Waltz with Bashir uses animation to portray fragmented memoriesThis year at the Cannes Film festival an animated documentary about the massacre in the Middle East is in the lead to win the Palme d’Or prize. Director Ari Folman attempts to tell the story of the atrocity he bore witness to during his time spent in the Israeli army in 1982. According to the BBC the story is about:

The invasion of Lebanon, codenamed Operation Peace for Galilee, was an attempt to occupy the country as far as the capital Beirut.

It ended in what many think of as the worst atrocity of the entire Arab-Israeli conflict, when at least 800 Palestinian civilians were massacred at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during Israel’s invasion.

They were murdered by Lebanese Christian militiamen allied to Israel while the Israeli forces encircled the camps.

Folman was among them. His film is a personal journey with his own narration accompanied, unusually, by animated images.

The director says he had blanked the massacre from his memory until he started making the film.

“I think more than ever that I was used. We were all used - cynically used,” he says.

‘Rage and anger’

“You are 18 years old, they send you there, you go there on a plane. You land at the international airport in Beirut and you see people get killed for nothing.

“When you look at it now, the rage and the anger is even stronger than it used to be before I made the film.

“Maybe that’s because I established family in the last five years and I have suddenly three kids. I look at them and they’re boys and think: ‘I will never let them do the same things I did.’
 
“This film is one of the things in order to persuade them not to take part in any violence whatsoever.”

  

  

Using classic animation combined with 3D, the film has a surreal quality - not least in its several dream sequences.

It has struck a chord with critics at Cannes, where it has been described as “vivid”, “politically combustible” and “peculiarly potent”.

While this is a tragic story of terrible events, I think, it demonstrates once again how animation can be just as relevant in story telling as live action when used correctly.

Animation Magazine has an article about a new company getting into the animation biz called Wild Canary. Headed by former exec VP of Klasky-Csupo’s ka-chew! commercial division Richard Marlis and Carmen Italia, founder of Italia Partners, they are based in Burbank, and already have a slew of projects in development. Among their projects are

new animated spots for Mucinex and Chucky Cheese, as well as a video game project for RDAI. Also in production are numerous entertainment projects for such clients as Disney, Marvel Studios, Cartoon Network and 20th Century Fox.

Joining Wild Canary are veterans of the industry Liz Seidman as exec producer of animation, producer Chris Hutchison and directors Paul DeMeyer and Gary Johns.

Ani-Jobs.com is proud to present the May Artist Spotlight with Dave Dorman!

The Artist Spotlight, located in our Resume Cafe, is a great place to learn about professional artists working in our industry and the techniques they use on a daily basis. It includes a bio, examples of their artwork and a discussion of their process, as well as an in-depth interview.

Our second spotlight is on the Eisner Award winning illustrator, Dave Dorman. He’s created artwork for comic, book, and game publishers, including Batman for DC Comics and the Indiana Jones and Star Wars series for Dark Horse Comics. See how he takes a project from conception to completion in our May spotlight. It’s an insightful read!

According to Variety, Fox has announced that Simpsons will be a part of its fall lineup in its usual Sunday slot. However, no deal has been made with the voice talent for the next season. And with no deal comes no work. Production has been halted on the show for months, which may lead to only 20 episodes getting made instead of 21.

The key “Simpsons” cast members — Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Moe) and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns) — are believed to make around $360,000 an episode. A new deal could bump that number closer to $500,000, including various bonuses. That’s more in line with the paydays of many live-action sitcom stars…

Since salaries were already increased quite a bit on the last go round of negotiations, there doesn’t seem to be much angst surrounding these talks. The actors are supposedly just looking for a “healthy bump” in salary. Variety says one insider is a little optimistic, and thinks these talks will end sometime this week.

Variety is reporting that “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” topped the domestic box office this weekend with sales reaching $56 million from just under 4,000 theaters. It didn’t do quite as well as the first in the Narnia series of films which opened in Dec. 2005 with $65.5 million.

Paramount’s “Iron Man” continued to wow, becoming the first film of the year to cross the $200 million mark at the domestic box office and coming in No. 2 for the frame. Film declined just 39% in its third sesh to an estimated $31.2 million from 4,154. Cume is $222.5 million.

