Netflix has entered into a multi-year creative partnership with animators, writers and producers Roger Black and Waco O’Guin to exclusively create and produce animated content for the streamer. Black and O’Guin are the creators, writers and showrunners of the Netflix animated cop sitcom Paradise PD, which has a new season coming soon.
“Roger and Waco have a signature brand of humor that animation fans around the world love,” commented Mike Moon, Head of Adult Animation, Netflix. “We are delighted to continue to develop more adult animation titles with these two very prolific creators.”
As a part of the new partnership, Netflix has ordered the sci-fi animated series Farzar from the duo, who are the creators and will serve as writers, executive producers and co-showrunners of the 10-episode series.
Farzar is an outrageous sci-fi comedy that follows Prince Fichael and his crew as they venture out of their domed human city to fight the evil aliens that want to kill and/or eat them. As they begin their journey, Fichael quickly discovers that all is not what it seems and he may be living a lie.
Marc Provissiero (Paradise PD, Pen15) will serve as an executive producer, as will Bento Box’s Scott Greenberg and Joel Kuwahara (Bob’s Burgers, Paradise PD).
“We couldn’t be happier that Netflix finally ‘put a ring on it.’ It’s an awesome network full of nice people and a great place to work! Now we can finally get those matching cherry red PT Cruisers we’ve had our eyes on,” Black and O’Guin quipped in a shared statement.
[RogerBlack_WacoOGuin] cap: Roger Black (L) and Waco O’Guin
Black and O’Guin are both Georgia natives who have been working together since college, when they started a sketch group at the University of Georgia. That campus comedy experience led them to creating the sketch series Stankervision. The Comedy Central series Brickleberry was their follow up, starring and executive producing alongside Daniel Tosh. The three-season run attracted an international following, one which periodically stokes the flames of a revival of the Touchstone Television series. The duo also created the animated series Paradise PD. Black is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design. O’Guin has a degree in animation from the University of Georgia.
Beloved DC characters Kamandi, The Losers, Blue Beetle and Constantine are the focus of four new DC Showcase animated shorts for release by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in 2021-2022.
Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and inspired by characters and stories from throughout the iconic DC canon, the all-new quartet of shorts will be included on upcoming releases of DC Universe Movies, with exception of the lengthier Constantine short. The Constantine short will serve as the anchor for a compilation set to be distributed in 2022. More information will be released closer to individual street dates.
All four new DC Showcase shorts are produced by Rick Morales (Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge).
Directed by Matt Peters (Justice League Dark: Apokolips War) from a script written by Paul Giacoppo (Young Justice, Star Wars: Resistance), Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! will be the first of the new shorts to be released. The post-apocalyptic thriller will be attached as a bonus feature to Justice Society: World War II in Spring 2021.
Launched in 2010, DC Showcase was originally comprised of four animated shorts: The Spectre (2/23/2010), Jonah Hex (7/27/2010), Green Arrow (9/28/2010) and Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam (11/9/2010). An additional short, Catwoman (10/18/2011), was attached the following year to the release of Batman: Year One. For 2019-2020, DC Showcase returned with five shorts: Sgt. Rock (8/6/2019), Death (10/22/2019), The Phantom Stranger (3/17/2020), Adam Strange (5/19/2020), and the interactive Batman: Death in the Family (10/13/2020).
Actors featured on DC Showcase shorts have included Malcolm McDowell, James Garner (in his final performance), Jerry O’Connell, Linda Hamilton, Karl Urban, Gary Cole, Alyssa Milano, Bruce Greenwood, Thomas Jane, Michael Rooker, Eliza Dushku, Neal McDonough, Ariel Winter, Danica McKeller, George Newbern, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charlie Weber, Arnold Vosloo, Leonard Nam, Jamie Chung, Peter Serafinowicz and Michael Rosenbaum.
The ultimate cartoon trivia showdown is coming to Nickelodeon with the premiere of Tooned In, an epic game show that puts contestants to the test to prove their animation knowledge. Hosted by an animated A.I. supercomputer, three kids compete in rounds of trivia for a chance to be declared the episode’s big winner. Tooned In airs Mondays through Thursdays on Nickelodeon beginning Monday, Feb. 8, at 5 p.m. (ET/PT), with the season finale airing Thursday, March 4.
In Tooned In, animated robot, Nicky (voiced by Rama Vallury of AOK), challenges kid contestants to a battle of Nickelodeon cartoon knowledge for the chance to be named the night’s big winner and take home exciting prizes. Each episode features three kids who must solve animation questions across slime-filled rounds of trivia until only one contestant is left in the competition. The final kid will then be declared the episode’s big winner and move on to a special prize round to compete against Nicky and climb the robot’s motherboard for a chance to win the $1,000 grand prize.
During the week of March 1, Tooned In will get interactive with the Screens Up app and on NickPlay.com, where kids at home can play along in real time to answer the same questions being asked during the show. The top four users with the highest scores will be displayed on-air at the end of each episode and the top 100 users will be displayed within the game.
Tooned In is co-executive produced by Rich Brown (Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Beat the Clock) and Michael Dugan (Trivial Takedown, The Hollywood Puppet Show). Flavia Casas (Group Chat) serves as senior producer with Phil Moore (Ryan’s Mystery Playdate) serving as producer. The series is directed by Genji Keen (The Dungeon Run, Good Mythical Morning). Production of Tooned In for Nickelodeon is overseen by Ashley Kaplan, Senior Vice President, Digital Studios; and Luke Wahl, Vice President, Digital Studios.
Baobab Studios (Invasion!, Crow: The Legend, Baba Yaga) has unveiled the official teaser trailer for Namoo — a new immersive animated film from award-winning director Erick Oh (Opera, How to Eat Your Apple, Pig: The Damkeeper Poems). The whimsical interpretation of life and growth is makes its world premiere in the New Frontier section of the Sundance Film Festival today (Thursday, Jan. 28).
Namoo (Korean for “Tree”) is a narrative poem come to life as an immersive animated film. Inspired by the life of Oh’s grandfather, Namoo follows the meaningful moments of one man’s life. The tree starts as a seed and eventually grows into a fully mature tree, collecting meaningful objects that represent positive and painful memories in its branches. This visually rich film was created with Quill, the real-time VR animation tool realizing the filmmaker’s artistic vision. Namoo is a deeply personal yet surprisingly universal film that will undoubtedly resonate with each viewer.
