd Phillips personally toured the U.S. and Europe with his first documentary film, Hated: Gg Allin & The Murder Junkies. Following this experience, Phillips partnered up with fellow filmmaker Andrew Gurland to launch several initiatives to help small, challenging and often controversial films connect with audiences.
One of those initiatives was the first ever New York Underground Film and Video Festival, which was held at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City on March 18-20, 1994.
The term “underground film” was first used to describe the experimental film scene in 1961 by filmmaker and film theorist Stan Vanderbeek. Using “underground film” to describe the avant-garde cinema remained popular throughout the ’60s, then lost popularity in the ’70s as terms like “structural film” came into existence. “Underground film” ultimately regained some of its mojo...
One of those initiatives was the first ever New York Underground Film and Video Festival, which was held at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City on March 18-20, 1994.
The term “underground film” was first used to describe the experimental film scene in 1961 by filmmaker and film theorist Stan Vanderbeek. Using “underground film” to describe the avant-garde cinema remained popular throughout the ’60s, then lost popularity in the ’70s as terms like “structural film” came into existence. “Underground film” ultimately regained some of its mojo...
- 2/18/2018
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Bill Plympton's fans will need disclaimers before settling into his latest feature offering, Revengeance: The animation pioneer didn't write it, and the characters are not drawn in his usual style. Though his pacing and framing tendencies are evident, this film finds the artist serving the vision of a much less famous animator, Pasadena's Jim Lujan. Set in a cartoonishly seedy version of California's Inland Empire, this lowlife tale of bikers and reality-show politicians diverts without quite justifying its presence as a feature, though many fans of both artists will be pleased with what appears to be a happy collaboration.
Animated...
Animated...
- 10/16/2017
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Venice Announces 2017 Lineup, Including ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘Suburbicon,’ ‘mother!,’ and Many More
Will 2017 be the year that Venice gets its king-making mojo back? After a steady run of debuting recent best picture winners — from “Spotlight” to “Birdman” — the festival missed out on last year’s big winner, “Moonlight,” which bowed at Telluride. This year’s lineup is a promising one, and while it’s still very early in the process, it’s difficult not to pick through today’s announcement of the festival’s slate and not search for the big contenders.
As was previously announced, the festival will open with Alexander Payne’s social satire “Downsizing,” starring Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig. The festival will also play home to the premiere of the Netflix original “Our Souls at Night,” as part of their planned tribute to stars Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Annette Bening will lead the competition jury, ending an 11-year succession of male jury chiefs.
Read MoreIndieWire Fall Film...
As was previously announced, the festival will open with Alexander Payne’s social satire “Downsizing,” starring Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig. The festival will also play home to the premiere of the Netflix original “Our Souls at Night,” as part of their planned tribute to stars Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Annette Bening will lead the competition jury, ending an 11-year succession of male jury chiefs.
Read MoreIndieWire Fall Film...
- 7/27/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The HollyShorts Film Festival has today unveiled its official lineup of in-competition short films for its 13th edition. As La’s biggest shorts film festival, HollyShorts routinely screens exciting new work from big names, while also offering a glimpse at the short film stars of tomorrow, all with the added sweetener of being an Oscar-qualifying festival.
This year’s festival received an all-time record of 4,000 submissions from 65 countries. This year’s lineup include 400 shorts, which will compete for the Best Short Film Prize and Grand Jury Prize, Best Director, among other top categories. The 2017 official selections have been rolled out via posts on the HollyShorts official Instagram, and all of the 400 officially accepted short films that will screen at the festival can be found by visiting here.
Read More‘Full Metal Jacket’ Set for Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration at HollyShorts — Exclusive
Highlights from this year’s selection include films that offer...
This year’s festival received an all-time record of 4,000 submissions from 65 countries. This year’s lineup include 400 shorts, which will compete for the Best Short Film Prize and Grand Jury Prize, Best Director, among other top categories. The 2017 official selections have been rolled out via posts on the HollyShorts official Instagram, and all of the 400 officially accepted short films that will screen at the festival can be found by visiting here.
Read More‘Full Metal Jacket’ Set for Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration at HollyShorts — Exclusive
Highlights from this year’s selection include films that offer...
- 7/25/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival still is over a month from kicking off, but the starry annual event is pulling out zero stops when it comes to its first official slate announcement. The festival will close out with Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledo’s “C’est la vie!,” and the Special Presentations section will open with Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, “Lady Bird,” and close with Amr Salama’s “Sheikh Jackson.”
