ASIFA-SF NEWSLETTER
Association International du Film d'Animation
(International Animated Film Association)
February 2012

[NOTE: Posted partially unedited due to health problems]

ALLIGATOR PLANET HAS DEVELOPED A CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A WAY TO PUT PEOPLE TO WORK Intel has sponsored The Power of E campaign that includes a 4-minute film on entrepreneurship and related printed materials to encourage people around the world to start their own businesses. It can be viewed at http://entrepreneurship.intel.com Besides an English version the film has been subtitled! in Arabic, and there are plans for Chinese and Portuguese (think Brazil) versions in 2012. A booklet will also be available for international distribution soon.

Eli Noyes created all the original artwork and directed the piece. Jeffery Roth animated it. Ralph Guggenheim was the producer and Disher Music & Sound provided all post-production sound & mix services.

FRED LEWIS WORKED ON A BRISK TV COMMERCIAL AT AATMA STUDIO, A NEW COMPANY IN SF He recently did all of the lighting, shading, "look dev" and compositing for a Brisk TV commercial at Aatma Studio in SF. The team included Fred, 4 animators, 1 rigger, 2 modellers, a lead TD and a producer. The ad stars a famous Star Wars character. http://www.youtube.com/brisk

Aatma Studio is a new CG animation studio founded by Pramod Modi Shantharam. They are located in the American Can Company building (3rd St. at 20th St.). http://aatmastudio.com/

SEE TOM GIBBONS' "STILL i REMAIN" ON YOUTUBE The 90-second short got lots of applause at our open screening in January. See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4la7MRC7j_8&list=UUcY9zZugdPzwT-wsjMVyj6g&index=33&feature=plcp

TIPPETT STUDIO IS USING BAKERY RELIGHT SOFTWARE for its FX group production pipeline. Bakery Relight is being used by Tippett's FX pipeline. Tippett's Digital Effects Supervisor, Scott Singer says, "We've now completed several of our latest film projects using this technology, including Immortals and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which released last November, as well as our current projects, Ted, Mirror, Mirror, and The Twilight Sa! ga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, that are scheduled for release in 2012. We couldn't have completed the work we did on one of our top-secret projects without it," says Singer. Relight is the first product from The Bakery, a French-based 3D computer graphics company, founded in 2007.

CONGRATULATIONS PDI/DREAMWORKS DreamWorks Animation is the only entertainment industry company on this year's annual Fortune list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. It ranks 14th.

AUDIENCE AT OUR SCREENING OF THE 41ST ANNUAL ASIFA-EAST COMPETITION HAS PICKED THEIR WINNERS They voted Andy Kennedy's Accumulonimbus as our first prize winner. In NY it was picked Best in Show. It is a handsome clay animated stop-motion piece. It is an abstract work set to a strong beat and animated within a circular space surrounded by bla! ck.

Second place went to Prayers for Peace by Dustin Grella, a film dedicated to the memory of his brother who was killed in Iraq. It won the Best Student Award at Ottawa 2010, but came in third in the ASIFA-East show.

Coming in third was David Chai's Enrique Wrecks the World, hand made in San Jose, CA. Honorable mentions go to Jane Wu's Book Girl and Cabinet Girl, Musikoff and Kuramoto's Christmas Shoes, The Rauch Bros. Danny and Annie and Patrick Smith's Masks. This was a really impressive program and I look forward to seeing the 42nd edition.

THE LEGENDARY ILM/KERNER "MAIN STAGE" HAS RE-OPENED ALONG WITH THE MODEL SHOP The new company running it is 32TEN Studios. The 6,000 square foot space was used for many of the classic ILM/Lucas productions including Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi, the Back to the Future trilogy,and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Tim Partridge and Greg Maloney head the company.

Adjacent to the soundstage is the 32TEN Theatre with 138 seats. It, like the stage, will be available for clients along with wardrobe, make-up and production offices. 32TEN Studios will also offer fabrication services from full sets to models and miniatures. They will draw on the talent of the many model makers and special effects technicians who live in the area who were formerly part of the ILM model shop. Complementing their practical FX work will be a complete CG pipeline. Learn more at: www.32ten.com

CAÑADA COLLEGE HAS A BRAND-NEW 29-SEAT TRADITIONAL ANIMATION STUDIO. The studio is in it's own building, with a main lecture/work area and a separate room with two pencil test stations. There is a webcam/projector setup that allows students to see what the instructor is drawing at the instructor desk, as well as an internet connection to show student work uploaded to the net. They are presently using it to teach two classes: Principles of Animation and Storyboarding,! with more to come soon.

