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January 28, 2009
 For those who missed last year's Ottawa International Animation Festival or who simply can't wait for this year's edition, the Best of the Ottawa 2008 is coming soon to Montreal's Cinema du Parc as well as other selected venues. Films included in the program include A Letter to Colleen and the Mixy Tapes, The Comic that Frenches your Mind, Run Wrake's The Control Master and OIAF Grand Prize winner Chainsaw. Labels: Chainsaw, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Run Wrake, shorts September 17, 2008
 It's been a crazy year, but I have been looking forward to the Ottawa International Animation Festival, well.. since the last one ended. This is always the case. Emru will miss his first festival since 1988, but Brenden Fletcher, Rene Walling and I will be taking in the fest, and we'll try to bring some of it back to you, too. As usual, there lineup is exceptional. I don't know how I am going to make to all of the special screenings and retrospectives. Just a few of my must-see list items include the Michael Sporn and Jonas Odell retrospectives, Brainwashed! Cartoons That Tell Us What To Think, and The New Wave of Japanese Animation. Richard Williams' presentation (in interview with John Canemaker) would be in my list, but it's sold already out, which is altogether unsurprising considering the circumstances. If there are any seats left 15 minutes before the event, rush tickets will be sold, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I will have to satisfy myself with a special screening of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? instead. I'm also looking forward to the Yo Gabba Gabba! presentation on Saturday. I haven't even gotten into the masterclasses, workshops and panels. Honestly, it's like trying to bail out the ocean with a bucket. I'm going to enjoy trying! Labels: features, festivals, Jonas Odell, Michael Sporn, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Richard Williams, shorts July 10, 2008
On the corporate-but-cool side of things and providing this year's opening keynote speech is the President of Animation for Nickelodeon, MTVN Kids and Family Group, Brown Johnson. Ms. Johnson is responsible for some of my niece's favourite programs, from the Dora and Diego series all the way to the mighty Squarepanted one himself! From the press release, “Johnson, Green and Senreich are leaders in the industry,” says TAC Director Azarin Sohrabkhani, “We are excited and honoured to have them offering the keynote speeches this year, which will set the tone of the conference, giving insight and inspiration on how to create a quality product and achieve great commercial success.” All three guest speakers will give their keynote speeches at the Television Animation Conference, complement to the OIAF on September 17th & 18th, 2008 in Ottawa, Ontario. Previously on fps: OIAF 2006: The Television Animation Conference, Part 1 Labels: Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Robot Chicken, Seth Green, SpongeBob Squarepants, Television Animation Conference July 1, 2008
 It's a week of firsts for this blogger - this is my first post on fps and my first experience with Montreal's famous genre spectacle, the Fantasia Film Festival. Illustrator and fellow fps blogger Matt Forsythe and I attended the press symposium and were treated to a preview of what we can expect from July 3rd-21st. This year's animated offerings feature an unusual and unintentional focus on collaborative efforts and collections of short films, from DC Comics' Batman: Gotham Knight, Studio 4C's aptly named anime extravaganza, Genius Party, and the cutting-edge showcase, Best of Ottawa Animation Festival 2007. There are only two single-narrative feature-length animated presentations in the entire fest - Bill Plympton's poetic, pencil-scratch surrealist vision, Idiots and Angels and John Bergin's bleak, post-apocalyptic fable, From Inside. We'll cover each entry in more detail throughout the festival. Continue past the jump for a full schedule of the animated films screening at Fantasia 2008:  July 4th - 7:30PM - Hall Theatre - Genius Party July 5th - 12:00PM - Hall Theatre - Batman: Gotham Knight July 5th - 1:00PM - J.A. De Seve - Best of Ottawa Animation Festival 2007 July 6th - 1:00PM - Hall Theatre - Genius Party July 7th - 9:45PM - Hall Theatre - Peur (s) Du Noir July 9th - 3:00PM - J.A. De Seve - Peur (s) Du Noir July 9th - 7:30PM - Hall Theatre - Idiots and Angels (Hosted by creator, Bill Plympton) July 12th - 2:40PM - J.A. De Seve - Outer Limits Of Animation 2008 (Shorts from around the globe) July 13th - 9:40PM - J.A. De Seve - From Inside July 14th - 3:00PM - J.A. De Seve - From Inside (Okay, who's the putz that programmed Batman: Gotham Knight to screen at the same time as the Ottawa Festival shorts?! ...sigh... guess I'll have to watch you at home on Blu-ray, Batman...) Tickets go on sale July 2nd at 2PM at the Concordia Hall Theatre (Guy-Concordia Metro) and throughout the Admission Network at $7.50 each. Directions:Hall Theatre - 1455 Maisonneuve O. (Guy Metro) Map and Directions DB Clarke Theatre - 1455 Maisonneuve O. (Guy Metro) Map and Directions J.A. De Seve - 1400 Maisonneuve O. (Guy Metro) Map and Directions Previously on fps: 2007 Fantasia Line-Up Batman: Gotham Knight Online Genius Party Trailers Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton Labels: anime, Batman, Bill Plympton, Fantasia festival, festivals, From Inside, Genius Party, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts, Studio 4C December 7, 2007
 At last year's Ottawa International Animation Festival, I met with I.Toon founder and president Yuichi Ito; at this year's festival, we—along with his manager Hiroko Kamata—sat down to talk about his series of short stop-motion films, Norabbits' Minutes. Listen to the interview and see the short Labels: anime, interviews, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts, stop-motion October 19, 2007
 Atopia has acquired North American rights to The District (Nyocker!), the 2005 Hungarian feature by Aron Gauder. The film screens in Montreal beginning Friday, October 26th at the Cinema du Parc for a two-week run. The film will then show at Boston's Brattle Theatre, Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Cinema beginning November 16 for a week, Winnipeg's Cinematheque from November 26 to 28, and Cleveland's CIA Cinematheque in late January.In Fall 2005, I had the pleasure of seeing it at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and Matt Forsythe saw it a several weeks later at the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema. It sported bold visuals, an infectious hip-hop soundtrack, and starred a motley group of teenagers from the streets of Budapest. Gauder did not shy away from any subject and touched on many, including sex, ethnic differences, politics, and time travel, just to name a few. The District's satire is raw, strange and very funny, and you never know where the story is going to lead you, and that is all part of the experience. Some films try to be too many things at once, but the film's break-neck pace and unpredictability are definitely a part of its charm. Over the last two years, fps contributors joined the chorus of voices that have noted the film's irreverent style and storytelling. It continued to be a hit a festivals and many people wondered why more films that broke the mold weren't available to a wider audience. If you didn't have a chance to see The District, here's your chance. Hopefully, the continued successes of non-formulaic international animated features like The District will open up the theatrical market to innovative animated features that are not afraid to tell new stories, with distinctive visual styles. Labels: Austin, Boston, Cleveland, features, Hungary, Montreal, Nyocker, OIAF, The District, WFAC, Winnipeg October 11, 2007
 When I sat down to watch Persepolis, the opening film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, I was already a fan of the comics it was based on—even though I'd never read them. A year ago Kino Kid introduced me to Marjane Satrapi's work via Poulet aux prunes (Chicken with Plums), another comic set in her native Iran, and it quietly blew me away with its lyrical storytelling. Like Charles M. Schulz's work, Satrapi's style is deceptive: It would be easy to look at its simplicity and starkness (like most of Schulz's work, her comics are in black and white, with no greys) and declare it childish or naïve. It would also be an injustice. With heavy-lidded eyes, wide-open mouths or rubber-hosey limbs, Satrapi's characters convey everything from gleeful, kinetic action to stark terror to heart-rending anguish—which is perfectly fitting for the autobiographical Persepolis. The movie opens in Tehran, just a few years before the Iranian Revolution. Marjane's educated, progressive and politically aware parents are anticipating the fall of the Shah, and when the demonstrations start they're out on the streets protesting. In the middle of all this upheaval Marjane is starting to piece together her world view in that broad, semi-understanding, somewhat egocentric way that only a child can. As the situation becomes more dangerous (the protests turn violent), then hopeful (the Shah goes into exile, political prisoners are freed), then horribly awry (the rise of Islamic fundamentalism) she's forced to learn complicated, terrible lessons in a very short time. One of the hardest lessons for Marjane to learn is to temper her smart mouth. A bright child raised by socially conscious parents, she had long been encouraged to question and to speak her mind—not an especially bad thing during the Shah's last days in power, but a dangerous trait in an increasingly restrictive society, and especially in one that devalues its women. When she's fourteen, her parents realize that Marjane can't thrive in Iran, so they send her to a French school in Vienna. It's there that Marjane suffers the trials and confusion of culture shock, racism and adolescence, sometimes separately, often all at once. I ended up reading the first two collected Persepolis volumes after seeing the movie, and was struck by how well they complement each other. Because of the way comics telescope time, there are some things that the movie compresses, and others it extends. In some cases, it's a mix of both: A scene in which the Guardians of the Revolution, Iran's militia and moral police, break up an illicit party is given more play in the movie, but Marjane's emotional aftermath is reduced to mere moments—and the result is that much more powerful.  