The much beloved film-and-orchestra concert Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is returning to Los Angeles for the first time in eight years, and in a new home: the Microsoft Theater. The gala return performance takes place on Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 6 p.m., with 16 classic Looney Tunes cartoons projected on the gigantic screen, while a large live symphony orchestra, conducted by Emmy Award winner George Daugherty, plays the original music of Carl Stalling and Milt Franklyn.
“When we were all growing up and watching Looney Tunes on Saturday morning, we didn’t realize we also getting a massive lesson in classical music,” says Daugherty. “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is the perfect opportunity to bring today’s kids to the symphony orchestra and appreciate the beauty of classical music while getting a hilarious twist from Bugs Bunny and his cohorts. More importantly, it’s a chance for adults of all ages to rekindle their affection for these brilliant animated shorts, and relive a truly nostalgic and magical part of their childhoods.”
This latest version of of the show is tuned to 16 classic Looney Tunes shorts, including What’s Opera, Doc? (Chuck Jones, 1957), The Rabbit of Seville (Jones, 1950), Baton Bunny (Jones and Abe Levitow, 1959), Long-Haired Hare(Jones, 1949) and the Merrie Melodies short A Corny Concerto (Bob Clampett, 1943), plus five contemporary shorts: 3D CG coyote & roadrunner toons from 2010, directed by Matthew O’Callaghan: Rabid Rider, Coyote Falls and Fur of Flying; and 2019 Looney Tunes Cartoons Dynamite Dance and Wet Cement.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 17 at 10 a.m. PT through AXS.com.
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony 2015. Photo c/o the Hollywood Bowl and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
“We are especially excited to be performing at The Microsoft Theater,” Daugherty adds. “It’s one of the preeminent venues of its kind in the world, and we will start a new tradition where decades more of multi-generational audiences can revel in the brilliance of Bugs Bunny and his Looney Tunes.” He notes that the July 30 Microsoft Theater performance will feature animation-friendly activities in the theaters foyer prior to showtime, including Animation Stations provided by the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and numerous photo ops for audience members of all ages.
Bugs Bunny at the Symphony has been an audience favorite since its Los Angeles premiere in 1991, with over 300,000 Los Angeles audience members having experienced Bugs Bunny’s musical magic over the past 32 years.
Created by conductor Daugherty and Emmy winner David Ka Lik Wong, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony has been touring the world to rave reviews with major symphony orchestras and at iconic venues since 1990, when the production first sold-out Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre as Bugs Bunny on Broadway.
As 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros., fans can expect plenty more of celebrations around the world throughout the year.
This June, Crunchyroll will release Anime Awards winner SPY x FAMILY on Blu-ray and DVD, with Part 1 of the first season arriving on June 13. Special features include Japanese voice actor interviews, an English dub panel and a textless ending song.
Synopsis: World peace is at stake and secret agent Twilight must undergo his most difficult mission yet—pretend to be a family man. Posing as a loving husband and father, he’ll infiltrate an elite school to get close to a high-profile politician. He has the perfect cover, except his wife’s a deadly assassin and neither knows each other’s identity. But someone does, his adopted daughter who’s a telepath!
My Senpai Is Annoying LE set
Additionally, a limited edition Blu-ray and DVD box set for My Senpai Is Annoying – The Complete Seasonwill be released on June 13 as well. This set includes an 80-page art book, four art cards, a sticker sheet and and a matching lanyard set! Special features include web previews, digital pickup scene gallery, promos & commercials and textless opening & ending songs.
Synopsis: Being seen as a full-fledged business woman isn’t easy for Futaba Igarashi when her senpai, Harumi, treats her like a kid. Days for her are never typical, at work or outside of it, with all the antics going on in her life. As mishaps ensue, she’ll find herself growing closer with her loudmouth senpai. Maybe Futaba feels more than she lets on, but one thing’s for sure: she’s still annoyed!
Other Crunchyroll home video titles releasing in June include Skeleton Knight in Another World – The Complete Season (Blu-ray, June 13), Aaoshi Season 1 – Part 2 (BD, June 20), Platinum End – Part 2 (BD, North America/Australia and New Zealand, June 6) and more.
All titles mentioned above are currently streaming on Crunchyroll and will be available to purchase on the Crunchyroll Store.
Paramount Global today unveiled Paramount Shop (ParamountShop.com), its first global direct-to-consumer e-commerce site with products spanning the company’s portfolio of current hits to beloved classics from the company’s free-to-air, cable, theatrical films and streaming platforms.
The platform will feature a broad array of products representing more than 125 brands and characters totaling over 7,000 items and more than 50,000 unique products from Paramount brands including Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, CBS, Paramount Network, Paramount Pictures, SHOWTIME and more.
Fans visiting the Paramount Shop will be able to engage with the characters and content they love including animated favorites Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Baby Shark, Beavis and Butt-Head, Blue’s Clues, Daria, Garfield, Hey Arnold, PAW Patrol, Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as live-action titles like Billions, Clueless, Coming to America, CSI, Dexter, Drunk History, Grease, iCarly, Jersey Shore, Mean Girls, Scream, Soul Train, Survivor, Star Trek, The Godfather, Top Gun, Twin Peaks, Wolf Pack, Workaholics, Yellowjackets and Yellowstone.
“Paramount Shop plays a key role in Paramount’s multi-platform ecosystem as a new touchpoint for consumers to discover products reflecting the company’s popular content and culture-defining brands,” said Pam Kaufman, President and CEO International Markets, Global Consumer Products & Experiences, Paramount. “It is so exciting to have a site that provides a seamless and engaging consumer experience that allows fans to shop across our portfolio of brands.”
Paramount Shop provides a sleek and navigable customer interface, as well as the opportunity to engage seamlessly with Paramount+. Items available for purchase will span categories including apparel, accessories, collectibles, costumes, home, party goods, publishing, toys, exclusive and memorabilia as well as unique co-brands. Products and collections will be updated as the platform continues to rollout new collaborations.
From launch, the site has the ability to ship worldwide. Additionally, there will be localized experiences in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Germany with plans to expand over the course of the year.
The World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb has announced the official selections for the Grand Competition – Short Film, Student Film Competition and Croatian Film Competition categories of the 2023 edition of the festival (June 5-10). The chosen films have been winnowed from a submission pool of some 1,800 films from 93 countries across the globe.
Almost 900 films were submitted for the Grand Competition – Short Film category alone, and 42 of them were selected to be presented at the festival (listed below). From 830 student submissions, 41 films were selected for the Student Film Competition (listed here), while the Croatian Film Competition will feature 19 films (listed here).