The room is also available (for a nominal fee) for outside classes and workshops. Anyone interested in using the room should contact Paul Naas at naasp@smccd.edu.

Local Screenings

Wed., Feb. 8, 7 pm, "THE GREEN WAVE" at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. This is a great propaganda film that exposes a very inhumane political system in Iran today that will do hor! rible things to stay in power including killing its people in order to stifle dissent. See it by all means. An article about it was in our January newsletter.

Sat. Feb 4 & 5, The Croatian Animation Cultural Exchange presents AN EVENING OF HISTORICAL ANIMATED SHORTS FROM CROATIA (1957-1978) with works by Nikola Kostelac, Vatroslav Mimica, Zlatko Grgic and more. The program is presented by Vanja Hr! aste who is a visiting program director of the film-club association of Croatia. Saturday, February 4th, 8pm, Studio Quercus, 385 26th Street, Oakland, CA (510) 452-4670, www.studioquercus.com, $7 pre-sale / $10 at the door https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/219552 and Sunday, February 5th, 4:15pm, Rafael Theater, 1118 Fourth Street, San Rafael, (415) 454 -1222, www.cafilm.org

Opens Fri. Feb. 11, THE 2011 ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS, BOTH LIVE-ACTION AND ANIMATED at Landmark's Lumiere Theatre and Landmark's Opera Plaza Cinemas in SF, plus Landmark's Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and Camera 3 in San Jose, Summerfield Cinemas in Santa Rosa.

Sat. Feb. 11, 2:45 pm and Wed. Feb. 15, 7:15 pm, AN ANIMATED WORLD, in the SF Indie Film Festival at the Roxie. The program includes Time For Change! by James Cunningham, The Natural Order of Things by Sarah Beeby, (Baby) Its You! by David Cowles, Attack of the Killer Mutant Chickens by Nayeem Mahbub, Brucke by Kristen Turcotte, The Man With The Stolen Heart by Charlotte Boulay-Goldsmith, The Reality Clock by Amanda Tasse, Being Bradford Dillman by Emma Buch, Sherman by Kate Tsang, Evil by George Dondero, Masks by Partrick Smith, Animeditation by Jonathan Rosen, Waltz of the Demon King by Bryce Kho and Kiss by Joseph Hodgson. Note: Neither Nancy Phelps nor I have heard of an! y of the films or filmmakers except for Patrick Smith's Masks. Masks was in the ASIFA-East show we presented Jan. 8 and it is an impressive, dark work. KC

Wed Feb. 15, 7 pm "KONGO" (Belgium, 2010). This documentary uses animation, still photos and archival newsreels (some quite startling like black men with hands chopped off by their white masters) to illustrate Africa's sad history of exploitation and enslavement. It is a disturbing history from first contact with Europe to the present. The animated footage adds a great deal to the film. It keeps the visuals alive and flowing. Also the documentary uses first-person narrative voices. Missing is any mention of US corporations and our CIA's involvement in the nation's history. 156 min., Pacific Film Archive

Opens Feb. 17 the Oscar nominated "CHICO AND RITA" is a wonderful musical full of great jazz and romance! It is an exciting Spanish animated love story, steeped in Cuban culture and jazz. Made for adults, it sizzles at times thanks to an engrossing on again, off again love story. It has the feeling of a classic Hollywood tale, but is hotter. It is set in the streets and nightclubs of old Havana and NYC before Castro, and the rich soundtrack is wonderful. It has bee! n getting excellent reviews and festival prizes. It combines drawn figures with work with Toon Boom's Harmony. ($13 million budget) Nik Phelps tells us that many of the musicians in the film are based on real artists including Chano Pozo, a Cuban who was killed in a Harlem bar fight over the quality of some pot. The original music was composed by 81 year old Cuban great Bebo Valdes who immigrated to Sweden years ago and was instrumental in bringing Latin Jazz to Sweden. At Landmark Theatres in the Bay Area (Lumiere, Embarcadero, etc.)