Erick Oh is a Korean filmmaker and artist based in California. His films have been introduced and awarded at the Academy Awards, Annie Awards, Annecy Animation Festival, Zagreb Film Festival, SIGGRAPH, Anima Mundi and many others. With his background in fine art in Seoul National University and film at UCLA, Oh worked as an animator at Pixar from 2010 to 2016. He then joined Tonko House with his fellow former Pixar artists and directed PIG: The Dam Keeper Poems which won the Cristal Award at Annecy 2018. Oh is currently working on a variety of projects with his partners in film/animation, the VR/AR industry and the contemporary art scene in the U.S. and South Korea. His short film project, Opera, is currently touring the festival circuit and will debut as an installation exhibition this Spring in Paris and South Korea.
Emmy-nominated superhero toon Big Hero 6 The Series is coming to an end, with a two-part series finale episode airing February 15. With this epic adventure coming to a close, the voice cast — Ryan Potter (Hiro), Scott Adsit (Baymax), Jamie Chung (Go Go), Genesis Rodriguez (Honey Lemon), Khary Payton (Wasabi) and Brooks Wheelan (Fred) — gathered for a virtual discussion of their characters, favorite memories and behind-the-scenes stories.
Big Hero 6 The Series will continue to air in reruns on Disney Channels around the world, and the first two seasons are available now on Disney+.
Big Hero 6 The Series will conclude with the series finale on Monday, February 15 (7:30 p.m. ET/PT). New episodes leading up to the finale will premiere every Monday, beginning February 1 (7:30 p.m. EST/PST). About the finale episode:
Krei-oke Night – In this music-filled episode, Krei enlists Big Hero 6 to help launch his latest invention, a karaoke machine.
The Mascot Upshot – When the mascots decide to add a new member to their family, Hiro sees an opportunity to defeat them once and for all.
Based on the Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Academy Award-winning feature film, Big Hero 6 The Series continues the adventures and friendship of tech genius Hiro, his compassionate, cutting-edge robot Baymax and their friends Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Go Go and Fred as they form the legendary superhero team Big Hero 6 and embark on high-tech adventures protecting their city from an array of scientifically enhanced villains. In his normal day-to-day life, Hiro faces daunting academic challenges and social trials at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.
Maya Rudolph also features in the cast as the voice of Aunt Cass. Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley and Nick Filippi — the team behind the Emmy Award-winning global hit Disney Channel series Kim Possible — serve as executive producers. The series is a production of Disney Television Animation.
aAfter a successful international festival run and qualifying for this year’s Oscars, the Swiss animated short film The Lonely Orbit makes its online premiere on Thursday (January 28). The sci-fi short is directed by Frederic Siegel and Benjamin Morard and has been screened at over 70 renowned film festivals in the last two years and has picked up several awards, including two honors at the Fantoche international animation film festival in Baden and Best Animated Short Film at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival 2019 in Catalonia.
Produced by Zurich-based creative collective Team Tumult, the short is set in the near future and tells the story of a satellite technician who tries to cope with his loneliness by keeping in constant contact with his old friends through text messages. When he neglects his duties, a satellite leaves its orbit, leading to a chain reaction and the collapse of the world’s entire communication network.
The film premieres on the renowned short film platform “Short of the Week” and can be viewed both on YouTube and Vimeo. We recently had the chance to chat with director Frederic Siegel about his fascinating short. Here is what he told us:
Frederic Siegel (L) and Benjamin Morard [Team Tumult]
Congrats on the global success of The Lonely Orbit. Can you tell us how you came up with the idea for this short?
Siegel: Actually, the first ideas for the film were the two images of a satellite in space, burning up in a huge fireball, and a man walking through a bar, burning up in the same way. I was intrigued by the metaphor of a human, living his life mirroring the life of a satellite, even sharing its fate of gloriously bursting into flames in the end.
After that, me and my co-director Beni Morard started to find narrative cues that connect satellites and humans to build a story around. Finally, the topic of loneliness and being connected to your friends via smartphone resonated with both of us. We thought that the theme fits the visual metaphor very well: The main character is constantly connected in a virtual sense, but actually separated over huge distances. He’s figuratively floating in an orbit around his friends, that are holding him close with their gravitational pull. He’s anxious not to cut the digital cord, which is tethering him to them.
The Lonely Orbit
How many people worked on it and what kind of budget did you have? How long did it take to make?
Aside from the two directors and the producer, we had an additional core team of three animators, one layout artist, two sound designers, one musician and one foley-maker. Also there was a lot of support from our friends and colleagues from the Swiss animation scene. We were lucky to be financially supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Zurich and Central Swiss film funds and Swiss National Television. We got a pretty good budget to pay all our work and the work of our friends. The preproduction (story, storyboard, design) took over two years, starting in early 2016. After we received all the funding, we started the production in the beginning of 2018 and finished the film in around 10 months.
How did you come up with the powerful visual style and color palette of the short?
The concept of limited colors is initially based on my previous film Ruben Leaves, where I used a bold blue and yellow color scheme. For The Lonely Orbit, we tried to create a softer and more graceful look with a more cinematic blue, orange and white palette, additionally inspired by the dawn of computer graphics, where restricted color palettes had to be used, due to the low amount of memory capacity.
The Lonely Orbit
What would you say was your toughest challenge on this project?
The editing of the film was a huge challenge. Since we really wanted to create a slow-paced film with impressive imagery of the Earth and technology, it was very hard to get the timing just right. In certain space shots, you just observe some satellites flying by and the world spinning slowly underneath. It’s beautiful to look at, but how long can you show it until it gets boring? It’s hard to judge the length of a scene when there is basically nothing happening at all. Especially when you’ve seen it a few hundred times already during the editing.
Why do you think the film was so well-received?
I’m glad that you perceive it like that, as we didn’t get too many direct feedbacks and reactions to the film, due to the cancelation of most of the festivals in 2020. I think that the idea of the film resonates with a lot of people, who started to reflect on their own use of communication technology and the impact it has on their behavior. On one hand, everyone can feel permanently connected and loved, on the other hand the connections are very fragile and can’t really satisfy your need for real human connection yet. It seems that especially young people start to think about this, as the film was screened in a lot of youth programs and received a bunch of awards from youth juries.