The international short film program includes festival favorites like Oscar nominees The Flying Sailor and Ice Merchants, Cannes Critics’ Week selections Scale and It’s Nice in Here, Elizabeth Hobbs’ The Debutante and Priit Tender’s Dog Apartment, as well as new works from directors Atsushi Wada, Stephen Irwin and Pernille Kjaer.
Eeva
Grand Competition – Short Film
A Kind of Testament, Stephen Vuillemin (Remembers / France / 2023)
A Tiny Man, Aude David, Mikael Gaudin (La Belle Affaire Productions / France / 2022)
Almost Forgotten, Dimitri Mihajlovic, Miguel Lima (BAP – Animation Studio / Portugal / 2023)
Blush – An Extraordinary Voyage, Iiti Yli-Harja (Side Stories / Finland / 2022)
Box Cutters, Naomi Van Niekerk (Ikki Films, Valk Productions, Dryfsand / France, Netherlands, South Africa / 2023)
The Cactus, Ricardo Kump (Kump Produções / Brasil / 2022)
Chamber of Shadows, Seyoung Ok (South Korea / 2023)
Compound Eyes of Tropical, Zhang Xu Zhan (Zhan Zhan Xi Qi / Taiwan / 2022)
The Debutante, Elizabeth Hobbs (Animate Projects / United Kingdom / 2022)
Dog Apartment, Priit Tender (Oü Nukufilm / Estonia / 2022)
The Waiting, Volker Schlecht (mobyDOK medienproduktion / Germany / 2022)
The World’s After, Florentina Gonzalez (Autour de Minuit / France / 2022)
Where I Live, Susanne Jirkuff (Austria / 2022)
WORLD TO ROAM, Stephen Irwin (small time inc. / United Kingdom / 2023)
Y, Matea Kovač (Ustanova Zagreb film / Croatia / 2023)
The World’s After
The selection results for the Grand Competition – Feature Film, Films for Children Competition, VR Animation Competition and World Panorama, as well as the details of the rest of the festival program, will be announced soon.
To show its condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Animafest has chosen not to list Russia as a country of production origin on its program, while still supporting the selected artists and filmmakers who have spoken out publicly against their country’s aggression.
DreamWorks Animation today announced MoonRay, their production renderer, is now available as open source for general access. The studio shared its intent to make this move at SIGGRAPH 2022, generating thousands of requests for information. Since then, DreamWorks has working with prerelease partners to fine-tune the code base, improved documentation and interface to demonstrate MoonRay can be built outside of the DreamWorks studio.
The code base is now available at OpenMoonRay.org under the Apache 2 open source license.
“I am tremendously proud of the MoonRay team that carefully engineered the renderer with a strict adherence to core multi-processing principles. MoonRay delivers interactive artistic exploration using all cores or GPUs provided,” said Andrew Pearce, VP of Global Technology at DreamWorks Animation. “Like DreamWorks, MoonRay was born at the intersection of art and science. We are eager to see what the wider artist and developer community will do with MoonRay.”
DreamWorks’ in-house Monte Carlo Ray Tracer, MoonRay, was designed with a focus on efficiency and scalability. The developers’ mantra is to “…keep all the vector lanes of all the cores of all the machines busy all the time with meaningful work,” and provide modern features for full artistic expression. It delivers a broad range of images from photorealistic to strongly stylized. MoonRay is built on a leading-edge, highly-scalable architecture, allowing quick, feature-film quality artistic iteration using familiar tools.
Additional high-performance features include support for distributed rendering, a pixel matching XPU mode, photorealistic ray tracing acceleration via Intel Embree and other aspects of oneAPI. MoonRay includes a USD Hydra render delegate for integration into content creation tools supporting that standard.
Rendering in MoonRay
Since announcing the intended release in August of 2022, the MoonRay team has worked with a small set of beta testers to adapt the code base so that it can be built and run outside of DreamWorks’ pipeline environment. Conversion of the build system to an industry standard CMake environment was completed, a new documentation website was built, libraries restructured, dependencies reduced and referenced open source packages were brought up to current release versions, in addition to the enhancements and features delivered for DreamWorks’ productions along the way.
“The open source release of MoonRay brings a state-of-the-art production renderer to the hands of artists, content creators, and practitioners in realistic simulation empowering community innovation. As part of this release and in collaboration with DreamWorks, MoonRay users have access to Intel technologies, Intel Embree and oneAPI tools, as building blocks for an open and performant rendering ecosystem,” said Anton Kaplanyan, VP Graphics Research at Intel.
Bill Ballew, CTO at DreamWorks Animation, added, “We’re delighted to demonstrate DreamWorks’ continued commitment to open source with the contribution of MoonRay. Our involvement with the community has made us stronger and we look forward to that continued collaboration.”
The Annie Award-winning series Abominable and the Invisible City is returning to streaming screens this month when Season 2 (10 episodes) premieres on Hulu and Peacock on March 29. Ahead of the season debut, DreamWorks Animation has released a magical new trailer full of fantastical new creatures. Get ready for more yeti!
Abominable and the Invisible City is a comedy-adventure series that continues the wild and wooly fun of the 2019 theatrical feature Abominable, directed by Jill Culton. Having been introduced to the magical world around them by Everest the yeti, Yi, Jin and Peng set out to help the mythical creatures in need throughout their city and beyond. The series recently won the award for Best TV/Media – Children at the 50th Annual Annie Awards.
In Season 2, Yi, Jin and Peng’s world is forever changed when the public finds out about the existence of magical creatures. With the help of Everest, the friends form a ‘Creature Brigade’ in order to help the mystical beings find a safe haven while protecting them from prying eyes. It’s not always going to be easy for humans and creatures to peacefully coexist, especially when Yi is being watched by a mysterious force.
Abominable and the Invisible City features the voices of Chloe Bennet as Yi, Tenzing Norgay Trainor as Jin, Ethan Loh as Peng, Michelle Wong as Mei, Karen Huie as Nai Nai, Darin De Paul as Everest and Alan Cumming as Burnish.
The series is executive produced by Jim Schumann and co-exec produced by Katherine Nolfi; Tiffany Lo and Ethel Lung are story editors.
The short animated documentary My Parent, Neal premieres online on The New Yorker’s digital channels today, March 15, as part of the magazine’s award-winning New Yorker Documentary series. The film depicts a conversation between filmmaker Hannah Saidiner and her father, Neal, about his gender transition, which began at age 62. The film presents the evolution of their relationship and Neal’s personal milestones through fluid camera movement, transitions and animated memories.
Created as a thesis film for the CalArts Experimental Animation program, My Parent, Neal consists of thousands of hand-painted and colored frames, which were first traced digitally then drawn by hand. The vibrant rotoscope animation was based on reference footage almost entirely captured in Hannah and Neal’s family home during the pandemic.