Friday, Feb. 17, 7:00 pm, SEE THE FIVE OSCAR NOMINATED ANIMATED SHORTS AND MEET SOME OF THE ARTISTS see flyer for details

National and International news

A LARGE CHUCK JONES EXHIBIT HAS OPENED IN LAS VEGAS It fills almost 10,000 square feet of space and is described as a "destination" within the Circus Circus complex. It is "designed to educate, inspire and entertain." The illustration with the article I saw about the exhibit was a rather stiff looking limited edition cel, not a wonderful production image from one of his great cartoons. I hope there are a few gems to be seen among the 250 original works on permanent display, but a TV news report online about this destination showed lots of large statues o! f cartoon characters, not great art. kc

ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE MURAL SIZED OUTDOOR ANIMATION BY BLU It is a collaboration between Blu and David Ellis from 2009 http://www.blublu.org and http://www.davidellis.org See the work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWKoDTbTp-M&feature=share

JOHN R. DILWORTH'S "BUNNY BASHING" IS NOW ON THE INTERNET His latest delightfully weird short is an unusual film experience, so if the mood is right visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrOCi8DrFFI

THE PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTED A MAJOR SCREENING OF JOANNA PRIESTLY'S NEW WORK Joanna is one of our nation's most noted women animators. In Jan. they showed her recent work: three world premieres: Dear Pluto, Split Ends and Choking Hazard, along with Eye Liner (2011), Out of Shape (2011), the Exposé Slide Show, Missed Aches and a new interactive piece, Clam Bake (2012). The art museum houses the NW Film Center that presents daily film programs and runs a film school.

BARRY PURVES COMPLED AN EXCEPTIONAL PERSONAL WORK AND A COMMISSIONED STOP-MOTION FILM ON THE COMPOSER TCHAIKOVSKY IN 2011 Barry Purves (Screenplay, 1991 and Next, 1989) is one of the world's greatest stop-motion animators, but in recent years he has been teaching, directing plays and pursuing other interests. In 2011 he returne! d to animation writing, directing and animating Tchaikovsky for Russian TV and creating Plume, his first personal work in over a decade. According to Plume's webpage "a primeval winged man falls to earth and is robbed of his freedom by his alter egos. He finds redemption by casting off his former existence." When I saw it I thought it was about a fallen angel being attacked by demons, but in either case it is the most remarkable and mature work I've seen in years. Hopefully it will be shown theatrically in 2012 in the Bay Area. Purves is also the author of Stop Mot! ion: Passion, Process and Performance (Focal Press. 2007).

THE ULTIMATE TOYLAND! Be amazed by this promotion for a miniature animated/animatronic, etc. attraction in Germany - from toy railroads to a couple screwing in a car! (click on the full screen icon in the lower right) http://www.mi! niatur-wunderland.com/exhibit/video/4-minutes-wunderland/

TIM BURTON WOULD LIKE HIS NEXT FILM PROJECT TO BE "PINOCCHIO" AND WARNERS IS INTERESTED The deal hasn't been signed, but sources say Burton hopes to direct the film and has begun talks with the studio. Burton has several other projects in mind including an adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children at Fox.

FOX TO PARTNER WITH ADULT SWIM TO LAUNCH A LATE SATURDAY NIGHT ANIMATION BLOCK The network will kick off the 90-minute line-up in Jan. 2013. Fox president of entertainment Kevin Reilly said a prime motivation to launch the block is Fox has had to turn down high quality shows comparable to The Simpsons and Family Guy for lack of another good program! ming time for animation. "It's something that we've been working on for a while." The project will be headed by former Adult Swim head Nick Weidenfeld, who serves as EP of Children's Hospital and The Boondocks. Hend Baghdady will serve as executive in charge of production. The slate of animated shorts and seri! es will run online and on-air, with four new animated series planned p er season. The line-up will go head-to-head against NBC's Saturday Night Live. If successful some of the late-night material could "graduate" to prime time.