Of course, there is also the ongoing global pandemic that makes people question it even more. The forced shift into the digital world is getting people closer together virtually, but separating them even more physically. I think we need to realize, now more than ever, that digital connections are not replacements for real connections. They are just supposed to be handy tools, helping us to stay in touch with a real human on the other end. They are not the connections themselves. They are not keeping us from feeling less lonely. And we should never forget that, no matter for how long this situation lasts.
The Lonely Orbit
Can you talk about the ending of the short without giving it away?
Well, we wanted to finish the film on an ambiguous note, trying not to give a definitive answer to the question, “Is digital communication bad?” For us, there are both good and bad qualities to it. We wanted to leave room for everyone to interpret the ending in their own way, thinking about their own relationship with smartphones and computers. It’s also the perfect ending for our visual metaphor. Involuntarily, the main actor suffers the same fate as the satellite…
Who are some of your animation heroes?
I draw a lot of inspiration from a lot of different media, mostly live-action films. But as far as animation goes, I’m following a lot of people too of course! I’m a big fan of independent Japanese anime. My biggest inspiration is everything made by Masaaki Yuasa, but also films and series like Paprika, Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke, Akira, Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion are some of my favorites. I love the mind-bending aspects in most of the stories. But I’m also a huge fan of a lot of contemporary animators and animation directors like Mikey Please, Nicolas Ménard, Paul Cabon and Sander Joon, just to name a few.
The Lonely Orbit
What are you working on next?
I’m the middle of developing a new short film, for which we received development funding in Switzerland. It’s a story about two police officers who are investigating weird incidents happening in an apartment block, triggered by a little boy’s excessive TV consumption. I’m writing and directing it by myself and it will be produced by Marwan Abdalla Eissa at Team Tumult again.
What was the biggest lesson you learned from the making of this short?
I think the biggest lesson for me is the fact, that it’s very important to have a clear understanding of the message you want to convey, before you start working on a story. My initial idea for The Lonely Orbit was only based on a visual (which I already explained above) and a vague topic of loneliness. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a film about friendship, a love story or just a poetic essay film. I wanted to do some of everything. While it helped massively to work together with co-director Beni Morard, crafting a narrative around the images, it took a long time and a lot of energy to find the right ideas in a forced production environment. I wanted to do my next film as fast as possible, so I rushed a little bit too much. It’s good to let some ideas rest a little, until there’s a real spark and you’re a 100% sure, what you want to tell.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced feature films eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature and International Feature Film categories for the 93rd Academy Awards.
Twenty-seven features are eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 93rd Academy Awards. Some of the films have not yet had their required qualifying release and must fulfill that requirement and comply with all the category’s other qualifying rules to advance in the voting process. The list of nominated features will be announced on March 15th. (In 2019, 32 titles were eligible for the 92nd Oscars.)
The contenders are:
Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus
Bombay Rose(Read more in the February issue of Animag)
Following a monumental 10-book deal with Dark Horse Comics, YouNeek Studios has secured VC investment from Impact X Capital to develop a groundbreaking animation series based on a world of superhero and fantasy stories inspired by African history and mythology. Highly regarded former senior VP of co-productions at DreamWorks, Doug Schwalbe, has joined as executive producer and will oversee distribution.
Dark Horse Comics, one of the world’s leading entertainment publishers, welcomed YouNeek and its pioneering founder Roye Okupe into its fold in January 2021 in a deal that will publish all 10 of YouNeek’s graphic novels. Okupe, a Nigerian-born rising star of the industry, is working with TV industry veteran Erica Motley, Creative Partner at Impact X Capital, to bring the magical series to screens worldwide, starting with Iyanu: Child of Wonder, a classic children’s fantasy quest in the tradition of shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender. More uniquely, Iyanu features a teenaged, Black female lead whose story and world are inspired by Yoruba history, culture and folklore.
“This is an unprecedented time for stories inspired by African history and culture,” says Okupe. “Our mission has always been to empower African creatives and storytelling. We’ve done it successfully in the comic book industry and with Impact X Capital, we’re excited at the opportunity to do it in the animation space, with as many people as possible creating these stories who look like the characters in them.”
An award-winning filmmaker, Okupe tells stories through the lens of extraordinary, compelling and inspirational African characters, and was just nominated for the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics, meant to honor “commitment to excellence and inclusion.” YouNeek is on a mission to bring empowering African narratives and the work of Black creatives to worldwide audiences.
“Impact X Capital is thrilled to partner with YouNeek Studios to bring its first animated series to life,” said Motley. “With its stunning African locations, brilliant themes of unity and community, and rare focus on Black Girl Magic, Iyanu represents our aim to create outstanding, multicultural content by exceptional, diverse talent.”
“As soon as Erica Motley brought me Iyanu, I knew it was special,” said Schwalbe. “I’m thrilled to introduce it at the Kidscreen Summit.”
YouNeek has also partnered with Forefront Media Group as well as with South Africa’s Triggerfish Animation Studios for Iyanu. The Cape Town studio has created award-winning TV and cinema projects including Revolting Rhymes, Stick Man, Khumba and Zambezia.
Triggerfish CEO Stuart Forrest commented, “We fell in love with Iyanu when we read Volume I, so we’re eager to bring our network of skilled creatives to make this show inventive, vibrant and an authentic representation of the fresh talent across the continent.”
Comedian Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central’s long running comedy-news program The Daily Show since 2015, is reportedly working on an as-yet untitled feature film project with Paramount Animation.
Noah’s “timely, poignant and comedic” original story will be scripted by Jonathan Groff (black-ish) and Jon Pollack (Modern Family), and produced by Noah under his Day Zero Productions (a ViacomCBS partner studio) with his president of production, Haroon Saleem. Mainstay Entertainment’s Norman Aladjem, Derek Van Pelt and Sanaz Yamin will also produce.
While the mysterious new project is something to look forward to in the years to come, animation lovers and wrestling fanatics were dealt a blow with another bit of Paramount Animation news: Rumble has been delayed yet again, and is now slated to enter the box office ring on February 18, 2022.
