Mickey Mouse is an cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.
ASIFA-Hollywood and the Animation Educators Forum (AEF) announce they are now accepting applications for the 2018 Faculty Grant program. The Faculty Grant program is designed to provide support for individuals or groups with reasonable expenditures associated with research, scholarly activity or creative projects in the field of animation. Applications must be submitted online at http://grants.animationeducatorsforum.org […]
This time, the puns are fitting: the flexibility of Gumby has made him one of pop culture’s most resilient images since he leapt from Art Clokey’s dexterous fingertips over 65 years ago. From his first appearance in the film Gumbasia, Gumby was as innocent as he was sophisticated, as surreal as he was homespun. Gumby […]
Although it’s technically a feature, Isao Takahata’s droll My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999), which is receiving its first release on Blu-ray, plays like a collection of comic sketches. It’s based on Hisaichi Ishii’s “Nono-chan,” a popular manga that may remind Americans of “Hi and Lois” or “Baby Blues.” Blandly middle income and middle class, Takashi […]
GKIDS announced today that it has acquired the North American distribution rights for a slate of films from internationally acclaimed director Masaaki Yuasa. The deal includes the cult classic Mind Game as well as Yuasa’s two new feature films, Lu Over The Wall and Night Is Short, Walk On Girl. GKIDS will release all three […]
Some people take the holidays off – I, however, enjoy Christmas vacation by spreading classic cartoon joy all over my Southern California home base. On Christmas Day, December 25th, I will be back with another one hour radio broadcast at 6pm on KPFK (90.7 FM) Southern California. I call the show CARTOONS IN STEREO, and […]
Twenty years ago–July 7,1997–a lanky blond teenager slouched down to breakfast; his father and mother bid him good morning (“Did you sleep well, Sweetie?”). His reaction: “As usual, my parents were on my case.” Comics readers discovered “Zits,” written by Jerry Scott and drawn by Jim Borgman, a genuinely funny new strip that combined the […]
Set at the dawn of time, when dinosaurs and wooly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of how one plucky caveman unites his tribe against a mighty enemy and saves the day! Prioduced by Aardman Animation, directed by Nick Park and starring Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams and Timothy Spall, a […]
Ron Clements and John Musker, Oscar-nominated Walt Disney Animation Studios filmmaking partners behind such animated features as Moana and The Princess and the Frog, will receive the William Cameron Menzies Award from the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) at the 22nd Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on Jan. 27th at the Ray […]
Warner Animation Group, the animated film production arm of Warner Bros. Pictures, has announced the appointment of two senior-level creative executives: Allison Abbate has been named Executive Vice President, and Chris Leahy has been named Senior Vice President. Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Content Officer, Warner Bros. Pictures shares oversight of Warner Animation Group with […]
Charles Solomon’s Animation Year End Review 2017
Although he wrote them in 1859, Charles Dickens might have been thinking of animation in 2017 when he penned the celebrated lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the […]