FOR-PROFIT ANIMATION GETS A BIG PLUG FROM ROMNEY Full Sail University near Orlando, Fla., offers a 21-month course of study in video games animation, but has a low graduation rate from the program and the tuition is a mere $81,000. Mitt Romney told voters in Iowa the school, by increasing competition "Full Sail, holds down the cost of education" and helps students get jobs without saddling them with excessive debt. $81,000 is chicken feed? Romney told voters in Ne! w Hampshire that his solution to the soaring costs of higher education was for students to consider for profit colleges like the little known Full Sail University. Why the dubious plug? It turns out the school's chief executive, Bill Heavener, is a major campaign donor and a co-chairman of his state fund-raising team in Florida. NY Times, Jan. 14, 2012

The NY Times informs us the school's video game art program has a questionable track record. They had to disclose that only 14% of their 272 animation students graduated on time and only 38 percent have graduated. The students carried a median debt load of nearly $59,000 in federal and private loans in 2008 according to data that the US Department of Education now requires for-profit colleges to disclose. Gosh, would Romney put the business interests of his political donors ahead of the interests of students?

The paper also reported Romney has taken money from Todd S. Nelson, chief executive at the Education Management Corporation (EMC). That company owns among other things the Art Institutes of America chain of schools. Yes, they teach computer animation. EMC, partly owned by Goldman Sachs, is being sued by the US Govt. for $11 billion over accusations of fraudulent marketing and recruiting practices. Employees of EMC, "represent a bigger source of campaign revenue for Mr. Romney than any other single company." Bet you thought animation educati! on has nothing to do with sleazy politics.

GENE DEITCH ADDS A BIT MORE TO HIS VIEWS ABOUT VOTING FOR THE OSCAR FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE He says, "My hope is to encourage the widest possible discussion on the subject. Right now there is plenty of confusion, but as an actual Academy voter, I assume that I am bound to follow the Academy Rule Book. Unless or until the rules are changed, we have to accept animation as the illusion of motion created frame-by-frame, and no matter how much hand drawing is overlaid, motion capture does not create the illusion frame-by-frame, but by realtime pantomime acting." T! he Adventures of Tintin, made with motion capture technology, has recently won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animation.

2011 WAS A YEAR OF HITS, MISSES, CONTROVERSIES AND 2012 IS THE YEAR PIXAR WILL NOT WIN AN OSCAR FOR BEST FEATURE by KC In the first decade of the new century several studios poured a lot of money into CG animation, believing that if the film was half-way decent it would be a box office success. That logic seemed to work most of the time, but by the end of the first decade studios felt something more was needed to keep the public excited about their films. That something turned out to be 3D and the novelty proved profitable in 2009 for Coraline, Monsters vs Aliens, Avatar and ! several other films.

In 2010 the public was delighted that lots of new animated films could be seen in 3D, but for economic and other reasons ticket buyers did not feel compelled to pay a premium price to see every film in 3D in the US (the appeal of films exhibited in 3D has not diminished overseas). Jeffrey Katzenberg, concerned with the slip in sales of the more expensiv! e tickets to see new releases in 3D, made a bold statement in 2011 blaming producers for making inferior films. (Of course I assume he wasn't including DreamWorks!)

Box office is one measure of a film's success

Katzenberg may or may not have been right about the quality of the films being made, but the overall box office total for all films released in 2011 was more than $600 million less than the previous year (another report said it was $300 million less, and both articles said the number of people attending movies was the lowest it has been in 16 years).

While there were three mega hits that grossed over a billion dollars, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the biggest animated hits worldwide made a lot less. Kung Fu Panda 2 took in $666 million, The Smurfs $563 million, Cars 2 $556 million, Rio $485 million and Puss in Boots $401 million. Tintin is expected to gross around $400 million and had an estimated budget of $130 million. As of Jan. 1 it has taken in $289 million worldwide. All of these features have sold a lot more tickets abroad than in the US suggesting the domestic market has serious competition from the Internet, from film rental businesses like Netflix and from video games.