Originally positioned for release on July 31, 2020, in the first few months of pandemic lockdown, the Paramount Animation / Reel FX / WWE / Walden Media production was initially pushed to November 2020. With a return to normalcy still elusive, the pic was delayed again to January 29 of this year and most recently bumped down the calendar to May 14.
Synopsis: Set in a world where monster wrestling is a global sport and monsters are superstar athletes, this no-holds-barred action comedy adventure centers on Winnie (voiced by Geraldine Viswanathan) a confident young woman who yearns to follow in her father’s footsteps as a manager by coaching the lovable, wildly inexperienced underdog monster wrestler named Steve (Will Arnett).
Helmed by Hamish Grieve (head of story, Rise of the Guardians; story artist, Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek 2 & 3) in his feature directorial debut and written by Matt Lieberman (Scoob!) and Alexandra Bracken (The Darkest Minds), Rumble also features the voices of Terry Crews as marine monster Tentacularis, Fred Melamed as The Mayor, Joe Anoa’i (WWE Superstar Roman Reigns), Rebecca Quinn (WWE Superstar Becky Lynch), Tony Danza, Charles Barkley, Jimmy Tatro, Ben Schwartz and Michael Buffer.
Netflix has announced its latest animated musical feature project The Witch Boy will be directed by Oscar nominee Minkyu Lee (Adam and Dog). Based on the New York Times bestselling graphic novel series by Molly Knox Ostertage, the movie will be produced by Vertigo Entertainment (The LEGO Movie) and released on the streaming platform. Three-time Grammy Award-nominated band Haim is attached to write the music.
“It has been a life-long dream of mine to create an animated film that pushes the medium forward, both in content and form. The connection between this dream, my experiences, and Aster and Juniper’s story is what draws me to this film every day. I am grateful to be creating this with the wonderful team at Netflix,” said Lee. “My hope is that this film, by celebrating queerness and ‘otherness,’ will come to audiences around the world as something truly special.”
Synopsis: In a secret, magical community where girls are born to be witches and boys grow into shapeshifters, Aster is surprised to discover his emerging and extraordinary witch powers. When a mysterious danger threatens his world, Aster must embark on a journey to uncover the truth behind himself, his powers, and everything that is magical.
The film is directed by Lee, written by Maria Melnik (American Gods), and executive produced by Vertigo Ent. founder Roy Lee, Miri Yoon and Ryan Harris.
Minkyu Lee is a film director, writer, producer and artist whose animated short film, Adam and Dog was nominated for an Oscar and won an Annie Award for Best Animated Short. His credits include animating on Glen Keane’s Oscar-winning short Dear Basketball, Disney’s Winnie the Pooh and The Princess and the Frog, as well as visual development on Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6 and storyboarding on Over the Moon.
The Witch Boy was previously picked up for development by Fox Animation in in 2017.
Netflix’s fast-growing original animated features slate includes Academy Award-nominated Klaus, Kris Pearn’s The Willoughbys, Oscar winner Glen Keane’s Over the Moon; as well as the Fall 2021 comedy Back to the Outback directed by Clare Knight and Harry Cripps, Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Adventure, Chris Williams’ The Sea Beast, Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild, Nora Twomey’s My Father’s Dragon, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Wendy Rogers’ The Magician’s Elephant, and an Aardman sequel to Chicken Run.
Paramount+, the highly anticipated streaming service from ViacomCBS, today announced that both The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and all-new Paramount+ Original Series Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years will premiere on the service at launch on Thursday, March 4. Sponge on the Run will also be released by Paramount Home Entertainment for Premium Video-On-Demand (PVOD) on the same day.
The official Paramount+ Original trailer for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run was also released today in addition to the official key art for both the movie and Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years.
Kamp Koral‘s first six episodes will be available to stream beginning March 4 exclusively on Paramount+ for subscribers in the U.S. The rest of the season’s 13-episode order will roll out on the platform at later dates to be announced.
In addition to its availability on Paramount+, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run will be available on VOD platforms for a limited time at a suggested rental price of $19.99 in the U.S.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run: In the first-ever all CGI SpongeBob motion picture event, SpongeBob SquarePants, his best friend Patrick, and the Bikini Bottom gang star in their most epic adventure movie yet! When SpongeBob’s beloved pet snail Gary goes missing, a path of clues leads SpongeBob and Patrick to the powerful King Poseidon, who has Gary held captive in the Lost City of Atlantic City. On their mission to save Gary, SpongeBob and his pals team up for a heroic and hilarious journey where they discover nothing is stronger than the power of friendship.
From Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies, in association with MRC Film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is a United Plankton Pictures production. Directed and written by Tim Hill from a story by Hill and Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger, the film features the voice talent of Tom Kenny, Awkwafina, Matt Berry, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Mr. Lawrence, and Reggie Watts.
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years: From Nickelodeon, the first-ever SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff is a CG-animated prequel series following 10-year-old SpongeBob SquarePants and his pals during summer sleepaway camp where they spend their time building underwater campfires, catching wild jellyfish and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck at the craziest camp in the kelp forest, Kamp Koral.
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years features Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy) and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton) reprising their iconic roles. Carlos Alazraqui (The Casagrandes) and Kate Higgins (Blaze and the Monster Machines) join as new characters Nobby and Narlene, narwhal siblings who live in the woods surrounding the camp.
SpongeBob SquarePants veterans Marc Ceccarelli, Vincent Waller and Jennie Monica are co-executive producers of the series. Production of Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years is overseen by Kelley Gardner, Vice President, Current Series Animation, Nickelodeon. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, Calif.
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years
ViacomCBS’ existing subscription video-on-demand and live streaming service, CBS All Access, will be rebranded as Paramount+ on March 4 as part of the service’s expansion to feature content from ViacomCBS’ leading portfolio of broadcast, news, sports and entertainment brands. ViacomCBS will also bring Paramount+ to international markets with an initial debut in Australia, Latin America and the Nordics in 2021.
Superprod Animation (France) and Atmosphere Media (Germany) have started production of Anna & Friends, a 78 x 7′ preschool series based on the books by Anouk Ricard. The show’s French broadcast partner is France Télévisions, discussions with other broadcast partners are ongoing.
