13th Annual Bay Area Int’l Children’s Film Festival: That’s a Wrap
BAICFF presented a fab film program in partnership with Dublin’s Festival of Curiosity, as well as special events, talks and premieres over four days of virtual festivities. This year’s festival hosted more than 40 films from around the world, including works from Australia, Canada, France, Finland, The United Kingdom, Taiwan, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Ireland, Netherlands, India, Russian Federation, Iran, Mexico, Spain, Kazakhstan and the United States, under a thematic banner of “Back to Community, Back to Nature.” The 2021 Children’s Choice Award Winner was Umbrellas, a 2D short by José Prats and Álvaro Robles produced by Moukda (France).
VIEW Conference 2021: Tickets on Sale & More Speakers Announced
Early Bird registration is open through August 31 at https://viewconference.it/pages/registration for the online & in-person event in Turin, Italy, scheduled for October 17-22. Joining the previously announced first raft of speakers are:
- Michael Giacchino, Composer
- Chris Miller, Writer/Producer/Director, Sony Pictures Animation
- Phil Lord, Writer/Producer/Director, Sony Pictures Animation
- Tim Miller, Director, Love, Death + Robots
- Kirk DeMicco, Director/Co-Writer, Vivo, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
- Michael Rianda, Director, Co-Writer, The Mitchells vs The Machines
- Elaine Bogan, Co-Director, Spirit Untamed, DreamWorks
- Peter Ramsey, Co-Director, Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse
- Everett Downing Jr., Co-Director, Hair Love
- Marc Petit, VP, General Manager, Unreal Engine, Epic Games
- Sebastien Deguy, VP of 3D & Immersive, Adobe
- Jennifer Miller, Executive Producer, Love, Death + Robots
- Lindsey Olivares, Production Designer, The Mitchells vs The Machines
- Celine Desrumaux, Production Designer, Over The Moon
- Carlos Zaragoza, Production Designer, Vivo, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
- Karl Herbst, Visual Effects Supervisor, Vivo, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
- Kevin Webb, Head of Character Animation, Vivo, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
- Mike Lasker, VFX Supervisor, The Mitchells vs The Machines, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
- Marlon West, Visual Effects Supervisor, Iwaju, Disney Animation Studios
- Peter Hirschmann, Director, Respawn Entertainment
- Anthony Giacchino, Filmmaker, Colette
NFB Animation ‘Meneath’ Makes World Premiere at TIFF
The National Film Board of Canada is premiering a trio of powerful films by indigenous and women creators at Toronto, including Terril Calder’s darkly beautiful stop-motion short Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics — a directorial tour-de-force that unearths a hauntingly familiar yet hopeful world and illuminates the bias of colonial systems.
The film dives deeply into the innate contrast between the Seven Deadly Sins (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Pride and Envy) and the Seven Sacred Teachings (Love, Respect, Wisdom, Courage, Truth, Honesty and Humility), as embodied in the life of a precocious Métis baby. Convinced she’s soiled and destined for Hell, Baby Girl receives teachings that fill her with strength and pride, and affirm a path towards healing.
Every Day Is Free Comic-Book Day at Tapastry
Tapas is celebrating Free Comic Book Day (Saturday, August 14) with a few reading suggestions from its creator community side, Tapastry: https://tapas.io/collection/free-comic-book-day. The Tapastry Creator Community is composed of a rapidly growing group of professionals, as well as up-and-coming artists and writers, connected by their love of storytelling and a joy for creating, with alumni projects including Magical Boy, The Beginning After the End, The Witch’s Throne, Whispers of the True King and Lost and Found. Tapastry offers many events throughout the year to not only encourage more creators to bring their stories to the platform, but also to connect with readers.