The animation industry in 2011 also saw two modest hits. Gnomeo and Juliet was a low budget production (about $36 million) that grossed $194 million worldwide and Hop with a $63 million budget grossed $183 million. Then there were two films that grossed slightly above or below their break even point. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked had a $75 million budget and as of Jan. 1 it had grossed $136 mil! lion. Rango cost $135 million and grossed $245 million. It is interesting to note that Rango was the only CG feature not released in a 3D stereoscopic format. One can only speculate if releasing it in 3D would have brought in enough extra money to pay for the extra millions that the 3D process costs.

Unfortunately there are also four films that are being called major box office disappointments in 2011. Happy Feet 2 grossed only $133 million (the film's budget wasn't announced, but the original Happy Feet cost about $100 million.) Arthur Christmas has only grossed $136 million so far. Mars Needs Moms had a $150 million budget and grossed $39 million worldwide. Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil ended up bringing in under $11 million. A fifth film, Disney's Winnie the Pooh cost $30 million to make and it took in only $33.2 million worldwide, but it will probably sell lots of DVDs and inspire kids to ask for tons of Winnie the Pooh merchandise. Perhaps one should consider it a commercial that should help the Winnie the Pooh franchise make billions in the coming years.

Disney had a successful release of The Lion King in a new 3D version. It was supposed to play for a two-week run to promote the sale of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, but it did so well that it was held-over. It ended up grossing $94.2 million. The film has now earned $422 million in the US, making it the second highest grossing animated film here.

The race for Best Animated Picture

Another way to evaluate the critical success of the films of the year is to look at what films groups giving awards admire. A shocker came from the New York Film Critics Circle. Over the last four years they have picked Persepolis, WALL-E, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Illusionist as their Best Animated Feature of the year. This year they decided no animated feature was worthy of their best award!! According to Cartoon Brew, "This year, they chose not to hand out an award for best animated feature. It's the first time they've withheld the honor since initiating the category in 2000, which is a bold (and arguably unwarranted) rebuke of this year's crop of animated features. Then again, the group isn't afraid to take risks and consistently acknowledges worthy animated films! Compare that to the Academy, whose membership has handed the Oscar to Pixar for the past four years in a row."

While no other major awards group has snubbed animation, The Hollywood Reporter says Cars 2 is not the "odds-on favorite" of gamblers who bet on the Oscars. They believe it is a wide open race and suggested it will be a race between Rango, Puss in Boots and Tintin. !

Several film critic groups have announced their picks for the best film awards. The Foreign Press Awards (Golden Globes), the Producers Guild of America and The New York Film Critics Online picked The Adventures of Tintin as their Best Animated Feature. The Los Angeles Film Critics Awards named Rango as the Best Animation of the year and The Adventures of Tintin as thei r runner-up. Rango was also the pick of the Black Film Critics Circle, Northeastern Film Critics Association and film critic groups in Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Indiana, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C. When the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures named Rango as Best Animated Feature, Cartoon Brew said, "It's nota! ble in that they'd given the animated feature award to Pixar for the last five years in a row. When the National Board of Review can't bring themselves to pat Pixar on the back, you know the Oscar race is wide open."

Several groups have not yet announced their winners. The Broadcast Film Critics' Awards did not select Cars 2 as a contender for their best award. Instead they included Kung Fu Panda 2 along with The Adventures of Tintin, Arthur Christmas, Puss in Boots and Rango.

The British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) nominated The Adventures of Tintin, Arthur Christmas, and Rango. Tintin also was nominated for Best Special Effects. The awards ceremony will be held Feb. 12.

The Academy selected A Cat in Paris, Chico & Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, and Rango. There were 18 animated features that "qualified" for the Oscar competition, but Gene Deitch points o! ut some were not animated according to the Academy's rules.

ASIFA-Hollywood's Annie Awards has announced their nominations for Best Animated picture, but since they have nominated ten features (A Cat in Paris, Arrugas [Wrinkles], Arthur Christmas, Cars 2, Chico & Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss In Boots, Rango, Rio and Tintin), their list says more about what are the eight weakest animated films of 2011. They ignored Gnomeo and Juliet, Happy Feet 2, Alois Nebel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, Mars Needs Moms and Winnie the Pooh.