“Part interview, part confessional, My Parent, Neal demonstrates the power of honesty within the complexities of family and identity,” said Soo-Jeong Kang, executive director of programming and development at The New Yorker. “The film delivers a cathartic experience as the weight of unspoken truths is lifted.”
The film has screened at more than 20 film festivals internationally, receiving accolades such as the CreativeFuture Innovation Award at Slamdance, First Prize Animation Short at Athens International Film + Video Festival and a Special Jury Recognition at the New Orleans Film Festival.
My Parent, Neal is presented by The New Yorker Studios and is part of the award-winning New Yorker Documentary series, which showcases innovative short films from around the world. Produced by both emerging and renowned filmmakers, the films offer uncommon perspectives on issues that matter. The film is streaming now on The New Yorker’s digital platforms; you can view all the films in the New Yorker Documentary series at newyorker.com.
The Japan Academy Film Prize Association announced the winners of the 46th annual Japan Academy Film Prizes in Tokyo on Friday. Toei’s blockbuster basketball feature The First Slam Dunk was awarded Anime of the Year, winning out over fellow finalistsInu-oh, Lonely Castle in the Mirror, One Piece Film Red and Suzume. Directed by Takehiko Inoue, creator of the popular Slam Dunk manga, the film opened at No. 1 at the Japanese box office, and has so far totted up over $120 million in select territories.
Other anime winners included:
Best Music – RADWIMPS and Kazuma Jinnouchi for Suzume
Popularity Award – One Piece Film Red (also winner of a Special Award as previously announced)
59th Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Award for Motion Picture — Animated: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Original Dialogue Mixer: Carlos Sotolongo, Re-Recording Mixer: Jon Taylor CAS, Re-Recording Mixer: Frank Montaño, Scoring Mixer: Peter Cobbin, Scoring Mixer: Kirsty Whalley, Foley Mixer: Tavish Grade)
27th Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture – Animated or Mixed Media: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
2023 RTS Program Award nomination for Children’s Program — Corpse Talk (Tiger Aspect Kids & Family for YouTube Originals). Nominated with live-action programs COP27: Six Ways to Save Our Planet and Dodger.
Nayola
Kaboom Animation Festival (kaboomfestival.nl) announced the opening film for its 2023 edition (March 24-April 2) will be Nayola, making its Amsterdam premiere on March 30 in the Eye venue with director José Miguel Ribeiro and voice actress Medusa in attendance. The film will have an encore screening in the Melkweg Cinema on April 1.
Synopsis: Nayola, a young mother, goes searching for her husband who disappeared during the war, leaving her two-year-old daughter, Yara, and her mother Lelena behind. Years later, Yara is a rebellious teenager and subversive rap singer angered by her mother’s decision and by the injustice that holds a tight grip on Angolan society.
Ribeiro infuses his feature with a fascinating mysticism, exploring conflict through magical realism. He covers the harrowing reality of Angola, but not without a redemptive poetic charge, using the jackal as a symbol of strength and resilience, while also showing how people (figuratively and literally) have learned to wear masks to hide themselves.
“We killed so many, have seen so many people die, there aren’t many people left to talk about what it was like.”
Out of Bounds
The official trailer of the 30th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (itfs.de/en) has launched online in anticipation of this milestone edition of the ITFS. Featuring rolling marbles, spirals and loops and figures in white and green coming together in celebration, the “Out of Bounds” spot will be shown online and in cinemas across Germany. It was created and realized by Berlin-based animation artist Merlin Flügel. The festival runs April 25-30.
“The marble run is subject to certain rules and follows a certain track. But the real fun begins when unforeseen things happen. When balls derail and the track develops a life of its own. To me, this tension between chaos and order is what makes a festival tick, and I wanted to pick up on this feeling in my trailer,” Flügel explained in an interview with ITFS.
“Animated short film in particular is so versatile that as a viewer of a short film program you have to engage with so many different ideas within such a short space of time. This is often an emotional rollercoaster ride. It can be overwhelming, sometimes thrilling, sometimes you are overcome by chaos. As for me, that’s what makes short film so transformative and exciting as an art form.”
Prague-based creative pipeline software specialist Ynput (previously known as PYPE Club) has announced the early access release of AYON, an open-source pipeline platform to accelerate workflows at animation and VFX studios. Since 2018, a derivation of AYON has been used in production on hundreds of projects under the name of OpenPype.
“Working closely with studios from the beginning has helped us solve the complex challenges related to deploying and maintaining a robust pipeline,” said Milan Kolar, CEO and founder of Ynput. “The release of AYON gives studio owners, supervisors and pipeline TDs the opportunity to have complete control over their workflows with the confidence that their pipeline is battle-tested and continuously evolving as new standards are introduced. We’re delighted to provide an open-source pipeline built for creative studios that they can rely on.”
AYON dashboard
AYON provides the essential foundations to build a scalable pipeline that supports the complex workflows seen in animation and VFX studios. Modular in its approach, the powerful pipeline tools help to automate the transfer of data into a wide range of industry-standard creative applications and production tracking software.
The platform has been built to address the needs of studios that have been splitting up into smaller teams or seeking to expand their services in new areas, by providing a production-proven pipeline flexible enough for hybrid working and scalable for various project types. AYON offers a solution that can bridge multiple departments, locations, software packages and data sources.
“AYON gives us confidence that the tools we’re using are also being used across multiple companies, so we know it’s been tested elsewhere with industry standards and it’s all open source,” said Jon Rennie, CEO of Cloth Cat Animation. “With Ynput by our side, we’re a lot more confident in what we’re able to offer to our clients as an animation service. I don’t have to worry about the pipeline being an issue and know it will work. Instead, our studio focuses on the animation quality and we know we can deliver on that.”
Key features include:
Ready-made templates: Easily start projects with pre-configured templates tailored for various project types such as 2D animation, 3D animation, VFX, and the flexibility to create and save infinite possibilities for any type of project.
Deploy and onboard quickly: Configurable without scripting knowledge allowing Supervisors to customize workflows without needing a TD on-hand.
Flexible workflows with isolated data: Deep integrations with many industry standard applications from Adobe including Substance, Autodesk 3ds Max, Flame and Maya, Foundry Nuke, Toon Boom Harmony, TVPaint, Unreal Engine and many more, all supporting on-premise, cloud or hybrid workflows.
Autodesk Maya with AYON
Unreal Engine with AYON
Works alongside production tracking: Continue to use existing production tracking tools seamlessly with support for Autodesk ShotGrid, ftrack Studio, CGWire Kitsu and more.
