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MY LOVE (2007) (****) (Oscar Nominee)

Aleksandr Petrov previously won the Oscar for his adaptation of Hemingway's THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. Now he uses Ivan Shmelyov's story A LOVE STORY to create his latest short epic. For animation fans, they will already now the beauty of Petrov's work, which is like a 19th-century Impressionist painting come to life. His technique is to paint on glass, shoot the painting and then altering the paint to form the next frame. Each exquisite frame is a work of gorgeous art and it is destroyed to move onto the next frame. I spent the first 13 of the 26 minutes of this film simply riveted to its unparalleled beauty.

Set in Moscow in the 1890s, the story follows the wealthy 16-year-old Anton as he becomes sexually aware. He has a crush on his house's servant girl Pasha, who loves the young man too. Then one day, Anton meets a mysterious older woman, named Seraphina, who wears blue-tinted spectacles. Though his attentions have been averted, he is still jealous when Pasha reveals that she has been arranged to marry the local footman. The intensity of Anton's passion for the two women is echoed in the dramas of the town and later his fever-infested dreams.

Blogs

I MET THE WALRUS (2007) (***1/2) (Oscar Nominee)

In 1969, then 14-year-old Beatle fan Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced the rock icon to do interview with him. Thirty-eight years later Levitan enlists director Josh Raskin to transform that reel-to-reel interview into a visual poem, using various animation techniques to bring the words of peace to life.

Throughout the film, Lennon rifts on various topics especially the need to bring about world change through peaceful means. With his endless wit, Lennon questions rebels that destroy the government when all they want is to be in power themselves. Why blow up buildings when they might be useful to have when you're the Establishment? The imagery slyly mirrors and comments on the spoken words. Images flow and blend effortlessly, creating a visual dream. As Lennon says, "Piss for peace, smile for peace, go to school for peace, don't go to school for peace" then images of a dog peeing to a smile to a school to a boot smashing to school flip by like cue cards. The images pops up so quickly it feels like visual improv, working off the cues of the three-decade-old recording.

Blogs

EVEN PIGEONS GO TO HEAVEN (2007) (***1/2) (Oscar Nominee)

The French visual effects firm BUF created this devilish CG short, which proves that one can say a lot in a short period of time. A priest gets a call to intercede into the life of a miserly farmer, who has been saving his money all his life, and may be in danger from a shadowy figure racing toward the man's cottage on a motorcycle. Like a door-to-door salesman, the priest offers the man an offer he should not refuse. The super-deluxe machine the priest is offering will give the old man a guaranteed trip to the pearly gates. Or will it?

This short takes its clever premise and delivers in a sly, subversive way to poke fun at the church, as well as life and death. The CG animation has a warm, grainy, rustic feel, which is contrary to the bright, slick CG that's typical of feature animation in the U.S. Director Samuel Tourneux wrote the script along with Karine Binaux and Olivier Gilvert, crafting a story with tight plotting and good timing. Even though a good part of the film takes place in the old man's home as the priest pitches the old man, the film still retains the breakneck energy that the action sequences have. Take note to the pacing of the priest versus that of the old man and think about how it matches their personalities and motives perfectly. This black comedy doesn't say anything new about its themes, but in the way it does it, it puts the themes into a new and poignant light.

Blogs

MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI (2007) (***1/2) (Oscar Nominee)

Every year the new animated shorts from the NFB are always a reason to celebrate. It is a rare year when a film from Canada's National Film Board isn't in the running for the Oscar. As their work has done time and time again, MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI continues the organization's tradition of innovation. This stop-motion short is an astonishing visual treat. Filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowsk had real human eyes combined with their detailed puppets, in a process created and painstakingly carried out by artist Jason Walker, creating an eerie and evocative style that is totally original and mind-boggling.

Madame Tutli-Putli, with all her Earthly possessions in tow, boards a night train where she encounters a host of strange individuals, including a menacing Chinese boy, two intense men playing chess in the overhead baggage bin, and a lecherous pro tennis player. During the trip, strange trench-coat-clad men enter the train and the young woman's trip turns into a Hitchcockian nightmare.

Headline News

Cloverfield Monster Revealed as Action Figure

Hasbro Inc. brings to market the figure of one of the most tightly held secrets in recent Hollywood history -- the CLOVERFIELD Monster. Fans of the Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot feature can order a highly detailed representation of the beast exclusively on HasbroToyShop.com.

Standing 14 inches tall, the creature that wreaks havoc on New York City has been transformed into a super-articulated figure. The figure also comes with two interchangeable heads, each depicting one of the Monster's moods -- calm or agitated. The head of the Statue of Liberty is also included.

Nominations Headline News

Surprises Surf Into Oscar Nominations

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have announced the nominations for the 80th Academy Awards. For Outstanding Animated Feature, the nominees are PERSEPOLIS, RATATOUILLE and the surprise nominee SURF'S UP. For Outstanding Animated Short, the five nods went to Samuel Tourneux's EVEN PIGEONS GO TO HEAVEN (exec produced by Simon Vanesse), Josh Raskin's I MET THE WALRUS, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski's MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI, Aleksandr Petrov's MY LOVE and Suzie Templeton's PROKOFIEV'S PETER AND THE WOLF (produced by Hugh Welchman).