In prior years the feature with the most Annie nominations in individual categories (best director, animator, character design, special effects, storyboards, voice actors, music, etc.), usually became the Best Feature. This season Kung Fu Panda 2 got eleven additional nominations, Puss in Boots got eight followed by Cars 2, Winnie the Pooh and Rio, each getting seven. Arthur Christmas got five and Gnomeo and Juliet got four.

An interesting observation is that the Annie Awards nominated three foreign features for best film, but none picked up any individual nominations. That may be due to the people who selected the Annie awards not seeing them. Chico and Rita and A Cat in Paris have been seen in a few festivals but neither had wide distribution in the US. At the recent European Film Awards Chico & Rita won the Best Animated Feature Award, but if not enough people saw them or even read about them, the selection committee had no way to decide on their merits. It opens in SF Feb. 17 at Landmark theatres.

Best short animated film nominations

Three ceremonies honor animated shorts, the Annies, the BAFTAs (British) and the Academy Awards

The Academy's five nominated animated shorts are: Dimanche/ Sunday by Patrick Doyon, National Film Board of Canada; The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg from Moonbot Studios; La Luna by Enrico Casarosa, Pixar; A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard, Studio AKA; and Wild Life by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, National Film Board of Canada. The Oscars will be seen on TV in about 200 countries on Sunday, February 26.

The BAFTAs have nominated for the Best Short Animation award Abuelas by Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner, Bobby Yeah by Robert Morgan and A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe (we showed Morning Stroll at our January ASIFA-SF Open Screening and it is exceptional).

The nine Annie nominated films for the Best Animated Short Subject award are Adam and Dog, Lodge Films; I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat, Warner Bros.; La Luna, Pixar; Notes on Biology, Ornana Films; Paths of Hate, Platige Image; Sunday, NFB of Canada; The Ballad of Nessie, Disney Animation; The Girl and the Fox, Base14 and Wild Life, NFB of Canada. The 39th Annual Annie Awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012, at UCLA. www.annieawards.org

The Best Visual Effects nominations

The Academy's nominated films for the visual effects Oscar are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, Real Steel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The Broadcast Film Critics' Awards has nominated for their Best Visual Effects prize Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Super 8 and The Tree of Life.

COMING TO THEATRES IN THE US IN 2012 by KC Animation fans in the US will be offered a wide range of new films this year including three stop-motion features (two produced in England), major CG releases from Hollywood, and hand-drawn films from Japan and Spain. Well-known directors, Tim Burton and Gennedy Tartakovsky, will be responsible for two of the spooky comedies coming out and Laika, the studio that produced Coraline, is releasing an animated zombie feature. Critics should have a great time reviewing several highly original works along with two high profile sequels. 2012 could be a good year for animation.

The Secret World of Arrietty, an anime from Studio Ghibli that is being distributed in the US by Disney, opens on February 17. It is based on a book from England called The Borrowers by Mary Norton. The story focuses on the Clock family. They are four-inch-tall people living anonymously in another family's house. They "borrow" items to make their home. Life changes for them w! hen their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered by a young boy.

The film was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and was released in Japan in 2010. It received praise in the press for its animation and music, won major awards and became the highest grossing Japanese film in Japan

that year. It has been dubbed into several languages including two different versions in English (one for Great Britain and another for North America). So far it has grossed over $126 million worldwide. The trailer features what one expects from Studio Ghibli: lush, beautifully detailed landscapes, excellent cel animation, and the suggestion that it has an intriguing family friendly story with individuals you can care about. It also has a rich music track.

On March 2 Universal is releasing Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. It was produced by Illuminations, the studio that created Despicable Me. In The Lorax a young boy discovers the world of a charming grumpy old creature who is trying to protect a rare species of tree from being destroyed by a company making products from them. The feature probably kept Dr. Seuss's message about ! the dangers of the industrial world destroying nature, so that should help the film attract a wide following.

The feature is based on Dr. Seuss' book The Lorax that was first published in 1971. It was made into a TV special in 1972. In the 1980s a logging company in a small rural area of California tried (and failed) to get the book banned from a local school library claiming it was teaching kids to be anti-logging. To expand the book into a feature they have added a "romance" to the story. The boy who discovers the Lorax is trying to impress a girl he admires. T! he voice cast includes Danny DeVito as the voice of the Lorax. The film will be available at some IMAX theatres in 3D. To animate the feature Illuminations used their French studio Illumination Mac Guff.