The movie, which is co-written and co-directed by Satrapi (along with Vincent Paronnaud), is extremely faithful to her style; though it includes more grey tones to provide some texture, there are only slight concessions to the animated medium. (Again, a comparison to Schulz's Peanuts is apt here). Faithful, however, doesn't mean slavish: rather than using the comics as a literal storyboard, the movie uses them as springboard. As loose as the comics' style is, the movie takes advantage of animation's possibilities, especially with regards to the chadors and habits of the strictly religious Iranian women and nuns who have the misfortune to cross Marjane's path. Bodies bend, curve and coil; rarely to extreme, but often with a liveliness that's just a step above Satrapi's more contemplative comics. Several one- or two-panel elements (or even just speech balloons) from the comic get extended, sometimes hilarious play in the movie, including a whimsical take on the Shah's father's installation by the British, and the best rendition of "Eye of the Tiger" ever.Persepolis is the cinematic sibling of other autobiographical films that encompass cultures and experiences that most in the West have heard or read of, but only really know superficially, like Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies; but it's also quite different. There's no singular, epic tragic moment as in Barefoot Gen, nor is there the shadow of death that hangs over Grave of the Fireflies. What we do have is several decades of a life, rather than a tiny sliver; and by observing the growth of that life, we're given a nuanced look at the culture and the people that shaped it. Satrapi's gaze is unflinching as she exposes everyone's good and bad sides; she not only reveals her own failings and hypocrisies, she exposes the good in people it would be easy to write off. When two militia members stop her family late one evening, she and her grandmother try to get to the apartment quickly so they can ditch her father's supply of alcohol. When the grandmother plays at being hypoglycemic for their excuse, one of the guardsmen softens for a moment and says, "Just like my mother. Go on." This is Persepolis's magic. It presents a complex, layered, compassionate and often humorous look at the people of a country that has been presented only superficially to Westerners, most recently as a member of the "axis of evil" with a lunatic as a leader. It's a shame that the people who most need to see Persepolis likely won't, but in the meantime we can experience the joys and sadness of a life that is at once alien and familiar, in glorious black and white. Labels: features, festivals, Iran, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Persepolis, Sony Pictures Entertainment October 10, 2007
 Since Persepolis and Madame Tutli-Putli each screened at Cannes and won awards this year in May, they have appeared at animation and mainstream film festivals to acclaim. Montrealers can now finally see both films by attending the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, which begins today. Animation seems to have taken on a more important role in the festival with more shorts than ever. However, a few might slip through the cracks if you aren't careful. The visceral Face lies in wait in Competition 1, on Thursday, October 11 and Wednesday, October 17th. Madame Tutli-Putli is showing during Competition 2 this Friday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 16. Selina Cobley's Crow Moon screens in Competition 3 next week on the 17th and 18th.The National Film Board of Canada Stereo Lab is screening four stereoscopic shorts, which 2004 OIAF attendees might have seen, but this screening includes the premiere of a stereoscopic version of Theodor Ushev's phenomenal Tower Bawher. Previously on fps Festival du Nouveau Cinéma coverage Persepolis coverage Two Podcasts for Madame Tutli-Putli Labels: computer animation, events, features, festivals, France, Madame Tutli-Putli, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Persepolis, shorts, stop-motion, United Kingdom October 2, 2007
 Didn't go to Ottawa this year? Even if you went, you might not have been able to see the special screenings on poetry and animation, Poetry in Motion. If you live in Montreal, you can see both programs this week on Thursday and Saturday at the Cinémathèque Québécoise. The programmer is the National Film Board producer and author Marcel Jean, and he has selected shorts that span decades and geographical boundaries (although the first screening is half Canadian, including Québécois, in its content).From Words to Images Thursday, October 4, 6:30 p.m. Primiti Too Taa, Ed Akerman, Colin Morton Essere morti o essere vivi è la stessa cosa, Gianluigi Toccafondo Forgetfulness, Julian Grey Rain, Michael Sewnarain Espolio, Sidney Goldsmith Aloud/Bagatelle, Don McWilliams 6 haïku, Éric Ledune A Said Poem, Veronika Soul Tengo la posizione, Simone Massi The Old Fools, Ruth Lingford Poetry is Child’s Play, Bouwine Pool Sandburg’s Arithmetic, Lynn Smith Tread Softly, Heebok Lee At the Quinte Hotel, Bruce Alcock (click the image above for an excerpt.) The Film as Poetry Itself Saturday, October 6, 5:00 p.m. Accordion, Michèle Cournoyer Stones (Sten), Lejf Marcussen Beginnings, Clorinda Warny, Suzanne Gervais, Lina Gagnon As people, Ursula Ferrara Kaiten Mokuba, Thomas Hicks 9 in a Chimney 10 in a Bed or Hates A Strong Word, Jean-Jacques Villard Renaissance, Walerian Borowczyk Night on Bald Mountain, Alexandre Alexeïeff, Claire Parker Grace, Lorelei Pepi Mr. Pascal, Alison de Vere Repete, Michaela Pavlátová Labels: events, Montreal, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts September 28, 2007
(Pika Pika 2007) Labels: Japan, Los Angeles, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, PikaPika, shorts, visual music September 24, 2007
 BEST ANIMATED FEATUREPersepolis [2007] Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi, France BEST INDEPENDENT SHORT ANIMATION Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor [2007] Koji Yamamura, Japan BEST STUDENT ANIMATION Milk Teeth [2007] Tibor Banoczki, National Film and Television School, UK BEST COMMISSIONED ANIMATION Golden Age [2007] Aaron Augenblick, Augenblick Studios, USA BEST CANADIAN ANIMATION Sleeping Betty (Isabelle au bois dormant) [2007] Claude Cloutier, National Film Board of Canada, Canada Honourable Mention: I Met The Walrus (2007) Josh Raskin, I Met the Walrus Inc., Canada ANIMATION SCHOOL SHOWREEL Bezalel Academy for Art and Design (Israel) INDEPENDENT SHORT ANIMATION COMPETITION Narrative Short Animation under 35 minutes: Madame Tutli-Putli [2007] Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski, National Film Board of Canada, Canada Experimental / Abstract Animation under 35 minutes: Framing (Bildfenster / Fensterbilder) [2007] Bert Gottschalk, Germany Honourable Mention: Teat Beat of Sex [2007] Signe Baumane, USA STUDENT ANIMATION COMPETITION Adobe Prize for Best High School Animation: Herbert [2007] Aven Fisher, King’s View Academy, Canada Undergraduate Animation: Doxology [2007] Michael Langan, Rhode Island School of Design, USA Graduate Animation: t.o.m. [2006] Tom Brown & Daniel Gray, International Film School of Wales, UK COMMISSIONED ANIMATION COMPETITION Promotional Animation: National Lottery ‘The Big Win’ [2006] Marc Craste, Studio AKA, UK Music Video: OOIOO ‘UMO’ [2007] Shoji Goto, Japan Television Animation for Adults: John and Karen [2007] Matthew Walker, Arthur Cox Ltd., UK NEW MEDIA COMPETITION AniBoom Prize for Animation Short Made for the Internet: L’eau Life [2007] Jeff Scher, Fez Films, USA ANIMATION MADE FOR CHILDREN Best Short Animation: Zhiharka [2006] Oleg Uzhinov, “Pilot” Moscow Animation Studio, Russian Federation Honourable Mention: Nightmare at School [2007] Catherine Arcand, National Film Board of Canada, Canada Honourable Mention: Aston's Stones (Astons stenar) [2007] Uzi Geffenblad & Lotta Geffenblad, Sweden Television Animation for Children: Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends 'Squeeze the Day' [2006] Craig McCracken, Cartoon Network Studios, USA Honourable Mention: Pocoyo 'Dance Off' [2007] Guillermo Garcia & Alfonso Rodriguez, Zinkia Entertainment & Granada International, Spain & UK NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA PUBLIC PRIZE (Voted by the Audience) Sleeping Betty (Isabelle au bois dormant) [2007] Claude Cloutier, National Film Board of Canada, Canada Labels: features, festivals, Madame Tutli-Putli, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts September 22, 2007