USD and real-time workflows: Out-of-the-box compatibility with universal scene description (USD) and Unreal Engine for real-time productions to give flexibility when needed.
Infinitely extendable: Go beyond what’s included in AYON by customizing with its API, supporting Python, REST and GraphQL.
Early access to AYON is available now, free to install and use. Additional services such as technical support, pipeline consultation, training, deployment and maintenance are available via Ynput’s service team.
Learn more and download the early access version of AYON at ynput.io/ayon.
Nouns DAO is venturing deeper into the content space with the funding of proposal 245, which will see a feature-length film written, produced and animated by Atrium creatives William Yu, HKJay, Zen Doubt and 3DPrint Guy. Meta Ent is also on board as a production partner.
This next creative step for the DAO, which has cultivated a dedicated community around the headless Nouns characters, is billed as a first for the NFT space. Nouns: A Movie will be a pioneering large production endeavor which attempts to break free from legacy content production models.
The animators, writers and producers involved in the project have worked on blockbuster hits such as Black Panther, The LEGO Batman Movie and Up. Each brings crucial experience in animated film production, coming from major studios such as Disney, Sony, Netflix and Marvel.
Nouns are an experimental attempt to improve the formation of on-chain avatar communities. Nouns attempt to bootstrap identity, community, governance and a treasury that can be used by the community. Nouns are weird; Nouns are bold. They are cc0. So they are forever and infinite.
The announcement of Nouns: A Moviefollows the successful funding and release of the animated short film Welcome to Nountown, and is part of a broader strategy to fund new narrative expansions for the Nouns brand, including film and TV content. Watch the short, also crafted by the artists of the Atrium creative network, below.
Multi-BAFTA-winning, B Corp-certified London animation studio Blue Zoo (blue-zoo.co.uk) announced the appointment of Nicky Flemming as Executive Producer for the Shortform and Advertising department. Flemming will work alongside the Head of the Shortform, Damian Hook, to develop the client-relationship strategy towards brands and agencies (such as Meta, LEGO, Supercell, Playmobil and more) and share Blue Zoo’s in-house talent with the world.
Flemming has worked in the U.K. advertising industry for 20 years in roles from New Business to MD in some of London’s top production companies, including Another Film Company, Outsider, Merman and Archer’s Mark. She brings additional background in production to her new post, having worked in features as production coordinator and in short films as a producer. Flemming has also judged the New York Advertising Awards, the AICP Awards and the shots awards in London.
“I am thrilled to bring my experience to the team at Blue Zoo. I am hugely fortunate to count many of the top industry leaders as my close friends, who I am excited to introduce to my new team,” commented Flemming. “I see my job as connecting and introducing talent to one another, which I look forward to doing in 2023.”
Amy Macaulay
Family-focused marketing agencyKids Industries (kidsindustries.com) today announced two new hires for the BAFTA Award-winning business, including the appointment of BBC Children’s Amy Macaulay as Creative Producer.
A highly experienced digital content producer, Macauley has worked at BBC Children’s for 10 years. She has managed the digital marketing and launch strategies for both CBeebies and CBBC products, working on web game and app launches, audience acquisition, community management, performance analysis and content creation — including BAFTA-nominated digital content.
At KI, Macauley will lead the line on bringing campaigns, activations, digital projects, content, live shows and more to life. She’ll work closely with KI’s Creative Director, in-house team and supporting production studios.
Marina Maurer
Marina Maurer, Junior Designer also joins the business. With an MA in Digital Media Design from the University of London and experience in digital marketing and design at toucanBox, Loop and Forge, Maurer has a young but impressive portfolio to draw upon. Her work at KI will involve designing exciting and innovative artwork and products — websites, apps, branding and games for clients — and collaborating with the research, strategy and production team to deliver award-winning campaigns.
“I’m hugely excited to welcome both Amy and Marina to our work family! It’s actually not too common to find someone with the depth and breadth of Amy’s pedigree in the children’s space — couple that with her fresh ideas, can do ways and the way she delivers on time and on budget and I’d say she has a very bright future at KI,” said Gary Pope, CEO & Co-Founder. “Joining the design team at KI is a bit special and Marina is already proving herself to be a truly brilliant member of the team. I am so happy to have her with us.”
Both Macauley and Maurer will be at The Global Family Conference that KI are hosting at Conway Hall in London on the March 21. Space is limited, register here.
Joe Della Rosa
Aniventure (aniventure.com), the animated content producer behind Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, Riverdance: The Animated Adventure and upcoming Hitpig! and Animal Farm adaptations, has appointed Joe Della Rosa as its Chief Commercial Officer. The L.A.-based exec will be responsible for overseeing the functions of sales and the implementation of its long and short-term commercial strategy, including identifying creative and business opportunities for Aniventure and its partners.
Della Rosa joins Aniventure from leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where he worked for more than a decade and was recognized as a specialist in animation within the Media Finance Group. Della Rosa represented animation studios and content from around the world, including multiple Academy Award nominated Cartoon Saloon (Wolfwalkers), Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 1/2 and Jeremy Zag’s upcoming feature Ladybug & Cat Noir, based on Zag’s Miraculous Ladybug franchise.
“This is an extremely exciting time to be joining Aniventure given the company’s established market position in the animation industry,” Della Rosa commented. “Aniventure has an unprecedented opportunity to build on their solid foundation and to help the best filmmakers find new and innovative ways to tell their stories in a media landscape that is changing everyday. I look forward to being part of the Aniventure team creating a great home for the best creative talent and building new characters and stories that families can enjoy around the world.”
A perfectly plush new supergroup of CG-animated animal musicians has hit the stage with the release of its first music video: The Meeps – “Love Louder.” The band is the brainchild of British producer Simon Fuller (creator of American Idol / Pop Idol), who has managed some of the most successful artists of the age, including the Spice Girls, Annie Lennox, S Club 7, Kelly Clarkson and Amy Winehouse.
The Meeps are described as a band of five energetic musicians from England — Axel, Mackenzie, Jazz, Brendan and Raphael (a tiger, sheep, arctic fox, giraffe and moose) — whose quest for stardom has brought them from London to L.A. The group is backed by Martin, a porcupine DJ.
The music video journey began when Fuller met animator Olivier Staphylas (Penguins of Madagascar, Puss in Boots, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda; director, Le Building), and the DreamWorks Animation veteran’s studio 2 OAKS Productions became the project’s creative hub. Staphylas, director of the music video, and producer Michelle Jurado Staphylas set out to recruit the right talent for the job.