“Anna and her friends transcend daily life to offer us a world expertly crafted with immense originality and creativity,” commented Christine Reinaudo, Head of Hybrid Programs & New Formats for Kids, France Télévisions. “Genuine camaraderie bonds the characters despite their differences. They cooperate by using intelligence and determination to resolve any problems that come their way! This series expertly expresses the learning process that reinforces the social bond of children from the age of three.”
Anna & Friends is produced in innovative CG animation techniques simulating a charming hand-modeled clay look. The series centers on six-year-old Anna and her gang of friends, including impatient Froga the frog, Ron the thoughtful cat, overly confident Bubu the dog and naïve Christopher the orange worm. The series follows the hybrid gang in their daily adventures with each of the engaging storylines bursting with heart, humor and happiness.
Production is underway at Superprod’s studios in France and Digital Graphics Animation, Atmosphere Media’s sister company in Belgium which is also a co-producer. Delivery will begin in Fall 2021.
Anna & Friends is the second production between Superprod and Atmosphere Media / Digital Graphics. Their first co-production, That’s Joey (52 x 11′), was completed in Summer 2020. The series was produced in partnership with Planeta Junior and is aired on M6 (France), RTBF (Belgium), RTS (Switzerland), TV5 Monde, Kids Zone (Baltics), Discovery Kids (Middle East), RTI (Ivory Coast) and more to come.
“We are delighted to begin this new production with France Télévisions and our partners Digital Graphics and Atmosphere. We are very proud of this series and its unique look. Anna & Friends is full of humor and tenderness and its characters are so endearing,” said Superprod Group founders Clément Calvet and Jérémie Fajner.
Anna & Friends is based on the comic-book series Anna and Froga by French author, artist & stop-motion animator Ricard. The books are published in more than 10 languages, including French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Chinese.
About 10 years ago, the producer/directors of the prize-winning animated short Kapaemahu Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer were working with Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu on a documentary about her work as a teacher in Waikiki. That’s when she started chanting in the direction of some large stones on the beach, and told them about the origins of the sacred site. The filmmakers knew right then that they needed to go back to this intriguing subject again.
As Wilson explains, “As we continued to work with Hina on projects across the Pacific, we realized that she was not only a great film subject but a skilled storyteller in her own right. So when she decided to come over to our side of the lens as the lead director and producer on Kapaemahu, we were thrilled.”
Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson
Wong-Kalu has known about the stones of Kapaemahu since she was a young boy named Colin playing on the beach in Waikiki. She tells us, “It was only when I transitioned to become Hinaleimoana, and began to immerse myself in Hawaiian culture and language, that I realized how they relate to me personally, and at the same time embody a beautiful part of our Hawaiian culture that most people know nothing about. Such stories are rarely told, and when they are, it’s usually by outsiders who impose their lens of the world, their language and culture, to synthesize and process the narrative through their own experience. I wanted to tell the story from my perspective as a native mahu wahine and to tell it in the language that my ancestors might have used to pass it on.”
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
Mystical Dual Spirits
The result of their collaboration is a beautifully animated short which explains the origins of the four mysterious stones on Waikiki Beach and the legendary dual male and female spirits within them. The project, which premiered at Annecy last year and has gone on to win numerous festival awards, is one of the contenders of this year’s Academy Award and Annies races.
Hamer recalls, “We were inspired by the beauty and grace of Hawaiian culture, which in many ways is more sophisticated than anything westerners have come up with. As America went through its ‘transgender tipping point,’ finally recognizing that not everyone fits neatly into the gender binary, it was amazing to be working on a narrative about a society that recognized, respected and admired gender fluidity over a thousand years ago. When the debate over monuments that honor racist and imperialist figures from our ignoble past roiled the nation, we were delighted to be making a film focused on lifting up a site dedicated to some of history’s heroes. And now with the COVID pandemic, the holistic, multifactorial approach of Hawaiians to health and wellbeing is coming to the fore.”
Kapaemahu
Wilson says the short’s subject matter and meaning called the filmmakers to see beyond just what’s on the surface in front of them. “There was a lot of effort to peel away the layers, to uncover what had been intentionally suppressed and hidden for so long,” he notes. “We spent over five years doing research on the history of the moolelo, talking with elders, digging in library archives, before even starting the script. The breakthrough was the discovery of the original handwritten manuscript of the story which had been recorded over a century ago by a member of the Hawaiian noble class who may have heard it from Queen Liliuokalani, the revered reigning monarch at the time of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.”
The short’s Oscar-nominated animation director Daniel Sousa (Feral) seized the opportunity to create a very lush and beautiful world based on traditional Hawaiian and Polynesian art patterns. He says, “I found inspiration for the animation’s rough textures in Hawaiian tapa cloth and even the stones themselves. Dean, Joe, and Hina provided a wealth of photographic references, and we tried to infuse every part of the film’s landscape with that stone texture and richness as well.”
Daniel Sousa
Altogether, it took the team six years of research, two years of concept and script development, one year of fundraising, and one year of production. Wong-Kalu, Hamer and Wilson directed and produced the film from Hawaii, while Sousa animated full time for eight months in Rhode Island to create every single frame. Dan Golden, a long-time colleague of Sousa’s, worked on the sound and music in Massachusetts; and Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole wrote and recorded the ceremonial chant in Honolulu.
Sousa explains that for character development, the main concern was to present the mahu (a traditional term for people who exhibit both masculine and feminine traits) as the dignified, statuesque healers they are, for which Wong-Kalu graciously offered to model. “Their large size is meant not so much as a physical representation, but as a symbol of their large spirits,” he adds.
Kapaemahu
To produce the animation, Sousa and his team used Adobe Animate, Photoshop, After Effects and Blender to generate the 2D animation. “In terms of process, we started with Hina’s script, and from there I created a storyboard and an animatic, while simultaneously generating character and background designs, as well as style frames for each critical moment in the story,” says the animation director. “This combination of animatic and style frames became our template for shaping the film. The directors were involved from start to finish and offered notes and references along the way by regular video conferences.”
For Sousa, the biggest challenge was the joint effort of trying to create a story that connects with the audience on a human level. “The original manuscript is very straight forward, and as Dean mentioned we wanted to stick by it rather than embellish or revise,” he recalls. “Our innovation was to tell the story through the eyes of a curious child, a witness to history across the ages who gives viewers someone to relate to as the journey unfolds.”