 The Animator's Picnic in Strathcona Park was plenty of fun. Lots of people were glad to see familiar faces and make new connections. This was my chance to see Martine Chartrand and Pilar Newton again. Pilar was one of the winners in the annual pumpkin carving contest again this year. Her pumpkin toaster was a hit with the crowd, along with many others. Another prizewinner was a pumpkin inspired by Luis Cook's Aardman Animation short, The Pearce Sisters. It was also a chance for the animation community to come together to help the family of the late Helen Hill. During the picnic, donations were contributed to an education fund for her son, the Francis Pop Education Fund.Labels: Aardman Animations, events, festivals, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival  People often forget that not every event at the Ottawa International Animation Festival requires that you get a babysitter before you leave home. There are many opportunities to take the kids with you. Here's a list of family friendly events.Labels: events, festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts, workshops September 21, 2007
 (click to enlarge.)The single largest digital animation-related event in Montreal this year is the ADAPT conference, which began last year with a bang. The conference (Monday, September 24 to Friday, September 28) focuses on digital art production techniques, including animation and game development. Some highlights this year include keynote speaker Phil Tippett, returning guest Syd Mead, and speakers from Pixar, Sony Imageworks, Dreamworks and Industrial Light and Magic, among others. Those looking for work in concept design and animation will want to attend the ADAPT job fair and master classes. If you're in Ottawa this year for the Ottawa International Animation Festival, you can get a reciprocal discount for each event. Check their sites for details. Labels: ADAPT, CGI, computer animation, events, Montreal, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, workshops September 18, 2007
 Another nice byproduct of the Ottawa International Animation Festival is the host of ancillary events that occur in nearby cities. Animators want to make the most of their trip, especially if they are from abroad, and end up dropping into other cities for smaller events. Last year, after the festival I had the chance to see Kihachiro Kawamoto's Book of the Dead a second time, because of a special trip he made to Montreal. It's a nice consolation for people who can't experience the sheer awesomeness of the actual festival, and a great teaser or way to come down from the fest.The Toronto Animated Image Society will be hosting Joanna Quinn (barely or not safe for work web link, depending on the sense of humour of the people where you work!), in conversation with the NFB's Michael Fukushima on Tuesday, September 18 (tonight!). You'll recognize her commercial work in her demo reel and get an idea of the antics of her endearing but oh-so-wrong recurring character, Beryl. Click the flyer for details. Labels: Joanna Quinn, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Toronto September 13, 2007
If you're an animator looking for work, you need to get yourself over to the Ottawa International Animation Festival if you can humanly manage it. For a number of reasons, but one is the Animators For Hire event featuring companies like Blue Sky, Nelvana and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
 It's simple, just go to the OIAF website, check out the list of interviewees, and follow the steps (but do it all by this Friday, September 14): 1. Review what each company is looking for to make sure you would be a good fit. Take note of what countries they can take applicants from, and the level of experience they are looking for.Forget speed-dating. Clean up your portfolio, and get ready for the speed-meeting that could really change your life. Labels: events, festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival September 12, 2007
 There's just a week to go before the Ottawa International Animation Festival opens, and the lineup is impressive. If you'll be in Ottawa for the first day, Wednesday, September 19, then you will be among the first to see the film adaptation of Persepolis, adapted by the author Marjane Satrapi. It won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes earlier this year and screened recently at the Toronto International Film Festival. Unless you will be at the VFF in October, you won't want to miss it in Ottawa with a crowd that can't be beat for enthusiasm when the film is deserving. Following the opening feature, Short Competition 1 also features a notable selection including instant personal classic, UMO, the visceral J-Pop video directed by Shoji Goto. The video melds multiple techniques, including stop-motion, CG and 2D, and effectively makes you want more when it ends. It won't be the first or last animation short that you will see over the course of the festival the latches onto you.Labels: comics, features, festivals, Iran, Japan, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Persepolis, shorts, visual music June 29, 2007
 Our pals at the Fantasia film festival have unleashed this year's lineup, and as always, animation fans are well served—but they have to do a little more work to get their fix.Features seem a little diminished, but not so much as last year. The fest starts and ends strong—Tekkon Kinkreet is the opening film, and the Korean Yobi the Five-Tailed Fox is the last animated screening, on the second-to-last day of the festival—but those are the only two features on 35mm film. The odd-looking stopmo film We Are the Strange is in high-definition video, but the other features (the Flash-animated Minushi, Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow and Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society) are all projected, standard-definition video. Previous Fantasia fests prove that watching projected video can still be enjoyable, but spending four days at the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema watching nothing but 35mm reminds you of the kind of difference the medium makes.  There are also two short feature documentaries that are about animation, and they're screening together. Animania is about Canadian anime fandom, which appears to focus on how the current generation of teen fans relate to anime. I've seen and heard so many reports on teen fandom I'd be inclined to give it a pass, but last year—back when the movie's focus was less on the teens—I was interviewed extensively for Animania, and I was asked some very interesting questions. I'm hoping they applied the same kind of thoughtfulness to their adolescent subjects. (And no, I'm not in the actual Animania movie, but apparently I'll appear in the DVD extras.) The other documentary is the French Ghibli et le mystère Miyazaki (Ghibli and the Mystery of Miyazaki), which needs little explaining but which is definitely a must-see, especially with interviewees like Isao Takahata, Moebius and Takashi Murakami. Fantasia's real source of pleasure for animation fans comes from the animated shorts, but that's also its real source of pain. For years I've been preaching that animation shouldn't be ghettoized, that it should be treated like "regular" film. The problem is that Fantasia gives me just what I ask for, scattering its animated shorts among omnibus films (Ten Nights of Dreams) and over a dozen collections of shorts, only two of which are animation-specific (a best-of compilation from last year's Ottawa fest, plus the latest edition of The Outer Limits of Animation, which inexplicably includes the two-year-old, almost overexposed, not-terribly-out-there In the Rough). Miraculously, it's possible to see all of the animated shorts with only one schedule conflict: The one screening of The Outer Limits of Animation is at the same time as Watch Out! Beyond the Genres of Korean Short Films, which includes the 34-minute The Hell (Two Kinds of Life).And really, that's the most amazing thing about Fantasia this year. They've added a third cinema to their venues, but in three weeks of screenings there appear to be fewer repeats than ever before. It's a testament to the passion of their crew that they're still going so strong. Labels: anime, Fantasia festival, festivals, Flash animation, Ghost in the Shell, Hayao Miyazaki, Montreal, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, stop-motion, Studio Ghibli, Tekkon Kinkreet May 9, 2007
 A special tribute to animation stalwart Helene Tanguay will be held on Thursday, May 10 at La Cinematheque Quebecoise.After several months of preparation by the National Film Board of Canada and La Cinematheque Quebecoise, a selection of films by ten Canadian filmmakers have been hand-picked just for her in the utmost secrecy. Attend the screening to find out the 10 films that have been dedicated to her (and who did the dedicating) on the brink of her retirement from the NFB. Helene has also been named Honorary President of the Ottawa International Animation Festival for 2007. May at La Cinematheque Quebecoise Labels: events, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts March 21, 2007
 The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) today announced its worldwide call for entries for the 2007 Festival taking place September 19 to 23 in Canada’s capital. Animators are invited to submit their recent work in six major categories including Independent Short films, Feature films, New Media, Commissioned films, Student films and Films made for children.