Manchester Animation Festival Announces Hybrid Edition for 2021
The U.K.’s largest animation festival plans to return in its seventh year as a hybrid edition, taking place online from November 1-30 with live events and screenings November 14-19. The news comes alongside a first look at the 2021 poster artwork, which has been designed by award-winning animator Matthew Lee (Cabin Pressure, MAF 2017 Student Award Winner; One Liner, MAF 2019). More information at www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk; full program and on-sale dates TBA in September.
“Though the world isn’t quite back to normal yet, by building on the successes of our 2020 online Festival we hope to be able to provide a bigger and better experience that will suit everyone! We have expanded our team and are making relevant new hires to increase the scale of the festival and support year-round activity.” — Festival Director Steve Henderson
“We’re big fans of Matthew’s work here at MAF so when picking an artist with a connection to the Festival to design our indent he felt like the perfect fit. The team have been eagerly awaiting his next film so we thought we might as well commission it to be a part of the 2021 Festival!” — Exec Producer Jen Hall
SIGGRAPH Asia Sets First Hybrid Edition for 2021
The conference’s in-person event in Tokyo, Japan is confirmed for December 14-17 at the Tokyo International Forum. In view of the evolving COVID-19 situation, the event organizers will also have a selected range of conference programs accessible online with networking opportunities for international attendees who may be unable to travel. Some of the world’s leading brands such as Adobe Research, Amazon Web Services, Autodesk, Bandai Namco, Digital Hollywood University, FORUM8, Imagica Group, Khronos Group, Pixar and SideFX have already confirmed their participation. Toru Katsumoto, Executive Deputy President and CTO of Sony Group Corporation has been confirmed as an event Keynote speaker.
“The past 18 months has been a series of challenges and introspections for all of us, and I believe everyone is eager for in-person events to resume this year. Safety of all participants is our utmost concern, but with large-scale events in Tokyo like the Olympics going on safely, it is assuring to organizers and participants that the local event will be able to pull through. The only uncertainty at this moment is the number of international attendees that can join us physically due to travel restrictions and quarantine requirements,” shared Shuzo John Shiota, SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 Conference Chair.
“With that beyond our control, we have decided to have a selected range of programs accessible online for our international attendees who may not be able to travel. With a team of very dedicated professionals working hard tirelessly, I am confident to bring forth an amazing hybrid edition for the community this December. We look forward to seeing you at the industry’s most anticipated reunion!”
49th Annie Awards Open Call for Entries
ASIFA-Hollywood will present awards in 36 categories including Animated Feature, Animated Feature-Independent, TV/Media Production, Sponsored Production, Short Subject and Student Film, as well as Achievement and Honorary awards, in a ceremony Saturday, February 26, 2022, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Changes to this year’s rules include, the definition of episodes in the TV/Media categories; limits to the number of team members in the achievement, direction and student film categories; and clip content clarification. To review this year’s rules and submit your projects, visit https://my.asifa-hollywood.org. Deadline: November 16, 2021, at 5 p.m. PST.
New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival Open for Submissions
The Academy Award-qualifying fest — the largest for children and teens in North America, is celebrating 25 years in 2022. Early deadline is Sept. 1, 2021; Regular deadline – Oct. 4, 2021; Late (shorts) – Nov. 15; Extended (shorts and features), Dec. 1.
Wizard World Events Join FAN EXPO Family
The Wizard World Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Portland, St. Louis and Cleveland cons will be rebranded as FAN EXPO events in 2022, joining the world’s largest comic con producer. (https://fanexpohq.com/home/events/)
Kids Kino Industry and Cinekid for Professionals Join Forces as Producers LINK
The newly established program for emerging producers of children’s content is designed to stimulate the production of top-quality children’s content and pan-European co-productions, and will provide crucial follow-up both during and after the two leading kids events in the Autumn — Kids Kino Industry (Sept. 27 to Oct. 1; Warsaw), finishing at Cinekid for Professionals (Oct. 19-22; Amsterdam). The 25 producers selected for the first edition were nominated by international partner organizations across Europe. (https://www.kidskinoindustry.pl/ | https://cinekid.nl/en/professionals)