Kapaemahu
According to Hamer, one of the big challenges was that many modern interpreters had altered the story to try and minimize the role of gender diversity. One well-known tourism promoter even made the bizarre claim that the name Kapaemahu – which literally means “the row of mahu,” – should be interpreted as “non-homosexual.” “Given that sort of manipulation and censorship, we felt it was important to stick to the documented version of the story passed down through the generations, before the arrival of foreigners in the islands,” he notes.
Hamer says the team was very pleased to receive funding from Pacific Islanders in Communications, a member of the National Multicultural Alliance supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, for a documentary about the stones and their history. He notes, “PIC immediately recognized Kapaemahu as a moolelo – a Hawaiian term for stories that blur the conventional boundary between myth and history, narrative and documentary, fiction and nonfiction – and agreed that animation was an ideal way to express it.”
Kapaemahu
The filmmakers have been thrilled with the reception the short has received worldwide. Says Wilson, “One thing we didn’t expect is the way that the film has been embraced by youth. People usually think of healing and gender diversity as adult topics, but as it turns out, kids love the idea of ‘magic stones,’ and think it’s totally natural for someone to be in the middle between male and female. We’re grateful to have been included in many children’s film festivals, and even to have won a few awards from youth juries. But maybe the greatest reaction was the message we recently received on Facebook from a local viewer: ‘I keep wondering who I’d have been if I’d seen it as a soft little boy at Kailua Elementary. I’m so excited for the kids who get to see it now.’”
Donkey Hodie, a whimsical new PBS KIDS puppet series produced by Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures, will encourage preschoolers to aim high, embrace challenges and work hard to achieve their goals when it premieres on May 3.
The colorful multi-platform show follows the adventures of Donkey Hodie, granddaughter of the original Donkey Hodie character from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (now known as “Grampy Hodie”). The original puppet appeared in 59 episodes of the beloved children’s series. Inspired by the quirky, funny side of Fred Rogers, Donkey Hodie furthers the children’s TV pioneer’s mission of helping young viewers navigate the challenges of childhood. The series features original new music along with reimagined versions of Rogers’ songs.
“We’re thrilled to bring Donkey Hodie’s engaging, character-driven stories full of adventure, imagination and music to PBS KIDS,” said Linda Simensky, Head of PBS KIDS Content. “As kids laugh and sing along with Donkey Hodie and her friends, they will learn important life lessons about teamwork, empathy and resilience to help them see a world full of possibilities.”
“Perseverance is a skill that’s of extra importance for children right now,” said Ellen Doherty, Chief Creative Officer, Fred Rogers Productions, and Executive Producer of Donkey Hodie. “We hope Donkey and her pals will inspire kids to keep trying even when tasks get hard and to face challenges with an ‘I can do this’ attitude. The show will also help parents guide their children in becoming strong critical thinkers and problem solvers.”
“We are excited to introduce young viewers to Donkey Hodie and the world of Someplace Else,” said Adam Rudman and David Rudman, co-founders of Spiffy Pictures and Executive Producers of Donkey Hodie. “We hope Donkey’s inherent positivity combined with the fun and inviting nature of the puppets will charm kids everywhere.”
Set in the whimsical land of Someplace Else, created by Fred Rogers on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the imaginative social-emotional series for children ages 3-5 centers on the adventures of Donkey Hodie, an enthusiastic, “can-do” yellow donkey with a bright magenta mane, and her pals: Purple Panda, her loyal and empathetic best friend who wears his big heart on his sleeve; Duck Duck, a practical, quick-witted young mallard who loves to figure things out; and Bob Dog, an energetic and eager canine who is always ready to boogie to music or fetch a ball.
In Someplace Else, everyone’s big dreams are possible — whether it’s Purple Panda finding the end of the Golden Rainbow, Duck Duck planning a Book-A-Palooza Festival or Bob Dog playing the largest kickball game in history. Episodes include catchy songs that reinforce the stories’ positive messages and fun adventures.
Donkey Hodie is created by Adam Rudman and David Rudman and developed by Ellen Doherty; all three are executive producers. Adam and David Rudman have produced, created, written and performed on a number of other celebrated children’s series, including Nature Cat, Jack’s Big Music Show and Bunnytown.
Accompanying digital content including games, clips and full episodes, parent resources and classroom materials will be available for free through pbskids.org, the PBS KIDS Games App, PBS KIDS Video App, other video platforms, and the PBS KIDS for Parents and PBS LearningMedia hubs online.
Donkey Hodie is made possible with major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
Netflix and Legendary Television announce two new anime series, the first based on Legendary’s Skull Island and the second on Square Enix’s Tomb Raider global franchise. Netflix and Legendary Television are also currently in production on the previously announced anime series Pacific Rim: The Black.
Skull Island
A new chapter in Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise, Skull Island is a thrilling animated adventure series that follows shipwrecked characters desperate to escape the most dangerous place on Earth — a mysterious island home to prehistoric monsters, including the greatest titan of them all, Kong.
Executive Producers: Brian Duffield (Underwater, The Babysitter), who will write and executive produce, and Jacob Robinson, under his company Tractor Pants.
Animation Studio: Powerhouse Animation (Castlevania, Blood of Zeus)
About the franchise: Bigger than any single monster, Legendary’s Monsterverse is an expansive story universe of multi-layered experiences centering around humanity’s battle to survive in a world that is under siege by a catastrophic new reality — the monsters of our myths and legends are real. Beginning in 2014 with Godzilla, continuing with 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Monsterverse films have accumulated over one billion dollars at the box office internationally, and in March 2021, comes the next epic chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse, Godzilla vs. Kong.
Tomb Raider
Lara Croft, one of the video game world’s most iconic adventurers, makes her anime debut in an all new series. Picking up after the events of the highly successful Tomb Raider video-game reboot trilogy, the animated series will chart the globetrotting heroine’s latest, greatest adventure. Twenty-five years after her first game appeared, Lara continues to explore new territory.
Executive Producers: Tasha Huo (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Red Sonja), who will write and executive produce; dj2 Entertainment Founder and CEO Dmitri M. Johnson (Sonic the Hedgehog), Stephan Bugaj and Howard Bliss; Jacob Robinson, under his company Tractor Pants.