The OIAF 07 entry deadline is June 1, 2007 and preview DVDs must be received by June 15. Entry forms are available on the Festival’s website at www.animationfestival.ca. Further information about this year’s Festival, as well as online entry forms, are available on the OIAF website at www.animationfestival.ca. Questions about submitting a film? Inquiries may be sent to entries [at] animationfestival.ca or by telephone at 613-232-8769. Labels: call for entries, festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival October 27, 2006
 Karl Cohen at ASIFA San Francisco (ASIFA-SF) wrote about International Animation Day, and made a list of International Animation Day events. This is a long read—it covers every continent that has at least one cinema—so you'd better sit down.[Source: Maureen Furniss's Animation Journal mailing list.] In 2002, ASIFA (www.asifa.net), the International Animated Film Association, launched a global event to celebrate the art of animation. October 28th was proclaimed as International Animation Day, commemorating the first public performance of Emile Reynaud's Theatre Optique at the Grevin Museum in Paris in 1892. Beyond the several national ASIFA national Chapters (more than 30 different countries) which celebrate the International Animation Day, ASIFA invites you to join in by screening animated films, organizing workshops, exhibiting artwork and stills, providing technical demonstrations, and helping to promote the art of animation. Such a celebration is an outstanding opportunity of putting the animated film in the limelight, and making this art more accessible to the public. This year International Animation Day will be observed in 49 different countries all over the world. For the first time, countries as culturally diverse as Columbia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Cuba, Estonia, Italy, China and even Russia will participate. In Brazil, Canada, Finland, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Portugal, Spain and USA, there will be several days of celebration in different places, two weeks in France and a whole month in Beijing China (French Institute). In 2006, a system of program exchanges has been created to help participants put together culturally diverse animation programs from around the world. Some ASIFA chapters have planned free programs on DVD (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Israel, Japan and USA Atlanta) and some programs have also been proposed from countries without ASIFA chapters (Argentina, Brazil and Portugal). This will definitely be a great benefit for the development of International Animation Day. List of the countries participating, by continents: Africa - Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal. America - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Paraguay, Uruguay, USA. Asia - China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Taiwan. Europe - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom. Oceania - Australia. AFRICA Algeria The 6th and 7th of November, the association Patrimoine and the French Institute will organize a lecture with Mr Jean-Pierre Pagliano about Paul Grimault and the French Animation Graduation Showcase will be screen in four different cities. Ghana Between the 21th and the 27th of October, in Accra, The NAFTI (The National Film and Television Institute) will organize the second edition of the African animation celebration. Morocco The 28th and the 30th of October, the French Institute of Meknès, organizer of the Intenational Animation Cinema Festival (FICAM), will organize several screenings of the French feature films It's Raining Cats and Dogs by Jacques-Rémy Girerd and Kaena, the Prophecy by Chris Delaporte and Pascal Pinon and will organize a workshop with the Moroccan animation director and teacher Said Bouftass. Senegal The Neighbourhood Film Festival of Dakar, will present the French animation graduation film showcase. AMERICA Argentina The 27th of October, at the Spanish Cultural Center, the Cordoba International Animation Festival "Anima", will screen a selection of animations from its three first editions as well as the French animation graduation showcase. At Villa Maria (Cordoba state), in collaboration with the collective of artists DestilArte Project, Anima festival will also organize the screening of a selection of animation schools from the UNC and the UNVM. http://www.animafestival.com.ar/ Bolivia At the Demiurgo Animation Workshop, screening of a selection of student works, a Nicobis Showcase (a production company that developped animation in Bolivia) for its 25th birthday, the feature Emeterio (1965), first animation film in Bolivia. The celebration will end by the screening of two features from Ghibli studios with the collaboration of the Japanese embassy. Brazil Coordinate by the ABCA (Brazilian Animation Cinema Association), The International animation day will be celebrate in 19 different cities all over the country, with many screenings of the ABCA programme, the House of Animation of Portugal's programme, the French Graduation Film Showcase's programme and differentworkshops and lectures. http://www.abca.org.br/ http://diadaanimacao.atspace.com/ Canada The 28th of October, the Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa, in collaboration with the Ottawa International Animation Festival will screen a special program of ten short films, from Fantasmagorie by Emile Cohl, 1908 to Red Buffalo Skydive by Jude Norris, 2005. http://www.cfi-icf.ca/ani_day.html The 17th of November, The Emily Carr Institute of Vancouver will present the French Animation Graduation Showcase. http://www.eciad.ca/www/ The 28th of October, à the CinéRobothèque, the NFB (National Film Board of Canada) will organise a master workshop « Animation witloof préméditation » with Jean Detheux. The same day, will begin the animation contest « Animate your clicks ! » http://www.onf.ca/animation/ The 27th at the Musée de la civilisation in Québec, will held a live performance by Frédéric Alouf, inspired by Norman McLaren's work and the 28th and 29th, workshops witloof camera will be directed by Geneviève Roy and Karl Lemieux, and the 29th, a program of McLaren's classiques will be screen http://www.onf.ca/ The 28th of October, The Cinematheque québécoise will screen the 10 films selected for the Animation Celebration Contest organized by the AFCA and Toonboom. http://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/ Chile The 24th of October, the Cinetheque of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso, will organise two lectures, one with Jaime Cañas Lemesch and the other with Carlos Sespedes Aravena and will screen the French animation graduation showcase, the student films of Cordoba university, two short films programs and the documentary Magia Russica. http://www.flipfestival.org/ Colombia At the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and the Universidad Los Libertadores, ASIFA Colombia will organize several screenings (including French animation graduation showcase), speeches and a forum. Cuba The International School of Film and TV of Havana will organize a whole week of exhibition of contemporary animation in the school and in San Antonio de los Baños. Besides, there will be a workshop and a special lecture of the greatest collector of animated films in the country. Paraguay The 15th Asunción International Film Festival (5th to 26th of October) celebrated animation in screening 7 animated features : Waking Life, Howl´s Moving Castle, The Dog, the General and the Birds, The King and the Monckinbir, It's Raining Cats and Dogs, Black Mor's Island, The Triplettes of Belleville and over 30 animated shorts from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic and the United States. The 26th of October, Lourdes Villagomez will give a presentation of Mexican Animation and a talk on independent animated shorts production in her country http://www.pla.net.py/cinefest Uruguay From the 9th to the 14th of November the Cinemateca Uruguaya will present 5 days of animation, on the topic proposed by the French Foreign Office : « Le Long s'anime », with 7 French feature films, from The King and theMockinbird by Paul Grimault to Black Mor's Island by Jean-François Laguionie. http://www.cinemateca.org.uy/ USA ASIFA Central will organize screenings in several schools in Michigan, including Grand Valley State University, Kellogg Community College, and Kendall College of Art and Design. http://www.swcp.com/animate/ Baltimore University will screen the French animation graduation showcase. ASIFA Hollywood will do a setting entitled "Smokin' Toons" http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/ ASIFA San Francisco ASIFA-San Francisco asked David Andrews, a former director at ILM, to present an illustrated talk on creating animated characters in features. He discussed various acting styles to a large audience of students, professionals and the general public at San Francisco State University. He showed clips that included Snow White and Dobby, the character he directed in the second Harry Potter feature. http://www.asifa-sf.org/ ASIFA Atlanta The 4th of November, in the Atlanta Relapse Theatre, ASIFA Atlanta will screen several animation programs, including the French Animation Graduation Showcase, ASIFA Japan program and ASIFA Hungary program http://www.asifa-atlanta.com/ ASIA China The French Cultural Center of Beijing will present during the whole month of October a large panorama of French contemporary animation, with Christian Volckman - who directed the feature Renaissance- as a special guest. Three short films