“I reached out to one of my favorite illustrators, Wiebke Rauers, to design our characters. I wanted characters that were both adorable and quirky, and Wiebke totally nailed it. We then brought in Avner Geller as our production designer who was tremendous in helping me put out my vision for the project,” Staphylas tells Animation Magazine. “We were really lucky to get some incredible artists to join us in the pre-prod and create a vision for this band.”
courtesy of 2 OAKS Productions
The team collaborated with Oscar-winning animator and the director’s longtime fiend, Leo Sanchez (producer, The Windshield Wiper). Leo Sanchez Studio handled the modelling, rigging and look development for the characters, while the animation team at 2 OAKS provided animation development, rigging feedback and deformation draw-overs.
“We approached the anim dev and the rigs of each characters in the same way I approached the character creation of any feature film I’ve worked on in the past,” Staphylas notes. “I wanted to create rigs that were very appealing and could do anything (dancing is hard!), and to make sure that we are not doing the characters that work just for the first music video, but creating high end characters that are feature-ready.”
Staphylas gained a new experience by collaborating with Fuller to create the original song, “Love Louder,” and worked with choreographer Nicky Andersen to translate the vision for the piece and create slick pop star moves that can be swung by anthropomorphic animal bodies.
courtesy of 2 OAKS Productions
To finish up The Meeps’ big debut, 2 OAKS tapped Brazen Animation in Dallas for production services (everything except animation) and global artist network Agora Studio for animation services, with the artists working off of the animation development and tests created by 2 OAKS. Titrafilm provided post-production services.
The Meeps “Love Louder” was produced by 2 OAKS’ Jurado Staphylas, Varunee Santa, Kim Fuller and Krit Ngaosri. Exec producers are Fuller, Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp, Splash Entertainment LLC, Liz Young, Mike Young, Steven Rosen, Bhakbhume Tanta-Nanta and Ekkasitha Chalermrattawongz.
Connect with The Meeps via their social feeds, which are linked at themeeps.com.
The winners of the four-day Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2023 (animefestival.jp/en) were announced Monday from the Toshima Civic Center, revealing the top feature-length and short films chosen from among 33 selected works (four features, 29 shorts). This year, TAAF received 31 feature animation submissions from 26 countries and 872 shorts from 63 countries.
For the first time in three years, TAAF welcomed jurists from both abroad and Japan at the festival, and judging for the competition took place through the screenings at the theatres and the conference on-site to decide the winners in Feature Animation and Short Animation.
Director Alain Ughetto’s stop-motion family history No Dogs or Italians Allowed(France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal) was awarded both the Grand Prize and the Governor of Tokyo Award in the feature film competition. The film premiered at Annecy, and takes viewers back to the beginning of the 20th century, as the Ughetto family’s difficult life in a small Northern Italian village is changed forever when Luigi ventures out across the Alps to start a new life in France.
Titina
Inspired by the real-life North Pole expedition of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, Italian airship engineer Umberto Nobile and his beloved dog, Titinawas honored with the feature film Award of Excellence. The Belgium-Norway co-pro is directed by Kajsa Næss.
The Feature Animation Competition was juried by Fukashi Azuma (Director, AT-X Inc.), Ryuichi Kimura (Director, Japan Animation Creators Association), Cesar Cabral (Director, Bob Spit) and Haery Kim (Journalist, Host of Kim Haery’s Film Club podcast).
Both the Grand Prize and the Governor of Tokyo Award of the Short Animation competition went to Mexican 2D short The Borderline by Christian Arredondo Narváez. Brought to life with contemporary illustration in a muted desert palette, the piece follows a man and his dog as they cross the desert in search of La Frontera, a mighty river marking the border with the neighboring territory. With their goal in site, the weary travelers face a series of obstacles before they can brave the waters.
Additional shorts competition prizes were presented to:
Award of Excellence — The Queen of the Foxes (La Reine des Renards) | Marina Rosset | Switzerland
Toshima City Award— Swing to the Moon | Marie Bordessoule, Adriana Bouissie, Nadine De Boer, Elisa Drique, Chloé Lauzu, Vincent Levrero, Solenne Moreau | France
Best Student Film— 3 Intestine Road, Fish Island | Moe Wakabayashi | Japan
The Queen of Foxes
Swing to the Moon
3 Intestine Road, Fish Island
The Short Animation Competition jury comprised Kenji Kodama (Director, Detective Conan TV and film series), Tetsuro Satmoi (President, Liden Films / Barnum Studio), Charlie Belin (Director, Le Coin) and Elise Labbé (Head of Festivals & Theatrical Screenings, NFB Canada).
Walt Disney Animation Studios announces the release of a second highly-collectible volume of 10 classic animated short films, in a new collection,Mickey & Friends 10 Classic Shorts – Volume 2. Curated as part of the expansive celebration of Disney’s 100th anniversary, the new set will be available to purchase on Digital on April 4 and on Blu-ray and DVD on June 27.
Availabletogether for the first time for audiences to enjoy at home, the collection combines hilarious animated classics, including favorites The Band Concert, Pluto’s Sweater and Mickey’s Trailer. They are combined with an all-new animated interstitials introduction featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald, Goofy and Pluto, as the beloved Disney characters gather to watch a slideshow on some of their hilarious past adventures.
Synopsis:
Celebrate 100 magical years of Disney with this collectible compilation of animated shorts! Join Mickey and his friends in these 10 hilarious, madcap adventures which have entertained generations of children and adults alike.
Highlights include The Band Concert, where Maestro Mickey and his friends face wild challenges while performing outdoors. Then see what happens when Goofy is in the driver’s seat pulling Mickey’s Trailer. In Pluto’s Sweater, Pluto gets hot under the collar when Minnie knits him a warm turtleneck, and in Pluto and the Gopher, Pluto stops to smell the flowers, but finds himself outwitted by a mischievous rodent. And there’s no stopping Donald’s nephews from coming between their uncle and the lovely Daisy Duck when Mr. Duck Steps Out. Five more charming, funny stories complete this legacy collection that’s sure to delight.
Volume 2 also features the shorts Lonesome Ghosts, Boat Builders, Tugboat Mickey, Winter Storage and Pluto’s Party.
Crunchyroll today unfurled the masts of Dr. STONE New Worldand charted a course for its global premiere on the platform, and unveiled a brand-new trailer for Senku and the Kingdom of Science’s latest adventure. The highly anticipated third season premieres April 6 at 7:30 a.m. PDT on Crunchyroll, which will simulcast new episodes every Thursday from Japan.