Emmy Award-winning writer Mitchell Hurwitz (”Arrested Development”) and Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (”Two and a Half Men”) have teamed up on a new FOX animated show called “Sit Down, Shut Up”(working title). The show is scheduled to air in the coveted Sunday night fox animation block starting,Will Arnett as Ennis, Maria Bamford as Miracle, Jason Bateman as Larrya, Will Forte as Stuart, Tom Kenny as Happy, Nick Kroll as Andrew, Cheri Oteri as Helen, Kenan Thompson as Sue, and Henry Winkler as Willard. FOX gives a summary of what the new show is about:

From Emmy Award-winning writer Mitchell Hurwitz (”Arrested Development”) and Eric and Kim Tannenbaum (”Two and a Half Men”) comes SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, an animated comedy that focuses on the lives of eight staff members at a high school in a small northeastern fishing town (Go Baiters!) who never lose sight of the fact that the children must ALWAYS come second. We watch them grapple with their own egos, needs and personal agendas, their petty insecurities and prejudices, unrequited loves, and ruthless battles for power - and that’s just at the staff meeting….

With a distinctive new look - a combination of animation against a live-action backdrop - SIT DOWN, SHUT UP is a series for the young and old at heart. It lampoons modern society while exposing the dreams, flaws and struggling humanity of our first and most formative authority figures: teachers.

Based on the hit live-action Australian series, SIT DOWN, SHUT UP is written and executive-produced by Mitchell Hurwitz and executive-produced by Eric and Kim Tannenbaum and Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein (THE SIMPSONS, “Futurama”).

According to the proggraming schedule the show is slated to air in the same 8:30pm time slot as “King of The Hill” which I’m assuming means that this will air in the summer of ‘09 after the “King of the Hill” season is finished .

AWN is reporting that Cannes audiences will be very lucky to see snippets from Pathe and Sylvain Chomet’s upcoming film “The Illusionist” at the Marche du Film.

Chomet began working on the film in June 2006. He is writing and directing the adaptation of the original and previously unproduced material by Jacques Tati. Pathe said it plans to release the $22 million film in France and the U.K. in 2009. Pathe International will handle worldwide sales.

The film combines traditional 2-D character techniques and CG.

Chomet is well known for his character animation and story sensibilities in his outstanding previous film, “The Triplettes of Belleville.”

(L.A. Times)

AWN is reporting that

DreamWorks Animation kicked off the 61st annual Cannes Film Festival today, as Jack Black, star of the company’s June 6 release, KUNG FU PANDA, spread “Panda-monium” as he emerged from a water taxi to be greeted on the Carlton Hotel pier by nearly 40 life-sized Po, the Panda’s — his on-screen persona and the hero of the film.

The worldwide premiere is today at 7:30pm at Cannes and the ongoing spectacle of pandamoniumness is expected to continue on the red carpet. The film opens nationwide on June 6th.

Variety reports that the studio that made the 3-D animated film “Fly Me to the Moon” (to be released August 8th by Summit) is beginning production on their next feature “Around the World in 50 Years — 3D”. nWave Pictures, a Belgian animation studio, will be self-financing the picture, and they expect to have it complete in 2009.

Story follows the adventures of a sea turtle hatched in 1959 as he travels the world while it is being changed by global warming.

Voice cast includes Anthony Anderson, Ed Begley Jr., Pat Carroll, Tim Curry, Kathy Griffin, Melanie Griffith, Stacy Keach and Jenny McCarthy.

Animation Magazine reports that the Weinstein Company has signed on to distribute a feature length live action film all about “Fraggle Rock”, currently in development at the Jim Henson Company.

Cory Edwards, who previously directed the independent animated comedy Hoodwinked!, has been tapped to script and helm the musical project, which will feature a mix of live-action and puppetry or CG animation.

Even though felt puppets were used during the TV series of “Fraggle Rock” to interact with human characters, Jim Henson Co. is considering using more animation for the feature film, utilizing their proprietary system that allows puppeteers to manipulate CG characters in real time.