Author: Ryan Ball

Cartoon Forum, the annual European animation festival and trade confab, released the list of five films competing for the coveted Cartoon d’Or at this year’s event, taking place Sept. 21-24 in Kolding, Denmark. The European shorts will be competing for 15,000€, to be put towards the production of a series or a feature.

This year’s finalists are City Paradise by French filmmaker Gaëlle Denis, Falling from Peter Kaboth of Germany, Flatlife by Belgian director Jonas Geirnaert, Jo Jo in the Stars from British filmmaker Marc Craste, and Little Things by Daniel Greaves, also of Britain.

City Paradise us described as the whimsical and poetic story of a young woman’s arrival in London and her discovery of the language, neighbors and environs. Meanwhile, Falling takes a snapshot of German society as seen through the eyes of a street-sweeper who is sweeping a courtyard between skyscrapers. Flatlife features a jaunty rhythm as it follows the adventures of a group of neighbors plagued by a moody washing machine and nails that won’t stay in the walls. Going further out on a limb, Jo Jo in the Stars finds its title character in love with a trapeze artist in an mysterious town where poetry and tenderness lurk just below the surface. Finally, Little Things humorously explores the minute details of everyday life that can make it so difficult, things like a light with a timer switch and a very long corridor.

The finalists have been selected from a pool of European films which have taken prizes at Cartoon’s partner festivals: Annecy, Bratislava, Bristol, Brussels, Espinho, Genzano di Roma, Fredrikstad, Stuttgart and Utrecht. The winner will be voted by a jury that includes Aardman co-founder and Chicken Run director Peter Lord; French filmmaker Philippe Leclerc (Les Enfants de la Pluie, aka Rain Children); and Danish director/producer Karsten Kiilerich of A. Film, the studio behind Help! I’m a Fish, Trolls, Terkel in Trouble and the upcoming The Ugly Duckling and Me.

Microsoft Corp. and Marvel Enterprises Inc. today announced at the San Diego Comic-Con Int’l that they have entered into a licensing agreement that gives Microsoft exclusive rights to develop and publish massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) featuring iconic superheroes from Marvel’s vast catalog. The games will be developed for the Xbox 360, the company’s next-generation console, and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

"With this next generation of gaming, Marvel fans will finally have the ability to create choices with their favorite superheroes, villains and creatures in unbelievable detail–all with the power of Marvel’s incredible vision and the Xbox platform,” says Peter Moore, corporate VP of worldwide marketing and publishing for Xbox at Microsoft.

MMOGs enable thousands of players to interact online simultaneously, and represent one of the biggest areas of growth for the multibillion-dollar interactive entertainment industry.

Tim Rothwell, worldwide president of the Consumer Media Group at Marvel Enterprises, comments, “The alliance with Microsoft catapults us into the games category in an unprecedented way. We are very excited to be working with Microsoft to bring our fans what we expect will be a world-class online gaming experience. We also believe online gaming will provide valuable, global exposure to our character brands.”

Specific titles or superheroes to be featured in initial Microsoft releases have not been released. Further details regarding the licensing agreement are expected to be released in the coming months.

In other Marvel game news, the company has granted Majesco rights to develop games based on its Ghost Rider property, which is in production as a feature film starring Nicholas Cage. Now in development at Climax Group, the first Ghost Rider game is scheduled to ship for PlayStation 2 and Xbox in the summer of 2006, in conjunction with the release of the movie from Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios.

Fans of stop-motion animation and unapologetically crude humor will definitely want to check out Dream Entertainment’s Disaster!, a new animated feature being previewed at Comic-Con Int’l in San Diego. Director Roy Wood (Celebrity Deathmatch), co-producer Yitzhak Ginsberg (100 Girls, Monster Man) and other members of the film’s crew will present a panel discussion on Friday, July 16 at 6 p.m. in Room 3.

Disaster! employs a combination of clay and wire armature animation to spoof the new generation of big-budget Hollywood disaster movies characterized by such titles as Armageddon, Twister and Deep Impact. As a giant planetoid hurdles toward Earth, vulcanoligist Harry Bottoms is enlisted by the government to assemble a team to go into space and eliminate the threat. Joined by his estranged daughter, Sandy Mellons, Bottoms must save the day with the help of specialists V.D. Johnson, Hanukah Jonze and Donkey Dixon.

Produced in Glendale, Calif. by a dedicated, team of puppet makers and animators, Disaster! enlisted the talent of artists who previously worked with Wood on Deathmatch, and pushed puppets for New Line Cinema’s Elf and Will Vinton productions such as The P.J.s and Gary & Mike.

The panel, moderated by yours truly, will also feature the film’s writers, Paul Benson (X-Men Unlimited) and Matt Sullivan (The God and Devil Show), as well as character fabricator Morgan Hay. The event will offer an insider’s look into how this independent, self-financed stop-motion movie was made against all odds and why famed rock group Motley Crüe is taking part in it.

To see the full schedule of Comic-Con events, go to www.comic-con.org.

Peter Chung, creator of the 1995 animated MTV cult hit, Aeon Flux, will participate in a Comic-Con panel discussion about the upcoming Paramount Pictures/Lakeshore Ent. live-action feature starring Charlize Theron. The Oscar-winning actress will also be in attendance at the San Diego event on July 16, along with co-star, Marton Csokas, director Karyn Kusama (Girl Fight) and producers Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Moton Pictures and David Gale of MTV.