programs and six features will be screened (Renaissance, Kirikou and the Sorceress, It's Raining Cats and Dogs, The Triplets of Beleville, Kaena the Prophecy), with a special non stop day screening, the 28th of Octobre at the Chinese Cinematheque. www.ccfpekin.org/cinema India The 28th of October, in Tata Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts at Mumbai (Bombay), ASIFA India and TASI (The Animation Society of India), will organize several events. Kicking off the celebration will be the Arts Mela, a 3 hour long free flow banquet of screenings, interactive sessions and animation art. The screenings will take place in multiple mini theatre settings, highlighting the finest of Indian and international animation from studios and students. In addition, the best animation from the Gaming industry and the best Indian ad films will be screened. A special showing of the award winning short film, Ryan, from the National Film Board of Canada, will also be screened. Interactive sessions will include Indian Puppet Shows, Claymation/Stop Motion, 3D Animation and 2D Animation. The main auditorium activities will include the world premiere of Maaa, a short film by Animagic for the Children's Film Society of India. This will be followed by the ASIFA Awards of Excellence for the best films in Indian animation for 2006. After dinner will be a special sneak screening of a new animated feature film… surprise! Smaller regional celebrations are planned to be held in other cities around the country including Delhi and Bangalore. http://ww.asifa.in Iran L'ASIFA Iran celebrates the day in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, a bit in advance this year, from October 6th to 8th. It will include screenings of French new animated films, with the co-operation of the French Embassy, two workshops on traditional and new technology in 2D, 3D computer animation, two meetings of three generations of animators, an exhibition of drawing and design for animation from 30 artists, a Media Art non stop screening, a tribute to Mr. N. Karimi one of the pioneers in Animation art and a closing ceremony including awarding Plate of Honor to top artists in different professions of animation. There are some parallel activities in animation held in the provinces as well. Israel From 27th of October to 28th of November, Co-ordinated by ASIFA Israel, nine different places will celebrate International Animation Day, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, in screening 19 different programs including Among the Thorns, Lotta and Uzi Geffenblad, the documentary Pace of Peace, the French animation graduation showcase, The Moon and the Sun by John Canemaker, the Portuguese House of Animation's Program and an International selection of short films. Japan ASIFA Japan will organize screenings at Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto. http://www.asifa.jp Jordan On the 28th of October at Aman, the Abu Mahjoob Studios will screen several Jordanian short films from Hadi and Hajjawari Productions, Jordan Pioneers Productions, Tharamedia, Saba & Younis E-Solutions, and animation independant directors Abtal Al Mahaba, Mahmmoud Hindawi, Mohammad Hushki, Lama Al Johary, Tarek Al Khateeb and Anas Balawi. http://www.mahjoob.com/ Korea Three days of célébration will be organized between the 17th and 19th of November, at the Seoul Animation Center Theatre, by the ASIFA Korea, in association with Korean Animation Artists Association, Korean Society of Cartoon & Animation Studies and Korean Independant Animation. Lebanon On the 28th of October, the French Institute of Beyruth will screen the French animation graduation showcase and a selection of Lebanese short films. Taiwan From the 27th to the 31th of October, in the Digital Content Institute and Dun-Nan Eslite Bookshop in Taipei and Tunghai University in Taichung, the Taiwan Animation Association (TAA) will organize the screening of "Taiwan New Talents", « Welcome Taiwan-2004 Annecy », "ASIFA Japan program ", "French animation graduation showcase from AFCA" and films from the Russian " Pilot Animation Studio". There will also be two master classes, the first with the French director and producer Georges Lacroix, and the second with the English director Joanna Quinn and the producer and scripwriter Les Mills. http://www.taa-animation.org/2006IAD Uzbekistan From the 28th to the 30th of October, at Tashkent, the Uzbekfilm studios will screen the French animation graduation showcase, the Portuguese program of the House of Animation, the documentary about Russian animation Magia Russica, a program of Argentinean University of Cordoba graduation films and will propose a meeting with the Uzbek director Sergey Alibekov, with a retrospective of his short films. There will also be a meeting with the pupils of Children's Art Studio. International Animation Day will also be celebrated in Indonesia. EUROPE Austria ASIFA Austria will present "Mozart Animations" - animated films connected with Mozart, "YEAH ! - Vol. 01", Yearly European Animation Highlights, A programme from the Crossing Europe Filmfestival. http://asifa.net/austria Belgium From 26th of October to the 7th of November, the Folioscope Association will present the Best of Anima 2006 in 14 movie theatres of Wallonie, Brussels and Flanders. http://folioscope.awn.com/ The High School of Visual Arts of La Cambre of Bruxelles and The Jacques Franck Cultural Center will present the 2005/2006 promotion of the school. The 21th of October, the Hogeschool in Gent (K.A.S.K.) had screened a selection of films from around the world, collected by Nancy Phelps, the French animation graduation showcase, a reel from students at the K.A.S.K. and a history of music through animation which Nancy and Terry Phelps originally created for the Film, Television and Animation Museum in Bradford, England. http://www.hogent.be/ Bulgaria At the cinema of the Bulgarian Films Archives, ASIFA Bulgaria will screen different animation programs, including the French animation graduation showcase. Croatia On the 29th of October, ASIFA Croatia will present "The Day of Croatian Animation", with the screening of animation works from Croatian children workshops 2005/2006, animation works by students of animation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (Animation Department) and professional Croatian animation 2005/2006. Three awards (one by category) will be attributed on this occasion. Czech Republic On the 24th and 25th of October at the Ponrepo Cinema, in Prague, the National Film Archive of Prague will present two programs : at first, a Russian program nammed Russian Impression, composed by films from the beginning of Russian animation, with also some Alexandre Alexeieff and Youri Norstein's short films. The second program is a VSMU (the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts of Bratislava) selection, presented in co-operation with the Biennial of Animation of Bratislava. http://www.nfa.cz/ Estonia On the 28th of October, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival's animation sub-festival "Animated Dreams" will organise a special screening with some of the short animations from their archives. http://2005.poff.ee/anima/ Finland The ASIFA Finland and The Finnish Animation Association will co-ordinate different events in the whole country. On the 28th of October, The Finnish Film Archive, will offer a tribute to Walerian Borowczyk. The Animatricks festival held on the same week end with several programs. The Art House Cinema in Tampere and the Turku Art Academy will screen the French animation graduation showcase. Sininen Verstas (workshop for educating unemployed youth) will screen their own animations in one of Helsinki's shopping centers. France Two full weeks on célébrations in France (October 18-31). Our guest of honor this year is filmmaker Florence Miailhe. During the fifteen days, she will present her films in different cities throughout the country. We will have an exhibition of her work in Paris where, on October 28th, Miailhe will have carte blanche to present, along with her work, her own special selection of films by her favorite artists. Thanks to the organized efforts of our regional co-ordinators throughout France, we have succeeded in planning almot 300 events. These include, of course, screenings: powder animation in Beaubourg - Paris (with artists Nag Ansorge and Alexandra Korejwo attending); a night of animation in Lille; tributes to Frederic Back, Jean-François Laguionie, Jérôme Boulbes, Norman McLaren, and the Ghibli Studio; exhibitions (including Alexandre Alexeieff, Philippe Jullien, Michel Ocelot, and Norman McLaren; workshops; conferences (including animation creation in France in the Grand Palais, Paris) and The Internet « Animation Celebration Contest » in association with Toonboom. http://www.afca.asso.fr Germany On the 28th of October, the House of France (French Institute) of Mains will present the French animation graduation showcase. Greece On the 27th of October in Ianos Bookshop in Athens, will held a presentation about the art of caricature, with the presentation of Aristarchos Papadaniel's book Greek Political Caricature -The Serious side of a Funny Art and Dutse Recalls, the first Greek animation movie (1945), directed by the famous caricaturist Stamatis Polenakis. Several personalities and specialists will give some lectures about this subject. Hungary On the 28th of October, ASIFA Hungary will organize at the Uránia National Motion Picture Theatre and the Toldi Arts Cinema in Budapest several screenings of the ASIFA Hungary, France, Japan, Atlanta programs, House of Animation