Today’s first glimpse of this year’s programing include a slew of 2017’s most anticipated features, including Guillermo del Toro’s adult fairy tale “The Shape of Water,” Alexander Payne’s Matt Damon-starring comedy “Downsizing,” Darren Aronofsky’s secretive “mother!,” George Clooney’s reportedly uber-violent “Suburbicon,” and Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
And that is just the tip of a very big iceberg, one that today includes the announcement of both Gala and Special Presentations titles.
Today’s first glimpse of this year’s programing include a slew of 2017’s most anticipated features, including Guillermo del Toro’s adult fairy tale “The Shape of Water,” Alexander Payne’s Matt Damon-starring comedy “Downsizing,” Darren Aronofsky’s secretive “mother!,” George Clooney’s reportedly uber-violent “Suburbicon,” and Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
And that is just the tip of a very big iceberg, one that today includes the announcement of both Gala and Special Presentations titles.
- 7/25/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Donald Trump’s approval ratings suggest that most in the country aren’t pleased with him right now, but at least one person is sticking by the current occupant of the White House: Richard Nixon. That’s according to a new short from “The Simpsons” called “125 Days,” which finds Nixon’s ghost barging in on a meeting between Trump and James Comey.
Read More: ‘The Simpsons’ Sneak Peek: Ivanka Trump Takes Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court Seat — Watch
After a brief tour of the White House — Mike Pence erases “Vice” from his nameplate; Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner and Kellyanne Conway have all hanged themselves; and Jeff Sessions scurries away like a rat — we see Trump in his chambers as he makes a halfhearted attempt to reconcile with the fired FBI Director.
Enter Nixon, who’s practically giddy with the way Trump’s administration is going so far: “I came to thank you,...
Read More: ‘The Simpsons’ Sneak Peek: Ivanka Trump Takes Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court Seat — Watch
After a brief tour of the White House — Mike Pence erases “Vice” from his nameplate; Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner and Kellyanne Conway have all hanged themselves; and Jeff Sessions scurries away like a rat — we see Trump in his chambers as he makes a halfhearted attempt to reconcile with the fired FBI Director.
Enter Nixon, who’s practically giddy with the way Trump’s administration is going so far: “I came to thank you,...
- 5/27/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Well, the title says it all: renowned Japanese animation Studio 4°C plans on re-releasing Yuasa Masaaki's utterly brilliant 2004 feature film Mind Game on Blu-ray, with several levels of pimping added if stretch goals are reached. On the Western end, Scottish distributor Anime Ltd and their French co-company All The Anime are helping Studio 4°C with a Kickstarter campaign, one which reached its initial tier almost within one hour. Better think up some more stretch goals and reward perks, good people from Anime Ltd! My crowdfunding-sense tells me you'll need them. Yuasa Masaaki is one of the greatest artists currently working in animation, and his films transcend what's regularly known as anime. Mind Game is seen as his masterpiece, and the great Bill Plympton called...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/30/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Indie animation king Bill Plympton just couldn’t stay away from “The Simpsons.”
The Oscar nominee returns to animate the couch gag for Sunday’s episode, “22 for 30,” which is a spoof of Espn’s acclaimed sports documentary series “30 for 30.”
Read More: Robot Chicken Creates Couch Gag for ‘The Simpsons’ — Watch
Plympton has created a “Simpsons” couch gag gig three times before. The first was for the episode “Beware My Cheating Bart,” in which Homer has a relationship with the couch, which leads to an epic tale of heartbreak and a baby couch. For the episode “Black Eyed, Please,” Plympton paid homage to 1930s gangster chic by imagining the Simpsons clan with weapons, ready to defend their turf. Finally, with “Married to the Blob,” the family sits on the couch as Maggie changes their surrounding using the TV remote control.
Plympton’s latest couch gag begins with squiggly and rudimentary drawings...
The Oscar nominee returns to animate the couch gag for Sunday’s episode, “22 for 30,” which is a spoof of Espn’s acclaimed sports documentary series “30 for 30.”
Read More: Robot Chicken Creates Couch Gag for ‘The Simpsons’ — Watch
Plympton has created a “Simpsons” couch gag gig three times before. The first was for the episode “Beware My Cheating Bart,” in which Homer has a relationship with the couch, which leads to an epic tale of heartbreak and a baby couch. For the episode “Black Eyed, Please,” Plympton paid homage to 1930s gangster chic by imagining the Simpsons clan with weapons, ready to defend their turf. Finally, with “Married to the Blob,” the family sits on the couch as Maggie changes their surrounding using the TV remote control.
Plympton’s latest couch gag begins with squiggly and rudimentary drawings...
- 3/9/2017
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
With animated food orgies, grotesque depictions of living objects hacked to pieces, and F-bombs galore, “Sausage Party” shatters taboos with glee. Now, its creators are getting the last laugh.