About the franchise: In the 25 years since its launch, the Tomb Raider video game series has sold over 81 million copies and garnered a treasure chest worth of awards. The game’s success has led to a global franchise encompassing movies, merchandise, comic books and now, a stylish animated series. The most recent game release, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, has received numerous “Best of” nominations and awards. The Tomb Raider video games are developed by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal, and published by Square Enix.
GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, announced today that it is extending its long-term relationship with Studio Ghibli by launching and managing the first ever Official English-language Studio Ghibli social media channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for North American audiences:
“In the wake of a watershed year of expanded access to Studio Ghibli’s expansive catalogue via the global streaming and digital launch, these films remain an ever-present topic across social media platforms,” said GKIDS’ Director of Marketing Erica Chon. “To keep pace with the abundance of conversation surrounding the Studio and their North American partners, the official social media accounts are a natural next step in keeping fans up to date with all of the latest news from Studio Ghibli. We’re excited to launch the @GhibliUSA channels to bring the beauty and wonder of Studio Ghibli films to expanded audiences.”
Through the new social media accounts, fans can celebrate the artistry of Studio Ghibli, engage with other Ghibli fans, and have access to a reliable centralized resource covering all news, new product releases, events, and other notable information pertaining to the revered Japanese animation studio.
The social media announcement marks a further expansion of the partnership between Studio Ghibli and GKIDS, which began with GKIDS handling the Ghibli theatrical catalog for North America in 2010, and distributing new releases starting in 2012 with Goro Miyazaki’s From Up on Poppy Hill. In 2017, GKIDS took over North American home video rights to the illustrious Studio Ghibli catalog.
GKIDS will release the latest Studio Ghibli film, Earwig and the Witch, opening in theaters nationwide starting February 3 and streaming on HBO Max on February 5. Directed by Goro Miyazaki, (From Up on Poppy Hill, Tales from Earthsea) Earwig and the Witch, is produced by studio co-founder Toshio Suzuki, with planning on the feature from Goro Miyazaki’s father, Academy Award-winner Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro). Based on the children’s novel by Diana Wynne Jones (who also wrote Howl’s Moving Castle), the film was an official selection for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival and aired on NHK in Japan December 30, 2020.
With plans to nurture its own in-house talent to develop career paths and create new opportunities, Mercury Filmworks, Canada’s premier animation studio, announced today that it has greenlit the development of a new 2D animated children’s series, BloopyMerps, created by three long-term employees of the company. The news was announced today by Heath Kenny, Chief Content Officer, Mercury Filmworks.
Shane Plante, a 15-year veteran of the company, who has spent the last eight-plus years working on Mickey Mouse; Ross Love, a 10-year employee focusing on location design, specifically on Hilda; and David Laliberte, a nine-year Senior Animator, who supervised animation on Hilda season one, conceived the idea for BloopyMerps, which centers on a rules-loving robot and a soft-hearted alien on a mission to terraform a lifeless planet that’s not as lifeless as they thought.
Evan Thaler Hickey (Go Away, Unicorn The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, Inspector Gadget, The Bagel and BeckyShow) is on board as the series writer, with the show bible and pilot script complete. Hickey has also worked closely with the creators to craft the first season arc.
“With BloopyMerps, Ross, Shane and Dave have created a concept that explores friendship, trust, loss and, ultimately, absolution,” commented Kenny. “Though the setting may be otherworldly and the characters alien, the story is rooted in our very human need for connection and growth. Whether its Bloopy’s journey from innocence to his acceptance of responsibility, or Merps’s realization that there is more to life than blindly following rules, the transformations our characters undergo are recognizable and relatable.”
Kenny added, “Evan has taken this original idea and together with the creators developed a first season story arc and pilot script that is full of fun, jokes and adventure … because, at its core, BloopyMerps is an epic, odd-couple, road trip story. Think of it like Planes, Trains & Automobiles … but with aliens … and an entire galaxy hanging in the balance.”
“Originally we set out to ‘rage against the machine,’ but together we have started to create something that we hope will inspire others to think outside the box,” said Plante, Love and Laliberte. “It’s been a blast working with Evan to advance the project and we couldn’t be more excited! We hope our experience will inspire others to harness their own creative ideas!”
BloopyMerps is an epic journey across an alien world and into the self. The arc of the eight-episode series follows Bloopy and Merps as they go from simply trying to do their jobs to saving an entire world as they confront and ultimately defeat the planetary parasite, Purple James.
As a general rule, the process to saving a lifeless planet couldn’t be simpler: launch a bioengineered Bloopy and its mechanical Merps counterpart to the lifeless planet where the Merps run diagnostic and protocol programs, while the Bloopy accesses the global water-matrix to activate its terraforming functions. Our Merps is one of the few model IX MERPS still in service, owing his longevity to being amazing at what he does — pragmatic and unsentimental, Merps has never failed to oversee the revitalization of a dead planet by a Bloopy. And while Bloopy should be a blue Adonis that strides across dead worlds leaving life bursting in its wake, our Bloopy can barely grow a seedling, let alone a forest. But what he lacks in size and skill and power, he makes up for in curiosity and compassion and joie de vivre. Together, this defective, bioengineered bundle of infectious enthusiasm and single-minded rules-lawyer will save a world.
Mercury Filmworks is one of Canada’s most prolific independent studios and is internationally recognized as a leader in the animation industry. The studio has helped bring to life memorable series and features such as Hilda, Mickey Mouse, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, The Lion Guard, Wander Over Yonder, The PowerPuff Girls Movie and Looney Tunes: Back In Action, working with partners like Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., Universal, American Greetings, Entertainment One, Mattel, Technicolor, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Teletoon. www.mercuryfilmworks.com
Youth Media Alliance (YMA) and Women in Animation Vancouver (WIA) are proud to unveil the eight candidates who will take part in the third edition of the Art Director Master Class initiative. WIA Vancouver and the YMA have combined forces to present an intensive workshop for women who show a talent and passion for animated children’s content and who wish to explore the field and understand what it takes to build a career as an art director.
The selected candidates are (in alphabetical order by last name): Francine Delgado-Alvarez, Jackie Droujko, Courtney Jenkins, Nicola Kwit, Maya Patrich, Prinita Svati, Zora Wang and Janna Wong.