Portuguese program, Argentinian Cordoba Uiversity's films, ABCA's Brazilian programs, the selection of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Best of Anifest, Best animation of Mediawave, Best of Kecskemétfilm Ltd, features A Monkey's Castle, Asterix and the Vikings, Cars, the documentary Magia Russica... There will be also a children animation workshop and a one for comics development with the collaboration of the association of "Hungarian Comics Academy" at the Uránia National Motion Picture Theatre, different exhibitions, performances and chats about animation and comics. http://www.manifeszt.hu/ On the 27th and 28th, at the Grand Café, Szeged, screening of Animated Tales, Howl's Moving Castle, Pal Toth's 3D animation short films (meeting with the author), Youri Norstein's short films, Cat Tales' serie (meeting with Béla Ternovszky), Cat's City's serial, Istvan Orosz's short films (meeting with the author) and French animation graduation showcase. http://www.grandcafe.szeged.hu/ Italy On the 28th and 29th of October, the International Festival of Animation Cinema and Comics "Cartoon Club" of Rimini, will screen the feature Curious George, and a selection of short films. http://www.cartoonclub.it/ Latvia In Animation Museum in Riga will be celebrated the 80th anniversary of the first European feature film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, and the 40th anniversary of Latvian animation. The famous Lotte Reiniger's film will then be screened, with the live accompaniment performed by the Orchestra of Academy of Music, as welle as two Latvian films programs. http://www.muzeji.lv/index.php Portugal From the 23th to the 29th of October, the House of Animation of Porto, will organise several projections of the Brazilian Animation Cinema Association (ABCA) programme, the Moholy-Nagy Fine Arts Academy of Budapest, the French animation graduation showcase, the Bezalel Academy of Jerusalem, the 2006 Golden Cartoons, the new Aardman feature Flushed Away's making of and a children's programme. Several events will also be held in about 15 different cities, including Lisbon, Coimbra, Espinho, Vila do Conde… http://www.casa-da-animacao.pt/ Romania From 26th to 28th of Octobre, at the Filmmakers' Union's head, ASIFA Romania will organize, with the British Council's collaboration, a screening of a Czech "best of 2002-2006" and a selection of films awarded in the most important animation festivals. Russia On the 28th of October, the International Festival of Animation Arts "Multivision" of St-Petersburg will screen the French animation graduation showcase, the ASIFA Japan program and documentary Magia Russica. http://www.multivision.ru/ Serbia Several screenings will organize different screenings in Belgrade, Vranye, Nis, Cacak, etc. Slovakia During The Biennial of Animation of Bratislava (17th to 20th of October), to celebrate International Animation Day, the festival has screened the "Celebrity of Czech animated film" in collaboration with the National Films Archives of Prague, as well as the French animation graduation showcase. Slovenia On the 28th of October, Izolanima Festival (26-28th of October) will organise two special screenings, the first will be dedicated to Norman McLaren and the second will present the French animation graduation showcase. http://www.cksp-izola.si/festival/ Spain The 30th of October, Animadrid Festival will present at the Capitol Theater in Madrid a short films program with a selection of awarded films of Animadrid 2005 and 2006 and other shorts including Vincent by Tim Burton and Guide Dog by Bill Plympton. http://www.animadrid.com/ The 4th and the 5th of November, Cinetic association will organize different exhibitions, a presentation of Alfons Moliné's book "The Great Book of Mangas" and will Screen film of Jan Baca, "Film Film Film" and "The Island" by Fiodor Khitruk and the feature "It's Raining Cats and Dogs" by Jacques-Rémy Girerd. Switzerland On the 28th and 29th of October, during the festival Cinematou for children, at the Grottes Cinema, the GSFA (Swiss Animated Films Group) will screen a special selection of Swiss films, presented to the Soleure Animated Film Festival. Turkey On the 28th of October, at Zoo, Istanbul, the Kolektif Produksiyon will organize three screenings of the French animation graduation showcase. United Kingdom On the 28th of October, at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, The Bradford Animation Festival will present screenings of My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki, a BAF06 Selection Preview, a Bradford Big Screen Festival Preview and will offer a free workshop. http://www.nmpft.org.uk/ On the same day, the Barbican Centre in London will screen the Taiwanaise feature Grandma and her Ghosts and throughout the day will be screened a short animation before each of the new releases : Rabbit by Run Wrake, Know Your Europeans UK by Bob Godfrey and Love Then First Fight by Tim Hope. http://www.barbican.org.uk/film OCEANIA Australia On the 28th of October, The Queensland animators Group will organize the screening of Queensland Animation Show and French animation graduation showcase at the Globe, Fortitute Valley. http://www.globetheatre.com.au Labels: ASIFA, events, international animation day, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival  Tomorrow is International Animation Day, an event started by ASIFA in 2002 to celebrate the art we all love. (Why today? It commemorates the first public screening of Emile Reynaud's Théâtre optique in Paris in 1892. Animation has many parents.)How does one celebrate a day like this? Easy—by watching, creating, and discussing animation and its creation. The ASIFA website lists events 11 events happening in Bulgaria, Brazil, the US, Portugal, Canada, Israel, Hungary, Argentina, France, and Japan, but there's a lot more happening. Here are just four examples from our neck of the woods: As part of the National Film Board of Canada's 65 Years of Animation at the NFB, the CinéRobothèque in downtown Montreal is presenting Animation Without Premeditation at 1:00 p.m., a workshop on music and abstract animation. At 7:00 p.m., the Cinémathèque Québécoise presents La Fête du Cinéma d'Animation, the results of a joint venture by Toon Boom Animation and l'Association française du cinéma d'animation (AFCA), in which films were submitted, screened and subsequently voted on via the Internet. The theme for the films was "An Unusual Encounter." Admission to both events is free. In nearby Quebec City, the Musée de la Civilisation presents a special program on 65 years of animation at the NFB, a Best of Norman McLaren program, and Paris's VJ Oof doing a live remix of McLaren's music and animation. These events start today and end on October 29. And finally, in Ottawa, the Canadian Film Institute and the Ottawa International Animation Festival are screening ten short films from France, the US, the UK, Canada and Japan at Library and Archives Canada at 2:00 p.m., from Emile Cohl's 1908 Fantasmagorie to 2005's Great Emarican Music. How is International Animation Day being celebrated in your neighbourhood? Find out and let us know. Labels: ASIFA, events, international animation day, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Norman McLaren, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival October 2, 2006
 As brilliant as the films were, the Ottawa International Animation Festival was, as always, as much about the people as anything else. And, of course, deranged pumpkins. Check out our photo gallery and see for yourself.Labels: festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival September 29, 2006
 One of the pleasures of the Ottawa International Animation Festival is that you often get to see people use existing techniques in new ways. One of my favourite examples is Busby, a 1997 short that composited black-and-white images of hands and arms that paid tribute to the movie choreography of Busby Berkeley; another is last year's Fliegenpflicht für Quadratköpfe (Bow-tie Duty for Square Heads), in which the director played with props, perspective and considerable animation to present an interesting view of Berlin.This year, that film would be pikapika, also referred to as Lightning Doodle Project. Animators Takeshi Nagata and Kazue Monno, operating under the name Tochka, gathered teams of volunteers from Mixi (Japan's answer to MySpace) and took long-exposure photographs of them making shapes in the air with cell phones, PDAs, and other light-emitting gadgets, moved them over a little, and then repeated the process. The end result resembles scratch-film work (the clickety-click soundtrack makes the whole thing evocative of some of Norman McLaren's experiments), but with a strange kind of intensity. It's also interesting that the nature of the technique allows you to see the forms of the people making the images. Most mind-bending is the thought that each image, which is the result of an extended period of time, then becomes a fraction of a second as an animated frame. You can see a QuickTime of pikapika on Tochka's website. Labels: anime, festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, PikaPika September 27, 2006
In 2004, the Ottawa International Animation Festival introduced the Television Animation Conference (TAC)—a more business-oriented subsection of the festival that mostly attracts producers, broadcasters and distributors of televised animation. It can be a good antidote to the popular image of executive types—the "suits"—as clueless, non-creative obstacles to good animation. It can also make you want to scream with frustration.
