Fifth-graders make the cut at international film festival
Kate Hammer, Globe and Mail
Image: Still from the movie, “The Bright, the Bad and the Ugly”
For proof of what a group of preteens can accomplish over two months of lunch breaks with the help of some popsicle sticks, a few light bulbs and a camera, see this year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival.
One official selection, a stop-motion short film called The Bright, the Bad and the Ugly was written, shot and directed by a Grade 5 class at Grosvenor Wentworth Park School in Halifax. Their tale of the town of Squander, a tumbleweed-infested homestead populated by energy-wasting light bulbs, beat out more than 70 other entries from across the globe to win one of five spots in the high-school category.
Chris Robinson, the festival’s artistic director, said they are the only grade-school class to ever win a spot in that category.
Full story on the Globe and Mail website: Fifth-graders make the cut at international film festival
Illusionist, New Disney Short to Headline at Ottawa
Thomas J. McLean, Animation Magazine
Sylvain Chomet’s new feature The Illusionist and the new Disney short film Tic Tock Tale are among the films set to screen at this year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival.
The festival, set for Oct. 20-24 in the Canadian capital city, will screen 90 film selected from more than 2,000 entries in a number of categories. The fest also will screen 56 international films out of competition.
Other highlights include Norway’s award-winning Angry Man, directed by Anita Killi; Pixar’s acclaimed short, Day and Night; Oscar-winner Logorama; German film Love and Theft from three-time Ottawa Grand Prix winner Andreas Hykade; and an episode from HBO’s The Ricky Gervais Show.
Full article: Illusionist, New Disney Short to Headline at Ottawa
Resolution 2010 – New Works from SAW Video Members
Join us to celebrate the New Year with RESOLUTION 2010, the anticipated annual screening of new works from SAW Video members. The event will be held on Thursday, January 28th, at Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank Street, at 7:00pm. Admission is $5.
Featuring independent works produced in 2009, the programme is comprised of eleven short videos created by SAW Video’s prolific membership. Media artists Izabel Barsive, Deniz Berkin, Phil Caron, Pixie Cram, Ed Folger, John Graham, Penny McCann, Rehab Nazzal, Theo Pelmus, Tasha Waldron, and Eric Walker represent the diversity of our members, featuring a range of styles and interests from dramas to documentaries to experimental videos.
The party will continue down the street at Patty’s Pub, 1186 Bank Street, after the screening. Join us as we tip our hats to the creativity of SAW Video’s members and support local artists!
Programme:
Phil Caron :: Tammy Teardrop :: 4 min. 17 sec.
Izabel Barsive :: Lustrale :: 9 min.
Pixie Cram :: Prometheus in Five Directions :: 15 min.
Tasha Waldron :: La Petite Mort :: 4 min.
John Graham :: Hidden Cities :: 2 min.
Rehab Nazzal :: A Night at Home :: 4 min.
Deniz Berkin :: Late Nights and Green Lights :: 4 min. 15 sec.
Penny McCann :: The Professor and the Blind Girl :: 7 min. 8 sec
Theo Pelmus :: Liquid for the Fall :: 10 min.
Eric Walker :: Up in Smoke :: 1 min. 49 sec.
Ed Folger :: Water Light and Chaos: Art by Juan Geuer :: 20 min. 9 sec.
SAW Video : Centre for the media arts
67 Nicholas St. Ottawa ON K1N 7B9
T: (613) 238-7648
SAW Video is an artist‐run‐centre committed to support ground breaking artistic production, presentation and programming of independent video and media art. SAW Video provides many services to its membership including affordable technical facilities, and a wide range of programmes designed to create an atmosphere that will inspire production through the exchange of ideas around form, content and style.
Ottawa festival winners announced
Mike Valiquette | CanadianAnimationResources.ca
The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) comes to an end with the highly anticipated closing ceremonies held this evening at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau. Organizers announced the winners of the official competition during the ceremonies.
This year’s event, held October 14-18, was a tremendous success with packed screenings, sold out workshops, high profile networking events such as the Television Animation Conference and the Recruiting Fair. The Festival is a major international film event that attracts 1500 industry pass holders from across Canada and around the world with a total attendance of over 25,000. Although the final numbers are not officially in, there are strong indications that this year’s Festival reached the highest attendance to date.
The 2009 international jury for Short Program, Student and Commissioned Films include: Amid Amidi (USA), Jim Blashfield (USA) and Suzan Pitt (USA). The international jury for Feature Film Competition include: Thomas Meyer-Hermann (Germany), Christa Moesker (Netherlands) and Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre (Canada).
The Festival has a special jury made up of local kids to select the Best Short Animation Made for Children and the Best Television Animation Made for Children. This year’s kids jury included: Tallie Doyle, Tegwyn Hughes, Jamie McCormick, Felipe Bemfica, Isabelle Birchall, Aditya Mohan, Paris Mullin, Quinn Murphy and Eric Ding.