A Day in the Life of an Animation Art Director is intended to inspire women to pursue careers in an area of the animation industry where women are underrepresented as department heads. In addition to growing the numbers of women in leadership roles, a larger pool of women art directors can inspire other women to seek creative roles and enjoy more fulfilling careers and stronger professional networks. The underlying goal is to empower and advance women in the animation industry, leading to greater diversity and equality in the workforce.
Workshop mentors:
Following an Annie Award Nomination for Best Production Design for MGM’s animated feature film The Addams Family, Patricia Atchison is currently the production designer for the sequel, The Addams Family 2. Her skills and knowledge come from the 20+ years of experience starting as a graduate from Capilano University with fundamentals in 2D animation. Atchison’s career has ranged from supervising layout and posing on popular 2D shows like Arthur and Caillou, to storyboarding for hit series like Pound Puppies and Thomas and Friends, and art direction and production design for the Netflix and Mattel properties Spy Kids and Barbie, thus garnering her as a well-respected artist in the Vancouver animation community.
Maisha Moore is a Vancouver based Production Designer for series, features and short films. As a graduate of Capilano University for 3D animation, she quickly found her way into Vancouver’s flourishing animation industry. Early in her career, Moore focused on CG modeling, shading and texturing. She went on to lead and supervise various CG animated properties at both the series and feature level. Seeking a new challenge in 2013 Moore focused on delving into design. In recent years she has gone onto design and art direct a number of properties from shorts to feature films. Moore is looking forward to many more years creating imaginative worlds and characters.
The third edition of the initiative will be taking place online February 20, 21 and 27. It is followed by an online coaching workshop led by Jan Miller in early March, and a virtual pitching session to studios made up of supervisors, creative directors and creative heads.
“WIA and YMA are proud of our continued collaboration on this project. Even though we had to modify this year’s format in response to COVID measures, we are thrilled to be able to offer this initiative for the third year, thanks to the support of our sponsors.” said Chantal Bowen, Executive Director of the Youth Media Alliance.
“WIA is overjoyed to be partnering with YMA for the third installment of the Art Director Masterclass. The purpose of this Masterclass is to accelerate the careers of the participating artists towards a very bright future as creative leaders in our industry! This program has generated real, concrete progress towards our goal of 50/50 by 2025,” said Kylie Ellis, Chair, Women in Animation, Vancouver Chapter. “This year’s applicants are a fantastic array of talent and we are excited to announce the participants!”
The Master Class: A Day in the Life of an Animation Art Director is an initiative presented by the Youth Media Alliance (YMA) and the Women in Animation (WIA). Thank you to our funding partners and sponsors: Atomic Cartoons, CEA, WildBrain, Creative BC, Shaw Rocket Fund, MainFrame Studios and CineSite.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and kids’ favorite toons are feeling the love! Both Gigantosaurus (Disney Junior) and Pinkalicious & Peterrific (PBS KIDS) will premiere special episodes themed to the affectione holiday on February 8.
Gigantosaurus “I Heart Giganto” | Monday, February 8 at 8:55 a.m. | Disney Junior
It’s Togetherness Day in Cretacia, and Tiny tries to get Giganto to join her and her besties in some activities to show how much they care. But Giganto seems to be more interested in watching heart-shaped clouds. So Tiny tries using Giganto’s favorite shape to lure him into flying kites, swimming at the lake, and having a moss picnic, but nothing seems to work. Maybe Giganto doesn’t care about them after all. But when the four little dinos get in trouble with some scorpions, Tiny realizes that protecting them is how Giganto shows he cares.
The holiday episode is followed by “Guardians of the Herds” – The little dinos discover that Trey and Hegan have started a dino protection service in Cretacia called Guardians of the Herds! Rocky his friends apprentice as Guardians-in-Training, but Rocky wants to do more heroic dino-saving stuff and less preventing danger from actually happening. When Rocky doesn’t do his job properly, he causes some real Giganto-sized danger to Cretacia – but can he stop it?
Pinkalicious & Peteriffic “Cupid Calls it Quits” One-Hour Special Event | Monday, February 8 | PBS KIDS (check local listings)
It’s Valentine’s Day in Pinkville and Pinkalicious can’t wait to make valentines for her class party. But when she befriends Cupid, he offers her a trade that turns her plans upside-down! Can Pinkalicious and her brother Peter save Valentine’s Day for all of Pinkville?
Pinkalicious & Peteriffic inspires children to delve into music, dance, theater and the visual arts, encouraging them to express themselves creatively. Based on the best-selling books by Victoria Kann, the series follows the adventures of Pinkalicious and her brother Peter as they explore the town of Pinkville with their friends. Together, they find creative opportunities and imaginative solutions to problems, encouraging young viewers to do the same.
The upcoming animated feature Schirkoa, based on the award-winning short by director Ishan Shukla, has tapped Asia Argento (Agony), Golshifteh Farahani (Extraction) and Jim Sarbh (Made in Heaven) to voice its starring roles, joined by French singer-songwriter and actress Soko (Little Fish), King Khan and the Shrines frontman Arish Ahmad Khan, filmmaker Gaspar Noe (Climax) and actor-musician Piyush Mishra (Sanju).
Schirkoa is set in a bizarre dystopian world of the same name, where citizens go about life with paper bags on their heads to dissolve political, cultural and religious differences, and one bored office worker may have accidentally sparked a revolution.
“This film is a metaphorical reaction to the world I live in today. While the short film served as a good test bed for the story and animation technique it only scratched the surface of the larger conflict between the two dimensions of Schirkoa’s world – politics and faith. The conflict that I feel can only be meaningfully explored in a long form,” Shukla told Variety.
Shukla is directing the project, set to begin production this spring. The director’s animation studio Red Cigarette Media (India) is producing; co-producers are Dissidenz Films’ Tran-Bich Quan (France), Rapid Eye Movies’ Stephan Holl (Germany) and Chan Gin Kai’s Silver Media Group (Singapore). The movie will be developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.
The 2016 short was selected for more than 120 film festivals and won 30-plus awards, including Best Animated Short prizes at Venice Film Week, L.A. Shorts Fest and Oaxaca FilmFest, and Best of Show at SIGGRAPH Asia’s Computer Animation Festival, making the long list for the 2017 Academy Awards. Schirkoa is available to watch on Vimeo.
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