This year, one of those suits was Michael Ouweleen, senior vice president of programming and development for Cartoon Network and co-creator of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. In his keynote address—one of the best I've ever sat through—he took a critical look at the forces that are on the lips of everyone who works anywhere near the entertainment industry these days: mobile devices, the Internet, niche marketing and the Long Tail—all things that can and do prompt people to wild enthusiasm or trembling fear. In the case of television, the two thoughts are that these four things will ultimately kill television, or that their effects are negligible. Ouweleeen's take mirrors mine, that the truth probably lies somewhere in between. In the end, his conclusion was that these forces have started an evolution in television, one that will ultimately benefit us by providing more choices in terms of animation styles and subject matter on the tube. His message to the audience was that TV is far from dead, but if the people in the room wanted to be part of TV's future, they'd have to expand their notions of what they produce and how. During a later panel discussion called "Not Just for Kids: The Animation Audience," he made an important but rarely stated observation that the broadcast market is driven by advertising not just in terms of finances, but in terms of content. This doesn't mean that advertisers explicitly tell broadcasters which shows to air or what should be in them, but that the advertising model by its very nature constrains what can be made. Advertisers break things down to demographics by sex, purchasing power, and especially age. The thing is, as Ouweleen pointed out, the age breakdowns (like 18-34, 6-11, etc.) were devised by Neilsen in the 1930s, and are utterly meaningless now. He made an example of the 18-34 demo; how much does your average 18-year-old have in commong with your average 34-year-old, really? The upshot is that when you try to make a show to appeal to a certain age range as opposed to for a certain interest or theme, you end up with TV that's bland and scattershot most of the time. Again: it's past time to expand notions of what shows can be made and how. Also on hand was Fred Seibert of Frederator Studios, who I'd have a hard time calling a suit (I'd say the same about Ouweleen, who looked most at ease in his t-shirt and green-and-black beanie, but he actually wore a suit during the keynote). During the "Cartoons on the Go: Tomorrow’s Media Landscape" panel, he also dispensed funny, easygoing, seemingly common-sense advice that has worked well for him. In a nutshell: Give people what they want, and the money will eventually follow. You may lose money while still searching for a business model or by making mistakes, but when you give people what they want, it pays off in the end. Both Seibert and Ouweleen's perspectives, which are both truly viewer-centric, complement each other nicely, and the fact that both have been successful lends them some weight. And expressing those views in a room full of suits is both encouraging and welcome. Labels: festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, TAC, Television Animation Conference September 25, 2006
 While at the Ottawa International Animation Festival picnic last Friday, I spoke with Barry Ward of Bardel Entertainment about the latest series they have in development: an adaptation of Mr. Gisby's Totally Gay Pet Shop. Tune in and find out about one of two initiatives to get gay-themed cartoons on the air. (More on the second one later.) Get the news in our latest podcast.Labels: festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival September 24, 2006
 In July at the Fantasia festival, Robert Morgan was thrilled that his films were being shown in a festival venue rather than online, even though this was where most of his viewers watched his work. For many viewers, his films--originally designed to be screened in a theatre--were now reduced to the "viewfinder" you create when you stretch out your fingers to make a square when composing a shot on the fly.While online and email dissemination of films that can easily be viewed in QuickTime, Real Player and other application have been a boon for producers and viewers alike, some of the films, like Morgan's Cat With Hands are now easier to see and have gained a wide audience, but weren't originally created for viewing in the manner most Internet users end up seeing it. Depending on where they see the link, the audio and video compression may also leave something to be desired. Nevertheless, there are numerous animation shorts available online, but the quality varies, and there is a lot of filtering to do. This year's Internet Competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival included some of the more interesting selections in the past year of the countless animation shorts available online. Also, the competition was composed of shorts that were made for the Internet, specifically.  The line work in Prey is uncomplicated and there are no backgrounds. It is a simply told story with good timing overall, and that is what makes it work.Morning Star, last week's Flicker Pick, is part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Web animation series, Dust Echoes. Ryosuke Aoike's premiere of the "Mushy Rooms" episode of Perestroika was very funny. Although self-contained, it made me eager to see more episodes in the series. It's Jerry Time's The Brute and Jailtime for Jerry, and JibJab's 2-0-5 feature collage-style cut-out animation that seems to work well for each. I'd already seen some of these shorts on my computer screen, but even with a decent audio and video setup, I must admit that there was a vast improvement viewing them on a large screen (and it didn't hurt that there were a lot of other people to experience it with). Many of the shorts in the program had their Canadian and International Premiere this weekend and will soon be available online. Labels: festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival September 11, 2006
 Enter now to win an Animapass to the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Even if it wasn't their 30th anniversary, it would still be the biggest, best, shiniest example of how to put on an animation festival in North America, so it's no surprise that this year's edition is jam-packed with a great selection of programming and events.The Animapass allows you access to all OIAF screenings, workshops, panels, events and parties at the festival, from September 20 to September 24. Labels: events, festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival August 16, 2006
Whether you can't wait or can't go, the Ottawa International Animation Festival has begun a new initiative this year on their website: podcasts, or anicasts, as they put it.You can get the anicasts via iTunes, but if you don't have it installed, go directly to their site to download the content, including Norman McLaren illustrations for the first edition of the festival, John Straiton discussing his work, and signal films from past editions of the OIAF and the Student Animation Festival of Ottawa (SAFO). The 2005 signal film is already up, and you'll have to watch it a few times to really get everything, so go check it out now. Labels: iTunes, Norman McLaren, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival July 25, 2006
 The Fantasia film festival just wrapped up last night and we're gearing up for the start of SIGGRAPH this weekend, but it's hard not to get excited over this year's recently unveiled lineup for the upcoming Ottawa International Animation Festival's competition screenings.This year Ottawa is playing host to quite a few Canadian and world premieres, which is always exciting—there's nothing like seeing a film when the majority of the audience doesn't know what they're going to see. Most exciting for me is that one of the three features among the official selections is Kihachiro Kawamoto's Shisha no Sho (The Book of the Dead). I fell in love with Kawamoto's heartbreakingly beautiful stop-motion puppet animation when I saw Hanaori: Breaking of Branches is Forbidden almost twenty years ago, and have been looking forward to this movie for quite some time. (You can see a streaming Windows Media trailer here.) The feature version of Phil Mulloy's The Christies also appears, which should be interesting. When we spoke earlier this year The Christies was a series of shorts; I'm curious to see how such a minimalist production, which features such rapid-fire dialogue, can be sustained for 80 minutes. Among the independent shorts I'm looking forward to are Chel White's A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds), partly because I still get a chuckle just thinking of 1991's Photocopy Cha Cha and partly because I love the title; and Run Wrake's Rabbit, which I just saw at Fantasia and haven't been able to get out of my head. Imagine evil, greedy storybook-illustration children, a magical, all-consuming idol, and a soundtrack just disconcerting enough to evoke constant dread. Fun for the whole family. PES's hilarious Game Over is listed as a world premiere, although we featured it in our newsletter almost two months ago; given that the Web is arguably the medium of choice for disseminating short films, I wonder how long it will take before festivals and other organizations decide that the Internet counts when it comes to release dates. All the more confusing is that there's a separate category for animation shorts made for the Internet; they're being shown on the big screen (some not for the first time), so should they really be in a separate category? Were these only ever meant for the Internet? If Game Over made its debut on the Internet, couldn't it arguably be said that it was made for the Internet? Is it the director's intent that makes the difference, or the end result? More questions, and right now no answers. But one way or another, there's a lot to look forward to. Labels: anime, events, festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival April 9, 2006
 If you've been keeping up with the magazine, you'll know that we're crazy for festivals over here. Issue 7 focuses on animation festivals. It also includes two articles by André R. Coutu, technical director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF).One of André's articles, How to Submit Your Films to Festivals, provides useful steps to submitting your work in a manner that will avoid headaches for both you and the festival receiving it. After you read it, take a look at the OIAF's call for entries, posted last month in the fps Festival Watch blog. The OIAF is North America's largest animation event. To celebrate their 30th anniversary, they will screen one of their marvelous selection of signal films from a past festival before each screening. The OIAF does not just try to be everything for everyone: it does serve everyone and it succeeds beautifully. In addition to their Tech Forum, 3rd annual Television Animation Conference and special market for schools and recruiting, there will be plenty of competition and non-competitive screenings. The 2006 special screenings feature retrospectives of Bruno Bozzetto, Bob Clampett, Konstantin Bronzit, John Straiton, Jeff Scher, Bravo!Fact's best animation shorts and Ottawa-based animators (including Norman McLaren and John Kricfalusi). I know Emru will kill me if I neglect to mention the Animator's Picnic, with its pumpkin-carving contest, for which he has a soft spot. Labels: events, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival October 28, 2005
Emru is busy recovering from Wednesday's Animation Innovator presentation with Mike Johnson. If you were there, thanks for attending. It really can't happen without you.