The anime destination also confirmed that the English-language dub will start rolling out on April 20 at 12:30 p.m. PDT, with new episodes every week. Additional dubs from Crunchyroll will also include German, French, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish and Italian, with launch dates to be announced at a later time.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world based on the popular manga series of the same name, written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Boichi and serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, Dr. STONE New World is directed by Shuhei Matsushita (Dr. STONE Ryusui) with animation produced by TMS Entertainment, who are known for MEGALOBOX, Fruits Basket (2019), ReLIFE and Kamisama Kiss.
Dr. STONE takes place several thousand years after a mysterious phenomenon has petrified all humanity, when one brilliant boy scientist named Senku Ishigami awakens. Facing a world of stone and the total collapse of civilization, Senku makes up his mind to use science to rebuild the world. Starting with his super strong childhood friend Taiju Oki, who awakened at the same time, they begin to rebuild 2 million years of civilization from nothing.
Dr. STONE New World official synopsis:
With the Stone Wars over, the former members of Tsukasa’s Empire of Might join forces with the Kingdom of Science to build a ship capable of sailing across open ocean to seek answers on the mystery of the global petrification. However, before they can begin their voyage Senku and his friends need to find some key resources and push some new scientific advancements to build the type of vessel they need.
Additional series staff includes series composition and screenplay by Yuichiro Kido (Star Wars: Visions “Akakiri” script), character design by Yuko Iwasa (Yowamushi Pedal the Movie), art direction by Shunichiro Yoshihara (Attack on Titan, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure), editing by Kumiko Sakamoto (My Hero Academia, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos) and music composed by Hiroaki Tsutsumi (Tokyo Revengers), Tatsuya Kato (Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma) and Yuki Kanesaka (Dr. STONE).
Japanese & English Cast:
Yusuke Kobayashi / Aaron Dismuke as Senku Ishigami
The popular Simon’s Cat brand (part of Banijay UK) announces it is celebrating its 15th birthday! In conjunction with Banijay Brands, the commercial arm of content powerhouse Banijay, a raft of special content and products will roll out for fans of the fur-midable feline.
Simon’s Cat was introduced to the world in March 2008, when illustrator Simon Tofield uploaded his first ever video to\ YouTube — a self-taught animation project inspired by his beloved cat, Hugh. That video Cat Man Do became a viral sensation, which 15 years later, has amassed 65 million views on that one film alone, and spawned a successful global brand that spans online content, gaming, publishing and consumer products.
“It brings me immense joy and privilege to be celebrating 15 years of Simon’s Cat,” said Tofield. “We have grown from a single animation into a global brand with a fantastic and supportive community of fans all around the world. I can’t wait to see what the next 15 years bring for our global superstar feline!”
To celebrate its success, this month the brand will release a compilation of the very best classic films, reimagined in color; launch a new Simon’s Cat website, with games, comics, films and more; offer an exclusive signed print of bespoke artwork by Tofield; host a special Q&A session with the artist answering questions from fans on the official social channels; trigger a custom 15th anniversary merch drop, including free giveaways; and, later this year, release an exclusive set of 15th anniversary pins.
“It is wonderful to mark this milestone with special products that the fans will love,” commented Alice Bernardi, Director – International Brand Licensing, Banijay Brands. “The instantly recognizable, iconic animation, coupled with a huge social following makes Simon’s Cat a very strong and desirable IP that works incredibly well across all corners of the licensing industry.”
Today, Simon’s Cat has totted up over 3 billion online views and 21 million fans across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The brand has also enjoyed international commercial success across multiple categories: It was recently announced that Tactile Games has taken the long-term gaming rights for the brand, following the popularity of mobile titles Simon’s Cat: Crunch Time, Simon’s Cat: Pop Time and Simon’s Cat: Story Time, which have amassed more than 20 million downloads worldwide.
‘Simon’s Cat: Cat Man Do’, with added color for the 15th anniversary
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented the 95th Academy Awards (oscars.org) on Sunday, March 12, broadcasting live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on ABC. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the evening revealed the eagerly anticipated winner announcements for the Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Short and Best Visual Effects categories.
The night got off to a strong start for animated cinema, as Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio added the coveted statuette to its list of many accolades this award season. The stop-motion adaptation of Collodi’s classic also won the feature animation category at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Annie Awards (one of five category wins) as well as honors from critics associations and film craft guilds.
The Netflix/ShadowMachine/The Jim Henson Co. pic is the first break in the Disney-Pixar Oscar streak since Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won at the 91st awards. It is also only the second stop-motion film to win, joining Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and one of just three films not primarily crafted in 3D CG (with Were-Rabbit and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away) to win since the category was first awarded in 2002.
Accepting the award on stage, Mark Gustafson gave thanks to the stop-motion animation crew at ShadowMachine’s Portland, Oregon studio, noting that “stop motion is alive and well.” Stepping to the mic, Guillermo del Toro echoed the rallying cry, “Animation is cinema,” adding, “Animation is not a genre, and animation is ready to be taken to the next step. We are all ready for it. Please help us — keep animation in the conversation.”
https://youtu.be/-sjLWE6EOUk
The win marks the first Best Animated Feature Oscar for Netflix, which also had The Sea Beast in the running this year. The studio was nominated last year for The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Sony Pictures Animation), in 2021 for Glen Keane’s Over the Moon and Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon, and in 2020 for Sergio Pablos’ Klaus.
Del Toro, who directed Pinocchio with Gustafson and wrote the screenplay with Patrick McHale, is now a three-time Academy Award winner. The celebrated Mexican filmmaker won both Picture of the Year and Best Directing at the 90th Oscars for The Shape of Water. Watch his touching backstage thank you speech here.
— Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (@pinocchiomovie) March 13, 2023
The Academy awarded Best Animated Short Film toauthor-director Charlie Mackesy and producer Matthew Freud for The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, based on Mackesy’s best-selling illustrated book of the same name. The short about four unlikely friends uncovering the meaning of kindness, courage and hope was produced by Apple Studios, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and Mackesy’s NoneMore Productions and released by Apple TV+ in the U.S.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse had already won the BAFTA for Best British Short Animation and four Annie Awards, including Best Animated Special Production and Outstanding Achievement for Directing (TV/Broadcast). Watch Mackesy and Freud’s acceptance speech below and extended “thank yous” here.
https://youtu.be/weCI77easdE
Unsurprisingly, the Visual Effects Oscar was awarded to Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron’s much buzzed-about super-blockbuster sequel. The winners were Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett. The film was also nominated for Best Production Design, Best Sound and Best Picture.