Comic-Con attendees will get a first-ever look at images from the Aeon Flux movie in Hall H on Saturday following a fifteen-minute appearance by Pablo Helman, visual effects supervisor on Paramount’s War of the Worlds, at 11:45.

In the futuristic sci-fi thriller, Theron plays Aeon Flux, the top underground operative at war with the totalitarian regime governing what appears to be a perfect society. On the front lines of a rebellion, she must use her cunning and exceptional combat skills reveal a world of secrets. The screenplay was written by Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi, based upon characters created by Chung.

A preview of Dark Horse’s upcoming Aeon Flux comic book and a trailer for the Majesco video game can be viewed at www.aeonflux.com.

Paramount hasn’t set an official release date for the feature, but the movie is expected to be out in theaters in early fall.

First came Machinama, an artform that has gamers make their own movies from video game engines, and now gamer-produced comic books are on the way. Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Planetwide Games will be at the San Diego Comic-Con Int’l this week to showcase its Comic Book Creator self-publishing software for video games. The company plans to announce retail and distribution plans at the show.

Comic Book Creator is a proprietary, patent-pending software designed to allow comic-book enthusiasts and gamers to capture game play animation from their favorite interactive titles and make their own comics to share with friends. Planetwide Games will soon offer a trial version of the software, which will be available at www.PlanetwideComics.com

Comic-Con attendees can visit Planetwide Comics at booth #5204. The company will host renowned fantasy artists Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, who are creatively involved in upcoming titles. Planetwide Games’ recently launched its $1,000,000 Grand Prize Tournament for its popular RYL: Path of the Emperor MMORPG. More information on that is available at www.RYL.net.

Results of the Fourth Annual Animation Magazine Pitch Party are in and Leo Antolini’s Edgar and Kipp has emerged from the pack to take top honors. Our distinguished panel of industry judges also liked Courtney Huddleston’s Li’l Red Stitch and Samuel T. Nelson’s Cat vs. Fish.

For the most part, the judges appear to have made their choices based more on strong character design than high-concept loglines. Antolini, a student at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, won them over with his simple-but-expressive drawing of Edgar Mongoose and Kipp D. Snake, natural enemies who have managed to become roommates and best friends. Sort of.

Edgar and Kipp has a lot in common with third-place winner Cat vs. Fish (www.ebolaworld.com/catandfish), Nelson’s twist on the classic Tom and Jerry formula. Again, the judges were intrigued by the comical look of the title characters, mortal enemies who don’t get along quite as well as Antolini’s mongoose and snake.

A more involved premise is explored in Huddleston’s (www.courtneyhuddleston.com) Ii’l Red Stitch, which follows the adventures of a young girl who comes into possession of a magical sewing kit that has the power to unleash lions, tigers, chickens, jackalopes and more. The pitch shows a lot of imagination and features great art that balances classic and modern sensibilities.

Online Reader Poll Results

It seems that you, our readers, are roughly on the same page as our judges. However, you voted Cat vs. Fish as your top pick. Li’l Red Stitch again came in at No. 2, followed by Hell’s Daughter from Josh Jenkins, Shea Stanley and Hugh Samples of Strange Type Studio (www.strangetype.com). This third-place winner centers on a sword-wielding goth chick who goes to school in "the Devil’s pit" and is being trained to destroy her species while wearing a Catholic schoolgirl’s uniform.

Staff Picks

The Animation Magazine Staff gives first-place to Maggers & Ripley, also from Josh Jenkins and Shea Stanley of Strange Type Studio. The pitch features the image of a happy-go-lucky puppy towering over a disgruntled-looking little dog and includes the logline, "The only thing more annoying than a little sister is a little sister five times your size."

Second place goes to Nelson’s Cat vs. Fish, while Matt Hebb’s (www.matthebb.com) The Adventures of No-Beard, Boy Pirate rounds out the top three.

To view all of the Fourth Annual Animation Magazine Pitch Party Pitch’s click on the following link: https://www.dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/pitch_party_05_vote.html

Incredibles director Brad Bird and Looney Tunes: Back in Action helmer Eric Goldberg will be among the guests of honor as The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents ‘The Animated Performance: Art Meets Technology’ on Friday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The program will explore the science and technology behind the art of animation, and how animators use those tools to bring characters to life.

Bill Kroyer, an Academy Award nominee and a member of the council and animation branch, will lead the evening’s discussion with an inside look at 2D and 3D animation tools, examining the impact they have made, and continue to make, on the animator’s craft.

The program will feature clips of obscure and iconic character animation, and will conclude with as a panel discussion led by animation branch member Tom Sito. Joining Bird and Goldberg on the panel will be Academy Award winner Jan Pinkava (Pixar’s Geri’s Game) and Lord of the Rings animators Richie Baneham and Steve Hornby, who both worked on the groundbreaking animation of the photo-real Gollum character.

Immediately following the presentation, attendees can view the Academy’s current exhibit, ‘Toon In: Animated Movie Posters from the Cudequest Family Collection,’ which is also open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends from noon to 6 p.m. Gallery admission is free.

Admission for ‘The Animated Performance: Art Meets Technology’ is $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with valid I.D. Tickets are available at the Academy during regular business hours, and can be ordered by mail. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door on the night of the program. If ordering by mail, please remember to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope along with your personal check made out to The Academy Foundation and mail it to 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211.

Free parking is available at 8920 and 9025 Wilshire Blvd. On the day of the event, theater doors open at 6:30 p.m. All seating is unreserved. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.