Full story: Ottawa festival winners announced
Animation fest wraps up 33rd year
TRACEY TONG | METRO OTTAWA
Mary and Max, directed by Australia’s Adam Elliot, took home the grand prize for best animated feature at the Ottawa International Animation Festival last night.
Kaasündinud Kohustused (Inherent Obligations) by Rao Heidmets of Estonia took home the grand prize for best independent short animation.
The 33rd annual festival featured 93 short films and seven features in competition and 58 in the international showcase, attracting a record 27,000 people, said festival spokeswoman Lindsay Wellwood. The festival had three local entries, including Nick Cross and Dave Cooper, who did a video for Danko Jones called King of Magazines, and Canterbury High School student Benjamin Woodyard.
Source: Metro Ottawa online: Animation fest wraps up 33rd year
Animation Festival expects large crowds
Veronica Quach, Centretown News
The festival features the competition of animated films, including short films, PSAs, commercials and feature films. Approximately 100 films are selected from 1,000 entries from all over the world each year, says Kelly Neall, managing director of the festival. It also allows animation professionals and fans to get together and network.
More students groups are expected to boost attendance, says Neall. Groups from all over North America have time to organize and are expected to come out, she says. When the festival was held in September, schools did not have time to prepare, she says.
More than 1,500 people have signed up for passes this year and the festival expects to break the attendance record from last year, says Neall. People attend because the festival is one of the largest animation festivals in the world, she says.
Full story at centretownnewsonline.ca: Animation Festival expects large crowds
Animation buffet: Fest draws big industry names, enthusiasts
TRACEY TONG | METRO OTTAWA
From the new Wallace and Gromit movie to a new film by The Cat Came Back creator Cordell Barker and appearances by The Simpsons Movie director David Silverman, Up’s Ronnie del Carmen and Coraline director Henry Selick, the Ottawa International Animation Festival has “some pretty heavy stars in animation” here this year, said artistic director Chris Robinson.
The 33rd annual festival, which kicked off Wednesday and runs through Sunday, has “taken over downtown” with screenings at the Bytown, the Arts Court, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the National Gallery of Canada and the Empire Theatre, said Robinson.
With so many film choices – 99 in competition and 40 in the international showcase – and lectures, workshops and networking opportunities for those in the industry, Ottawans have a lot to choose from.
Read the full preview on Metro Ottawa online: Animation buffet
Chinese films selected for competition at Canadian animation festival
chinaview.cn
Three short films from the Chinese mainland were selected for competition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) which opened here on Wednesday.
“We are very exited to have Lei Lei, a Chinese animator here with three films in competition,” the OIAF’s managing director Kelly Neall told Xinhua in an interview at the opening ceremony in downtown Ottawa.
The three Chinese entries — “Magic Cube and Ping-Pong,” “Pears or Aliens” and “The Universe Cotton” — are all from Lei Lei, a 23-year-old up-and-coming multimedia animator, who graduated from Tsinghua University in 2007.
Full story: Chinese films selected for competition at Canadian animation festival
The 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival
Migneault | Apt.613 blog
This week the Ottawa International Animation Festival will celebrate its 33rd year. No that wasn’t a typo. The Animation Festival has been around for more than three decades. In that time it has cemented itself as one of the premier animation festivals on the planet [We here at Apt. 613 cannot comment on what goes on in other solar systems]. Animators from around the world can point out Ottawa on a map because they know that the festival has always been on the cutting edge for their field. In short, the Ottawa International Animation Festival is the place to be if you want to know what exciting directions all forms of animation are headed in the next few years. We should be proud that animators look up to this event to check the collective pulse of their industry. There is no better way to show that pride than to check out some of the best films the festival has to offer.
This year the Animation Festival will run from Wednesday Oct. 14 to Sunday Oct. 18. Over the course of those five days 93 short films and seven feature films will be screened for competition. These films were hand picked from 2,185 different entries over the course of the past year. There will be an additional 58 films (out of competition) that are meant to showcase Canadian talent. The festival also hosts many different workshops and keynote speeches by industry leaders. Spaces for these events are limited for the general public, however, because they are really meant for animation insiders.
Read the full post on Apt. 613: The 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival
20th Annual One World Film Fest Opens with Rhino
Source: Gaia Kit, Earth’s #1 resource for wildlife filmmakers
The prize-winning documentary Milking the Rhino (2009), directed by David E. Simpson, will kick off the 20th annual One World Film Festival Thursday at Library and Archives Canada. The first documentary to explore wildlife conservation from the perspective of people who live among animals in the wild will air at 9:30 p.m on Oct. 15.
For the full story and movie trailer, visit the Gaia Kit blog: 20th Annual One World Film Fest Opens with Rhino