This epic about the shore-dwelling Na’vi of Pandora was the highest-grossing film of 2022 with $2.294 billion worldwide (third highest-grossing film of all time) and also garnered critical acclaim, being named to the Top 10 Films of 2022 by the American Film Institute. Avatar: TWoW won nine VES Awards from the Visual Effects Society, the Annie Awards for Animated Effects and Character Animation in a Live-Action Production, as well as VFX honors from the BAFTAs, Critics Choice and HCAs, among its many accolades.
https://youtu.be/78-YB9-U7Gs
Animation was also a key part of this year’s In Memoriam segment during the Oscars ceremony. Included on the roster of cinema history makers who have passed in the last year were Disney Legend Burny Mattinson, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer producer Jules Bass, Oscar-winning animation director Ralph Eggleston (Pixar’s For the Birds), actor and voice actor Gilbert Gottfried, Israeli indie filmmaker Gil Alkabetz, prolific Hollywood animator Carl A. Bell, Angela Lansbury (voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast), actress Pat Carroll (voice of The Little Mermaid’s Ursula), Croatian-born animator Marija Miletic Dail, effects animator Sari Gennis, VFX artist Gregory Jein, VFX supervisor David M. Jones, and VFX supervisor David Watkins, Sr.
The year’s most-nominated film (11 total), Everything Everywhere All at Once, went home with the coveted Best Picture prize (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert & Jonathan Wang), as well as Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay (The Daniels), Best Actress (Michelle Yeao, the first Asian woman to win the award), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Best Film Editing (Paul Rogers). Best Picture announcement pending.
Best Animated Feature
WINNER: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley (Netflix)
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey (A24)
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Joel Crawford and Mark Swift (DreamWorks/Universal)
The Sea Beast – Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger (Netflix)
Turning Red – Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins (Disney/Pixar)
Best Animated Short
WINNER: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud (U.K./U.S.)
The Flying Sailor – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby (Canada)
Ice Merchants – João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano (Portugal, France, U.K.)
My Year of Dicks – Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon (U.S.)
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It – Lachlan Pendragon (Australia)
Best Visual Effects
All Quiet on the Western Front (Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar)
Other wins: International Feature Film (Edward Berger, Germany), Best Cinematography (James Friend), Production Design (Christian M. Goldbeck & Ernestine Hipper), Original Score (Volker Bertelmann)
WINNER: Avatar: The Way of Water (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett)
The Batman (Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick)
Other wins: Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter)
Top Gun: Maverick (Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher)
Other wins: Best Sound (Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor)
The Ibero-American Animation Quirino Awards (premiosquirino.org) announced the finalists for their sixth edition today in Madrid. A total of 21 works from 10 countries will be competing in nine categories of these awards, created to promote and enhance the value of animation from the Ibero-American region, with the main sponsorship of the Cabildo de Tenerife.
Portugal, Argentina, and Spain top the list of countries with the most nominations with 10, nine and eight, respectively. Colombia and Uruguay have two nominations each, while Brazil, Chile and Peru have one nomination each. Five of the finalists are co-productions between countries in the Ibero-American region, including Ecuador and Mexico.
João Gonzalez’s Ice Merchants from Portugal— nominated for the 2023 Oscar for Animated Short Film — and Juan Pablo Zaramella’s Passenger from Argentina are the titles that have received the most nominations, in four categories. The short film The Garbage Man and the feature film Nayola, both from Portugal, have been nominated in three and two categories, respectively, reflecting the international momentum of Portuguese animation.
A jury made up of Andrea Fernández (art director, The Cuphead Show!, from Chile), Julio Bonet (Adult Animation Manager for Netflix, U.K.), Risa Cohen (film and video-game producer/executive producer, U.S.), Robert Jaszczurowski (producer and director, GS Animation/Grupa Smacznego, Poland) and Simón Wilches-Castro (Creative Director at Titmouse Studios, U.S., from Colombia) will be in charge of choosing the winners, which will be announced on May 13, in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the island of Tenerife.
The finalists presentation ceremony took place at the Embassy of Portugal in Madrid, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Portuguese animation, and was attended by Laura Castro, Island Director of Tourism for the Cabildo de Tenerife; Pablo Conde, Director for Fashion, Habitat and Cultural Industries at ICEX; Camilo Vázquez, Advisor to the Director General of the ICAA; Víctor Herreruela, Technical Unit Coordinator of Ibermedia; João Mira Gomes, Portuguese Ambassador to Spain; and Bea Bartolomé, Director of the Quirino Awards, as well as representatives of the embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay.
L-R: Ana Patricia Severino, Consejera de Cultura de la Embajada de Portugal, Víctor Herreruela, Coordinador de la Unidad Técnica de Ibermedia, Bea Bartolomé, Directora de los Premios Quirino, João Mira Gomes, Embajador de Portugal, Pablo Conde, director de Moda, Hábitat e Industrias Culturales de ICEX y Camilo Vázquez, Vocal asesor de la Directora General del ICAA.
The nominees are…
Feature Film
Nayola– José Miguel Ribeiro – Praça Filmes, coproducción con JPL Films, Soil Productions, Il Luster, Luna Blue Filmes (Portugal, Belgium, France, Netherlands)
The Other Shape – Diego Guzmán – Smith & Smith, Hierroanimación, Estúdio Giz, RTVCPlay (Colombia, Brazil)
Trunk Train: The Movie – Zé Brandão – Copa Studio (Brazil)
Unicorn Wars – Alberto Vázquez – Abano Producións, UniKo, Unicorn Wars AIE, Autour de Minuit, Schmuby Productions (Spain, France)
Series
Jasmine & Jambo Season 1 – Sílvia Cortés – Teidees Audiovisuals, Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, with the participation of IB3 (Televisió de les illes Balears), Institut Català de les Empreses Culturals (Spain)
The Tiny Orchestra Season 1 – Juan Carve – Señal Colombia, CPSE, Chucho TV, Apus Estudio, Mago Production, RTVE, TV3, ICEC (Peru, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Spain)
Petit Season 3 – Bernardita Ojeda – Pájaro, RTVE, TV3, WKND, PakaPaka, Señal Colombia (Chile, Spain, Argentina, Colombia)
Polinopolis Season 1 – María Antolini & Martin Guido – Mago Production, en co-production with Apapacho Films, Godo Studio, with the participation of RTVE, Televisió de Catalunya, Pakapaka (Spain, Mexico, France, Argentina)
Short Film
The Garbage Man – Laura Gonçalves – Bando à Parte (Portugal)
Ice Merchants – João Gonzalez – Cola Animation, Wild Stream, Royal College of Art (Portugal, France, UK)
Passenger – Juan Pablo Zaramella – JPZtudio (Argentina)
School Short Film
Carlos Montaña – Ita Romero – Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina)
Chimorazo – Keila Cepeda – Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain, Ecuador)
Papirola – Fabián Molinaro – Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain)
From top left: ‘The Garbage Man,’ ‘Ice Merchants,’ ‘Passenger’
Commissioned Film
The Art of Getting You Back – Dante Zaballa (Argentina)
Awakening Together – Claudia Prezioso (Uruguay)
This Dog Looks Weird – Facundo Quiroga, Juan Nadalino & Sebastian García – Kiosko (Argentina)
Video Game
Atuel -Matajuegos (Argentina)
Endling – Extinction Is Forever – Herobeat Studios (Spain)
Han’yo – Hangover Studios, Digipen Institute of Technology Europe Bilbao (Spain)
Visual Development
Ice Merchants
Nayola
Passenger
Animation Design
The Garbage Man
Ice Merchants
Passenger
Original Music
Garrano – David Doutel & Vasco Sá – Bap Animation Studios, Art Shot (Portugal, Lithuania)
The U.K.’s ITV announced today (Friday, March 10) the launch of a new dedicated destination for kids on ITVX — ITVX Kids — with even more content across a range of titles aimed at school-age children and preschool audiences. Launching in July 2023 and rolling out across the school summer holiday period, ITVX Kids will consolidate the network’s 6-12s content into a streaming-only offering from early Autumn 2023, when the 40-year-old CITV linear channel will go off air.