Show Headline News

Mr. Men Find Licensing Bonanza

Chorion has signed on new partners to build a comprehensive licensing and merchandising program to support the new daily animated television series THE MR. MEN SHOW, which debuts on Cartoon Network, Feb. 4th at 9:00 am. The new television series for kids 2-11 is based on the longtime favorite and best-selling MR. MEN and LITTLE MISS books, created in the 1970s by British author Roger Hargreaves. Since they were first introduced 35 years ago, the MR. MEN and LITTLE MISS series have sold in excess of 100 million books worldwide.

Sound Headline News

Lucasfilm Nabs Six Oscar Nominations

Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound were nominated for six Academy Awards this morning. For the third year in a row, ILM pulled in two of the three vfx nomination spots with TRANSFORMERS and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END. Skywalker Sound also dominated the sound nominations taking three of the five slots in Sound Editing for their work on THERE WILL BE BLOOD, TRANSFORMERS and RATATOUILLE, which also received another nomination in the Sound Mixing category.

Headline News

VIZ Has Full Slate for NATPE

VIZ Media LLC has an array of animated properties it plans to showcase at the 2008 National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Conference and Exhibition, taking place Jan. 28-31, in Las Vegas. VIZ Media will operate from Suites 7904 and 7906 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, where the conference will be held.

Atomic Headline News

Breakthrough Brings Atomic & Flamingo Back to NATPE

Breakthrough Entertainment heads to NATPE with new episodes of some of their returning highly rated, hit television series. The announcement was made today by Tanya Kelen, Head of Distribution, Breakthrough Ent. Inc.

Festival Headline News

Animatu Looking for Digital Animation

Animatu Digital Animation Festival 2008Beja, PortugalOct. 15-19, 2008Deadline; July 30, 2008

Animatu is an animation festival dedicated to digital. The festival holds an international shorts competition (with some categories open only to Portuguese schools), workshops and talks, among other activities. The 2008 edition will take place at Pax Julia - Municipal Theatre. For more information, visit www.festivalanimatu.com.

Services Headline News

Wolverine and the X-Men Slashes Its Way to NATPE

Bender Media Services, the newly created distribution company specializing in television sales to Latin America, will introduce its diverse slate of animated, entertainment, lifestyle and documentary programs to Latin American broadcasters at NATPE 2008, it was announced today by Susan Bender, President/CEO of Bender Media Services.

Motion Headline News

Vicon's FK Extreme MoCap System Gains Momentum

Vicon's low-cost motion capture system, FK Extreme, has been gaining momentum with continually growing system sales to both entertainment and educational facilities worldwide. FK Extreme was first introduced at last year's Game Developer's Conference.

Digital Headline News

Autodesk & EA Introduce New Project Design Workshop in Canada

Autodesk and Electronic Arts have introduced a new project design workshop for Canada's first Masters for Digital Media (MDM) program at Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver, British Columbia.

As part of the 20-month MDM program, the workshop will equip students with techniques to plan and manage digital media projects in their academic and professional careers.

Series Headline News

Global Telemedia Brings Momo and Nudnik to NATPE

Westport, Connecticut-based Global Telemedia will be presenting two new series, as well as collections of classic animation, at NATPE 2008.

MOMO ISLAND (52x11) - Full 3D Animation & HD - Available worldwide (excluding China) for all platforms.

Series Headline News

Yenny To Be a Series

Spain-based animation producer Black Maria has added YENNY, a new animated comedy-adventure series for teenagers, to its slate of projects. Based on an Internet comic strip by David Alvarez that was adopted by Universal Press Syndicate for digital distribution, YENNY follows the adventures of a big-footed Boricua girl. Alvarez is working together with Black Maria's creative directors in the graphic development of the series, which will follow the original storylines of the comic strips.

Canada Headline News

Fifi and the Flowertots Takes Root in Canada

Leading preschool entertainment producer HIT Ent., on behalf of Chapman Ent., has made arrangements with major Canadian television, toy and apparel companies to bring the international hit series FIFI AND THE FLOWERTOTS to Canada for the first time.

Starting Feb. 25th, FIFI will air on Canada's Treehouse Monday through Friday and will be featured prominently on Treehouse's website (treehousetv.com) with games and activities.

Headline News

Monster Jam Revs Up New Deals

London-based 4Kids Ent. International has announced a slew of new merchandising deals for Monster Jam, reports KIDSCREEN.

Universal Cycles will be producing bicycles, tricycles, scooters, skateboards and skates, as well as a range of accessories, including helmets, elbow pads, knee pads and water bottles, for the U.K. and Ireland. Other new licensees include Aykroyds TDP (nightwear and underwear), Pyramid Posters (posters, wall calendars, stickers badges and postcards) and DNC (lunch bags and sports bottles).

Headline News

Cookie Jar Names New Sales Executive

Cookie Jar Ent. has appointed Kirsten Hurd sales executive, it was announced today by Jean-Michel Ciszewski, SVP Head of International Sales and Co-Productions. Based in Cookie Jar's Toronto's headquarters, Hurd will be responsible for library and new programming sales.

Headline News

Play 4 Free Battlefield Heroes Coming From EA

At the Digital, Life, Design Conference (DLD) in Munich, Electronic Arts unveiled BATTLEFIELD HEROES, an all-new Play 4 Free cartoon-style shooter. Available for download at www.battlefield-heroes.com this summer, BATTLEFIELD HEROES is EA's first title that is offered completely for free, and features a built-in matchmaking system to ensure that players of equal skill are paired for fair play. Developed by DICE in Stockholm, BATTLEFIELD HEROES is leading EA's new web-focused free-to-download, free-to-play business model, which generates revenue through advertising and micro-transactions.

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