Animation Magazine has released a list of all the featre films that have made it to the semi-final round for the Oscars.  15 films were announced by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and they are the following:

Australia
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Cloverfield
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Hancock
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Incredible Hulk
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Quantum of Solace
The Spiderwick Chronicles

CG-loaded pics that didn’t make the list for one reason or another include 10,000 B.C., Speed Racer, Wanted, Jumper, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Babylon A.D. and Max Payne.

The 81st Academy Award nominees will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22nd at 5:30 am.  The Awards will be presented on February 22nd at the Kodak Theater in L.A.

According to Variety, the L.A. Film Critics Association has done something they’ve never done in their 33 year history.  Critics chose an animated film, Pixar’s Wall-E, to take their top prize Best Film of the year.

While the L.A. critics have leaned toward specialty fare in recent years, such as “There Will Be Blood,” “American Splendor” and “About Schmidt,” they’ve honored mainstream crowd-pleasers before: “Star Wars” won best pic in 1977, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” in 1982.

The runner-up for Best Film was another huge blockbuster of the year, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.  Nolan was also the runner-up for Best Director against Danny Boyle who took the prize for Slumdog Millionaire.  Heath Ledger was given a post-humous nod for Best Supoprting Actor for his role as the Joker.

Since Wall-E was given Best Film of the Year overall, in the Animation category Waltz with Bashir took top honors.

The L.A. Film Critics Association Awards dinner will be held Jan. 12 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Beverly Hills.

According to Variety, ASIFA’s annual Annie Awards, celebrating the best of the animation industry, just announced its nominations.  “Kung Fu Panda” jetted to the top with 17 nominations.  Behind that are “Bolt”, “Wall-E”, “Waltz with Bashir”, and “9.99″ in the best feature category.

Nickelodeon nabbed the most nominations in the TV category with 12 noms total, including a duo of nods for best children’s animated series for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “The Mighty B!”

Contenders in the best animated productions for TV category include 20th Century Fox’s “King of the Hill,” ShadowMachine’s “Moral Orel” and “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II,” Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb” and Gracie Films/Fox TV’s “The Simpsons.”

Electronic Arts “Dead Space,” Activision’s adaptation of “Kung Fu Panda” and Heavy Iron Studios’ gamer version of “Wall-E” were nominated in the vidgame category.

Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park are the 2008 Winsor McCay recipients, which honors career contributions to the art of animation.

The Annie Awards will be held on January 20th in UCLA’s Royce Hall.

AWN reports that AniFest International is now making a call for entries for their 2009 festival.  AniFest will be held from May 1-10 of next year in Trebon and Teplice of the Czech Republic.

Competition includes categories in Animated Short Films of varying lengths, Commissioned Films, Feature Length Films, School Competition, and Student Films, Internet Animation, and Films made by Children.

Check out the entry details at AniFest’s website.

Animation Magazine reports the Visual Effects Society is now accepting submissions for their 7th Annual VES Awards honoring outstanding accomplishments in visualeffects.  A number of changes have been made to the awards show, including the addition of

an award for Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture, as well as Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project and matte paintings categories. The Models & Miniatures and Special Effects categories are also back by popular demand.

The VES Awards show honors the most outstanding visual effects in film, television, animation, commercials, special venue projects and video games. Last year’s event attracted more than 1,000 visual effects artists and celebrities as the VES honored Steven Spielberg with its Lifetime Achievement Award. For the upcoming awards, VES will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, and will also honor vfx guru Phil Tippett with the Georges Melies Award for his pioneering work in the field.

The event will be held on February 21st, 2009 in Beverly Hills.  To enter the show, follow procedures available at vesawards.com

“The Legend of Secret Pass”, an independent CGI animated feature film, has been set to debut at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA.  Producer Jimmy Costello recently inked a distribution deal with Starz Media, who will be screening the film for its world premiere.


“Legend” follows the story of a Native American teenager, Manu, who must face his destiny to save his family and some unlikely friends.  As a terrible evil approaches his desert home, Manu takes on an awesome responsibility to protect all he holds dear.   The voice cast includes such actors as Graham Greene (Grandfather), Frankie Muniz (Manu), Joe Pantoliano (Chuckster), Cheryl Hines (Nitika), Christy Carlson Romano (Nica), Ron Perlman (Parker), David Cross (Loo) and Michael Chiklis as Calabar.


The independently funded animated feature was literally made around the world, with producers JC2 Animated Entertainment utilizing 310 Studios’ Los Angeles offices as its central hub.  310 Studios helped produce and handled all post-production on the film.  The film was directed by Steve Trenbirth and art directed by Darren Carney of Mad Cow Pictures in Sydney with animation completed in Montreal by Digital Dimension.


“The Legend of Secret Pass” will be making its world premiere in AFM’s 2008 lineup, which runs from Nov. 5th through the 12th at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel and Le Merigot Beach Hotel in Santa Monica.


Visit www.legendofsecretpass.com

AWN reports that the Ottawa International Animation Festival came to a close last night.  Here’s the list of winners from the closing ceremony showcase:

NELVANA GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST INDEPENDENT SHORT ANIMATION
CHAINSAW (2007), directed by Dennis Tupicoff, Australia

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Best Animated Feature Film: TERRA, directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas
Honorable Mention: Best Animated Feature Film: SITA SINGS THE BLUES, directed by Nina Paley

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST STUDENT ANIMATION
I SLEPT WITH COOKIE MONSTER (2008), directed by Kara Nasdor-Jones, U.S.

GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST-COMMISSIONED ANIMATION
Sony Bravia PLAY-DOH (2007), directed by Frank Budgen and Darren Walsh, U.K.

CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN ANIMATION
DRUX FLUX (2008), directed by Theodore Ushev, Canada

ANIMATION SCHOOL SHOWREEL
Best Animation School Showreel: Rhode Island School of Design (U.S.)
Honorable Mention: Best Animation School Showreel: Supinfocom (France)

INDEPENDENT SHORT ANIMATION COMPETITION
Narrative Short Animation under 35 minutes: CHAINSAW (2007), directed by Dennis Tupicoff, Australia
Experimental/Abstract Animation under 35 minutes: MUTO (2008), directed by Blu, Italy
Honorable Mention: DIALOGOS, directed by Ulo Pikkov, DRUX FLUX (2008), directed by Theodore Ushev, Canada

STUDENT ANIMATION COMPETITION
Adobe Prize for Best High School Animation: THE DEPOSE OF BOLSKIVOI HOVHANNES, directed by Will Inrig, Canada
Undergraduate Animation: I SLEPT WITH COOKIE MONSTER (2008), directed by Kara Nasdor-Jones, U.S.
Graduation Animation: CAMERA OBSCURA (2007), directed by Matthieu Buchalski, Jean-Michel Drechsler and Thierry Onillon, France

COMMISSIONED ANIMATION COMPETITION
Promotional Animation: Sony Bravia PLAY-DOH (2007), directed by Frank Budgen and Darren Walsh, U.K.
Music Video: Ultimo SPONG ICE (2008), directed by Bolos Quentes Design, Duarte Amorim, Albino Tavares, Miguel Marinheiro and Sergio Couto, Portugal
Television Animation for Adults: People from The Dark Years BATES (2008), directed by John Halfpenny, Canada

ANIMATION MADE FOR CHILDREN
Best Short Animation: THE SWIMMING LESSON,(2008) directed by Danny De Vent, Belgium/Netherlands/France
Honorable Mention: LEON IN WINTERTIME, (2007) directed by Pierre-Luc Granjon and Pascal le Notre, France/Canada
Television Animation for Children: THE UPSTATE FOUR, (2007) directed by Fran Krouse, U.S.
Honorable Mention: THE BUNJIES (2008), directed by Andreas Hykade and Ged Haney, Germany

The Totoro Forest Project is a fundraising art auction created by the people at Pixar to benefit the Totoro Forest Foundation created by Hayao Miyazaki.   The Foundation was created to save the Sayama Forest just outside of Tokyo, Japan.  This forest is considered the inspiration of Miyazaki’s classic film “My Neighbor Totoro” and has been nick-named “Totoro Forest” in honor of the film.  The Totoro Forest Project website says:

With Japan’s rapid urban development in the 70’s and 80’s, the forest has been losing its land. In 1990, the director of My Neighbor Totoro, Hayao Miyazaki helped set up the national trust, Totoro no Furusato Fund to preserve the environment in the park.

To help Miyazaki in his work, the good people at Pixar and the Cartoon Art Museum have created this singular art exhibition and auction featuring over 200 original pieces of art inspired by “My Neighbor Totoro”.  Online bidding began this Monday, but if you want in on the real action, the auction will be held at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville this Saturday.  If you miss this event you can catch the exhibition of The Totoro Forest Project at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco from September 20th to December 7th.

In other Pixar/Cartoon Art Museum news, on October 11th Pixar will be holding their 5th Annual benefit for the Cartoon Art Museum.   Tickets are $200 per person, but for a evening at Pixar with exclusive art and screenings it is defiantly worth it.  For more information call Pixar Animation Studios at 415-227-8666, ext. 300.

AWN reports that Ottawa International Film Festival which will be held Sept. 17-21 this year in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada have just announced their Official Film Selections.

From the record-breaking 2,149 entries received, there were 105 films representing 70 countries. Of those, 97 short films, four feature films and four schools have been chosen for Official Competitions. An additional 26 films will be shown in out-of-competition Showcase screenings. This year’s film selection is comprised of film, video, and digital animations from Germany, France, Russia, Australia, Korea, U.K., Israel, Sweden, U.S., Italy, Brazil, Japan, and Canada.

Included in the selection are IDIOTS & ANGELS, from Oscar-nom Bill Plympton, FEAR[S] OF THE DARK, an anthology by six international animator/directors, SITA SINGS THE BLUES, and WALTZ WITH BASHIR, an animated documentary by director Ari Folman.

Last night, Warner Bros premiered it’s summer blockbuster “The Dark Knight” at a fancy Manhattan premiere. This screening was the first large scale celebration of the film and the hard work put into it’s creation. But it also served another purpose: to test the potential of Heath Ledger winning an award come Oscar season, an accomplishment that is virtually unheard of for a summer blockbuster particularly a comic book movie. To this end, it seemed to be possible as several midscreening ovations were given for Ledger. With that a possibility and the fact that the film is poised to challenge the biggest opening in history, producers are finding it difficult to keep calm.

Said Legendary Pictures principal and financier/producer Thomas Tull: “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get excited about all the feedback we’re getting.”