“We’re really excited to launch this dedicated destination for kids on ITVX, which will be home to a wealth of content including new series, recognizable brands and existing favorites for a range of ages, all in one child-safe area, with editorial curation to guide viewing,” said Craig Morris, Managing Editor of ITVX. “The wealth of content will be available to stream for free, with the option for parents to choose ad free viewing, through a subscription to ITVX Premium.”
The move is the latest element in ITV’s drive to push its streaming presence. The outlet cites BARB viewing data which demonstrates that while the average amount of broadcast TV minutes of kids’ TV channels watched by 4-15 year olds per week has declined by -62% since 2019, unmatched viewing (home video, SVOD/AVOD, video sharing, etc.) has risen by +30% in the same period, demonstrating the streaming first trend in kids viewing.
The ITVX Kids homepage, accessed within a child-safe profile, will offer over 100 titles (over 1,000 hours of programming) to choose from — almost double the current selection — with curated rails and collections. These will feature a wide range of titles, including brand new programs dropping monthly on the service from July 2023. New content will span many genres and subjects, including animation, comedy, gameshows, live action and sport, sourced from a broad spectrum of distributors, from small independents as well as regional U.K. suppliers.
The Sound Collector
New series will complement existing favorites such as Lloyd of the Flies, Lily’s Driftwood Bay, Claude, Mumfie, Mystery Lane and The Rubbish World of Dave Spud which will be available on ITVX Kids. Brand new episodes of The Rubbish World of Dave Spud are commissioned for broadcast in 2024 and will be premiered on ITVX.
ITVX Kids will also feature some much-loved British brands, including the animated series of Mr Bean and for younger preschool children, TeleTubbies Let’s Go, Sootyand Bob The Builder, amongst other titles.
Commissions that ITV was able to greenlight, thanks to funding from the BFI Young Audiences Content Fund which ran until 2022, will also appear on ITVX Kids. These include sustainable arts and craft series Makeaway Takeaway; HOW, highlighting amazing facts, science and historical stories in a fun, fast-paced, hands-on format; The Sound Collector, an animated series narrated by Keira Knightley, about a little boy who has a passion for sound despite being hard of hearing; and Happy The Hoglet, which helps pre-schoolers navigate those big emotional rollercoasters that comes with being young.
ITVX is prioritizing accessibility for all children who want to enjoy these programs. The service is aiming to have 100% of its available content subtitled on ITVX Kids, with about 20% of content audio described and a push for original programming in British Sign Language, such as Signpost Productions’ Mission Employable and Daremaster.
The CITV broadcast channel will close in early Autumn, once the new kids’ streaming destination has rolled out across platforms and devices. However, ITV will maintain the LittleBe preschool segment on ITVBe and will offer some children’s content in the early mornings on ITV2 from September, with strong cross promotion to ITVX.
Today, Disney Junior and Hasbro’s entertainment studio, eOne, released the first-look trailer for the new kids’ animated series Kiya & theKimoja Heroes, premiering this month. An original concept by Robert Vargas, adapted from characters created by South African talents Marc Dey and Kelly Dillon, the original action-adventure follows Kiya, a seven-year-old African girl whose passions in life are dancing and martial arts, which also become her superpowers.
Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes will premiere in the U.S. on Disney Junior on Wednesday, March 22 at 4 p.m. EST/PST, and the first four episodes will premiere the same day on Disney+. The series provides big life lessons packaged into 11-minute episodes, easily understood by young audiences.
Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
Synopsis: When Kiya, also known by her superhero name “Dance Ninja” and her two best friends Jay, a.k.a. “Flying Rockstar,” and Motsie, “Tech Racer,” put on their headbands adorned with mystical Kimoja crystals, they transform into superheroes and can perform special moves inspired by their passions, like Kiya’s “pirouette POW.” Together they are the team of superheroes known as the Kimoja Heroes, ready to unite their community!
“In partnership with Disney Junior, Frog Box, Triggerfish and France Télévisions, we are so very delighted to bring Kiya & The Kimoja Heroes to audiences everywhere,” says Esra Cafer, SVP of Global Brand Management at eOne. “We have given a lot of thought and intention to developing fundamentally relatable characters that serve as great role models for young children. Kiya shows that you don’t have to choose between learning to dance or being a kick-butt hero — you can be both! She’s encouraging preschoolers to be whoever they want to be and shine.”
Kiya’s world features a diverse cast of characters inspired by the landscape, natural beauty and culture of Southern Africa, and focuses on themes of community, empathy and unity. This mashup of action, dance and music features African and Asian lead characters, beautiful Southern African locations and a diverse creative team, including writers, designers and composers from across the globe.
Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
In the show, three Kimojans, known as “Flawed Friends,” cause mischief and chaos, motivated by classic preschooler foibles like jealousy, competitiveness and envy. When these kids make a mess, only the Kimoja Heroes can ‘shine bright and make things right’ to restore harmony to the city.
“Our belief is that Kiya will represent and empower young girls to be leaders who can use their smarts and skills to solve big problems,” says Tshepo Moche, writer and creative consultant at Triggerfish. “There is still a tremendous opportunity for representation and there has never been a better moment for the landscape of children’s programming to reflect the diversity and size of the audience they serve.”
Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes
Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes is the latest example of Hasbro and eOne’s commitments to illustrate that varied perspectives generate the best ideas and to reflect diversity, equity and inclusion across their brands and play experiences.