While I'm holding down the fort, I'd like to highlight some incredible animation events gracing Montreal this weekend. It is a beautiful thing, and I want to share it with everyone. If you love animation, this is the place to be for the Hallowe'en weekend. Today is the International Day of Animated Film. Rejoice! Friday at la Cinemathèque Québecoise A full day of programming for the International Day of Animated Film
Saturday at le Cinema du Parc
If you were lucky enough to see DJ XL5's great selection of short films from around the world at this year's edition of the Fantasia International Genre Film Festival, you know you'll want to review it again to better commit it to memory. Here's you chance to review or watch more than 30 short features and commercials, including lots of animation, as well as dozens of sampled images, selected by DJ XL5 from around the globe—Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Japan, Mexico and USA. DJ XL5 will create the ultimate mash-up for the senses. (All for $7! - That's just ridiculous.) Catch it again on Wednesday November 2nd at 7 pm. Saturday and Sunday at The Imperial Cinema Ottawa International Animation Festival in Montreal For the first time in Montreal, the best of the fest will be screened in the lovely Imperial Cinema. After seeing a lot of the films at Ottawa this year, I must say the programmers did a great job of taking five days of screening and giving us the best the festival has to offer. My personal pick? If you're old enough, go see the District. If you aren't prone to nightmares, see Short Competition 2, just to be awed by The Mysterious Geographic Exploration of Jasper Morello. Truly, the best of the fest. Saturday
Sunday
I'm told that if this mini-festival is a success, Montrealers can look forward to seeing the best of OIAF every year. Wouldn't that be great? Get your ticket ($8 per screening) at the door. Labels: international animation day, Nyocker, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, The District September 6, 2005
Apologies to anyone who tuned in to CJAD last week hoping for a chance to win a weekend pass to the Ottawa International Animation Festival. We found out too late that we could not get the passes to the CJAD studio in time (according to provincial law, the prize must be on the premises for a radio station to give them away). But we always have other contests in the works—like the Corpse Bride giveaway we'll be running starting later today.
August 27, 2005
You've seen the face, now hear the voice: I'll be on CJAD on Tuesday afternoon at 2:35 p.m., talking about fps, this year's SIGGRAPH experience, the upcoming Ottawa International Animation Festival, and who knows what else. On the radio, that's 800 AM in Montreal; you can also listen in through your Bell Expressvu satellite dish (that's channel 953 in Quebec, but you might have to check your listings); and if you're running Windows Media Player, you can listen online here.
September 29, 2004
Two PDF press releases here. One is the list of the Ottawa festival's award winners. There's little to argue about here; my only thought is that if the jury was going to withhold the award in the machinima category because, in their words, "we feel the award needs to represent a certain level of excellence of expression," they should have done the same for the Internet Series category. At the very least, it shouldn't have gone to The Shining In 30 Seconds, Re-enacted By Bunnies, which as I've already mentioned is a one-note gag that gets tedious very fast. Yes, repetition is a staple of cartoon or for that matter any kind of series; but I challenge anyone to watch the Shining and its companion Exorcist short and actually clamor for more. It's just too easy for anyone to apply the concept to any other film.
The other announcement was actually announced months ago, and Chris Robinson described it to me as one of "the worst-kept secrets" of the festival--yet few people I encountered had heard the news. So here it is again: As of this year, the Ottawa fest goes annual, absorbing its alternating Student Animation Festival (SAFO) in the process. Now you can't say you weren't warned. See you next year. Labels: festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival September 25, 2004
An interesting thing I noticed yesterday: although larger events like SIGGRAPH have multiple simultaneous events, you actually have more opportunities to write things like blog entries than at Ottawa. Why? Because everything is more or less central, so you keep running into people. Old friends, new friends, whatever. Even though this year's fest is a bit spread out, the venues (the National Arts Centre, the Television Animation Conference, the Bytowne cinema, the National Gallery, the Arts Court) are all within walking distance of each other, along the axes of Rideau and Sussex. You are guaranteed to bump into people. So who has time to write?
Anyway, yesterday was the Animator's Picnic, which I consider the nexus of the festival. It always works the same way: For about four hours on Friday, there is no programming. Shuttle buses take people to a decent-sized park with a huge tent, and everyone gets to relax, eat, drink, and socialize. It's a great, informal way to network, and it provides a nice rest before the dam breaks (Friday evening and Saturday are easily the most crowded and action-packed festival days). Traditionally, there's a pumpkin-carving contest, which always provokes some weird entries, and normally there's a marshmallow roast. There were no roasted marshmallows this year (likely due to the new venue, a park just a few doors down from the prime minister's residence), but otherwise things were as usual: friendly, and just a little odd. When it came time to judge the pumpkins, a bunch of people pulled out masks made to look like festival director Chris Robinson. It was funny-ha-ha and funny-strange at the same time, but it provided some great visuals, like Bill Plympton walking around with Chris in his back pocket. Labels: festivals, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival September 24, 2004
This year, the Television Animation Conference made its Ottawa debut—a conference-within-a-festival that puts together production companies, broadcasters, and the people who are trying to get their productions seen and heard.
The focus yesterday morning was on the American market—certainly not the only market in the world, but easily the most significant right now. There were, of course, plenty of clips: the most interesting being those for Cat Scratch (welcome back, Doug TenNapel; we've missed you since Earthworm Jim and the Neverhood computer game) and Avatar, both from Nickelodeon, and Spike TV's Afro Samurai. I love these kinds of confabs because they're tremendously encouraging for those of us trying to break into the TV animation business—not the least because they help you focus your story and your pitch. The most interesting overall trend I saw was the ongoing broadening of the market. Spike TV, in aiming at animation for men, is increasing the sex and violence quotient, which helps to reinforce the notion that animation doesn't stop being acceptable after you're a teenager. (Though admittedly the content is still more or less adolescent.) Meanwhile, KidsWB is not only looking at creating more cartoons for girls, but creating more cartoons with "dual-gender" characters—that is, boys and girls who exhibit some characteristics we usually assign to each other's gender. Avatar, by the way, looks awesome. The teaser and the preproduction art point to a show that's full of action and comedy, and some great design and animation work. One interesting thing I didn't notice until after the clips is that no characters actually hit anyone; all the action is through spells and evasive martial arts. But it's done so well you don't notice or care. Later on I caught the screening of Nausicaa, which was truly a joy to watch on the big screen. I've seen the movie many times on video, but never as it was originally meant to be seen. It's amazing that a twenty-year-old film can still be fresher than the stuff that came out last year. Labels: anime, festivals, Hayao Miyazaki, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Studio Ghibli, TAC, Television Animation Conference September 23, 2004
Typically, I recommend the train as the best way to get to Ottawa from Montreal. It's cheap (under $70 Canadian, round-trip, taxes included), fast (about 90 minutes) and good (even economy has the comforts of a plane, minus the engine noise).
Unless the engine conks out twenty minutes out of Montreal, in which case the trip takes four and a half hours and you slowly bake in the humidity. But there was an up side: because I'd run into Hélène Tanguay, a National Film Board of Canada (NFB) product manager on the quay, I ended up sitting in what I jokingly referred to as the NFB Alley—and right in front of Co Hoedeman. I mention this only because he mentioned that the Ottawa festival's opening ceremonies would be at the Bytowne in advance of the feature. Thanks to that offhand comment, I skipped what I was originally going to see (the first part of the "Words in Motion" programme, a collection of films that highlight the written word) and went to the Bytowne instead. It turned out the opening ceremonies, such as they were (artistic director Chris Robinson dryly poked fun at his seeming obsession with Estonian animation) were actually preceding the later competition screening, so I didn't need to miss "Words in Motion"— but instead I saw a French feature, La Prophétie des grenouilles (English title Raining Cats and Frogs, which was simply a joy. Think of it as a gentle, funny, and slightly whimsical retelling of the story of Noah's ark, along with some Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm. Delicately hand-drawn with textures that are controlled using digital tools, it's like a children's storybook come to life. And then there was the first competition screening for short films. Quality varied wildly here. To pick two examples at random, the flash-animated, monochromatic La révolution des crabes (The Crab's Revolution), another French film, was enjoyably absurd, using just enough animation to get its points (and laughs) across; meanwhile, we have the American Grasshopper, directed by Bob Sabiston, animation director on Waking Life. Grasshopper, with its use of heavily stylized, digitally rotoscoped footage, apes Waking Life somewhat—so much so, I'm not sure why he felt the need to expand the concept to 14 minutes (which felt like 30). And, of course, special mention must go to Chris Hinton, who comes across a harmless, affable fellow, and yet continues to make films that move at a brisk pace and feature some sort of noisy mania. Nibbles is autobiographical in that it depicts a fishing trip with his two sons, and the stops they make along the way. I'd say more, but you have to experience it. Labels: festivals, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival |
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