Actor Mark Hamill, known around the world as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy, has signed on to judge Nextoons, the 2nd annual Nicktoons Film Festival, set to air on Nickelodeon’s 24-hour animation network in August.
Nextoons: The Nicktoons Film Festival is an on-air animated film festival dedicated to showcasing the work of independent animation filmmakers. Created in partnership with Frederator Studios, the week-long festival showcases the diversity of independent projects and features original animated shorts submitted by filmmakers around the globe.
No stranger to animation, Hamill provided the voice of the Joker for the 13-year run of Warner Bros.’ Batman animated TV series, as well as the features, Mask of the Phantasm and The Return of the Joker, for which he received Annie Award nominations. Over the years, he has performed in hundreds of TV cartoons such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Simpsons, Powerpuff Girls and the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! Last year, he directed and produced Comic Book’The Movie, a mockumentary shot during the annual Comicon comic-book convention in San Diego. He is also co-director and animation director for Treehouse Animation on the film Revenge of the Brick, a five-minute LEGO Star Wars spoof that recently premiered on Cartoon Network. The actor is currently in pre-production on the animated series Fort Franny.
Hamill will be joined on the Judges’ bench by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, co-creators of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender; Academy Award nominee Mike Gabriel, director of Walt Disney Productions’ Lorenzo; and Elizabeth Ito, who won last year’s Nextoons Producer’s Choice Award for her short, Welcome to My Life. The five judges will screen the films submitted for the festival and rate them based on story, animation, design, entertainment value and the fun factor. The best short films will premiere in the festival on Nicktoons in August and a grand prize winner will be selected to win a cash prize of $10,000.
Nicktoons will roll out the festival on-air as eight half-hour episodes which will air nightly from Sunday, August 21, through Saturday, August 27, culminating with the countdown of top-ten finalists on Sunday, August 28.
In addition, the Viewer’s Choice Award will be selected from online votes via the Nicktoons website at www.nicktoons.com, where viewers can log on and pick their favorite short film in the Festival. Online voting will continue through the month of September, and the winner will be announced in early October.
The Nextoons call for entries window will close on Friday, June 17. Organizers are looking for a large selection of short films 10 minutes in length or less, created in any style of animation. Entry can be downloaded at www.nicktoons.com.
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