Co-writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg first conceived of the deranged animated comedy nearly a decade ago, and every studio passed on it. “We really naively thought everyone in Hollywood would be very enthusiastic about an R-rated comedy about a hot dog trying to uncover the meaning of existence,” Rogen told a New York crowd filled with members of the Academy’s animation branch last weekend. “We were wrong.”
Years later, with the help of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, “Sausage Party” came to vulgar life under the guidance of veteran animation directors Conrad Vernon (“Shrek 2”) and Greg Tiernan. To date, the movie has grossed over $138 million worldwide, well over its reported $19 million budget, inspiring distributor Sony to mount an...
Co-writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg first conceived of the deranged animated comedy nearly a decade ago, and every studio passed on it. “We really naively thought everyone in Hollywood would be very enthusiastic about an R-rated comedy about a hot dog trying to uncover the meaning of existence,” Rogen told a New York crowd filled with members of the Academy’s animation branch last weekend. “We were wrong.”
Years later, with the help of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, “Sausage Party” came to vulgar life under the guidance of veteran animation directors Conrad Vernon (“Shrek 2”) and Greg Tiernan. To date, the movie has grossed over $138 million worldwide, well over its reported $19 million budget, inspiring distributor Sony to mount an...
- 11/15/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
“Sausage Party” may be a film about a hotdog that wants to have sex with a bun, but it still represents a watershed moment for Hollywood. The raunchy comedy that’s grossed $65 million after two weeks in theaters is the first R-rated CG animated movie. Co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “Sausage Party” has sex, violence and curse words in a format that has always been reserved for family-friendly fare.
Read More: Seth Rogen’s R-Rated ‘Sausage Party’ Tries to Break Through the Family-Friendly Animation Glass Ceiling
The movie features the voices of comedic stars like Rogen, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, James Franco and Paul Rudd playing anthropomorphized food items who discover their only reason for existing is to be eaten by humans. Directors Conrad Vernon (“Monsters vs. Aliens”) and Greg Tiernan (TV’s “Thomas & Friends”) have backgrounds in traditional animation aimed at children, but there’s nothing traditional about this deranged dark comedy.
Read More: Seth Rogen’s R-Rated ‘Sausage Party’ Tries to Break Through the Family-Friendly Animation Glass Ceiling
The movie features the voices of comedic stars like Rogen, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, James Franco and Paul Rudd playing anthropomorphized food items who discover their only reason for existing is to be eaten by humans. Directors Conrad Vernon (“Monsters vs. Aliens”) and Greg Tiernan (TV’s “Thomas & Friends”) have backgrounds in traditional animation aimed at children, but there’s nothing traditional about this deranged dark comedy.
- 8/23/2016
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
On July 15, 1996, IndieWire launched as an e-mail newsletter providing “the daily news service for independent film.” (See the first newsletter here.) The original iteration of the site was the brainchild of Cheri Barner, Eugene Hernandez and Mark Rabinowitz, three recent college students obsessed with the movies. In the ensuing years, IndieWire grew and changed hands many times over. Barner now works as a talent manager in Los Angeles, Hernandez is the deputy director of the Film Society Lincoln Center, and Rabinowitz is a freelance publicist, consultant and programmer.
But they have remained a part of our close-knit community. As IndieWire arrives at its 20th anniversary, the trio gathered together for their first joint interview to recall the early days of IndieWire — as well as the thriving American independent film scene that inspired the publication.
Eugene Hernandez: IndieWire was an outgrowth of something that Mark, Cheri and I had started in 1995. At the time,...
But they have remained a part of our close-knit community. As IndieWire arrives at its 20th anniversary, the trio gathered together for their first joint interview to recall the early days of IndieWire — as well as the thriving American independent film scene that inspired the publication.
Eugene Hernandez: IndieWire was an outgrowth of something that Mark, Cheri and I had started in 1995. At the time,...
- 7/14/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Hitler’S Folly Bill Plympton Studios Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: C- Director: Bill Plympton Written by: Bill Plympton Cast: Nate Steinwachs, Dana Ashbrook, Michael Sullivan, Kristin Samuelson, Andreas Hykade, Morton Hall Millen, David Shakopi, Kevin Kolack, Edie Bales, Alfred Rosenblatt, Ari Taub, James Hancock Screened at: Free Link, NYC, 6/3/16 Opens: June 1, 2016 Mel Brooks, who directed the film “The Producers”—which features the hilarious, boundary-shattering song “Springtime for Hitler”–can breathe a sigh of relief. His reputation as the creator of what is arguably the best, most audacious laugh-fest about the 20th Century’s worst tyrant easily matching Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 “The Great Dictator,” stands without a real modern challenge. [ Read More ]
The post Hitler’s Folly Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Hitler’s Folly Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 6/21/2016
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
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