Aardman's The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens March 30th. Nancy Phelps has seen clips from this stop-motion comedy at festivals and is raving about this crazy tale. The trailer on the Internet is delightfully silly. The story is about Pirate Captain trying beat out Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the title of Pirate of the Year. Of course his crew is a band of wacky misfits. While the characters are stop-motion p! uppets and the odd looking ship is a model, the sea and other background elements are CG.

Peter Lord is directing The Pirates. He heads Aardman, the British company behind the Wallace and Gromit series, Creature Comforts, Arthur Christmas and Chicken Run. Sony is the distributor.

On June 8 Paramount releases DreamWorks' Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. The film stars the lion, zebra, giraffe, and hippo from the previous Madagascar films. They set out to return to New York from Africa, but they depend on the skills of the monkeys and penguins to get them there, so their plan goes awry.

At one point they are stranded in Monte Carlo. They escape being captured by animal control officers by hiding out in a traveling circus. Apparently there will be a great production sequence when the circus performs in London. Jeffrey Katzenberg says, "There is at least one more chapter. We ultimately want to see the characters make it back to New York."

Pixar's Brave opens June 22 and some people believe the success of this film is extremely important to keeping Pixar as the most innovative, creative studio in the US. The production is seen as a risky departure for the studio as it stars a princess as the film's hero. She wants to rely on her bravery and archery skills to undo a beastly curse. Knowing John Lasseter's ability to develop exceptional scripts with a wide appeal the film should succeed. Let's hope the crit! ics who believe lots of young boys will not want to see the film because it has a girl hero, are wrong. Hopefully Brave will open the door to future productions with strong female characters. The film is also noteworthy as it has a woman, Brenda Chapman, as co-director.

On July 13, 20th Century Fox releases Blue Sky's Ice Age: Continental Drift (in IMAX 3D at selected theatres). The 4th Ice Age saga finds Scrat still in pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he's been after since the dawn of time. The world he and his friends are in is changing and the gang will be confronted by new characters determined to stop them from returning home. Expect to see a continental cata! clysm and earth-shattering upheavals. Somehow the plot will include a ship, a female saber-toothed tiger that falls in love with Diego and lots of other twists to the plot. Will Diego find his herd? Will Sid reunite with his long lost family? A video game based on the film will be available in July.

Also scheduled to be released on July 13 is ParaNorman, a stop-motion zombie comedy thriller made by Laika in Portland, Oregon. Laika is the studio where Henry Selick made Coraline, but Henry left Portland after Coraline was completed and is directing a stop-motion project for Disney in San Francisco. It will be interesting to see if the studio can produce an exceptional film without Se! lick. The trailer on the Internet suggests the art direction will not be as sophisticated and subtle. Before they decided to make ParaNorman they considered several other scripts, but scrapped those plans. Let's hope they made the right decision.

ParaNorman is about a small town that is being attacked by the undead. Only Norman Smit-McPhee, a young boy, is able to communicate with the dead, but the folks in the town don't believe him. He has to take on ghosts, witches and zombies along with the grown-ups of his town who don't believe his dire warnings. Will he save his community from a centuries-old curse? The story is by Chris Butler who is also the film's director.
On August 3 Dorothy of Oz, a 3D CG feature from Summertime Entertainment, opens. When Dorothy finds a new way to get back to Oz she discovers that her old friends and the Land of Oz are in grave danger. Among the new characters in the film will be a man made of marshmallows who can't think for himself and a tugboat with a lot of personalit! ies. With the help of her new friends, they band together against the wicked Jester who wants to control Oz.

If silly spooky films are your thing Hotel Transylvania, opening August 17, may be a delightful film experience. Dracula has gone into the hotel business, except it is a five star establishment for monsters, not normal humans. The cast includes the great gourmet chef Quasimodo, the former hunchback of Notre Dame. Frank in the film is a modern Frankenstein. What will happen when a normal boy falls in love with Dracula's teen-aged daughter? The director is Gennedy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory), so expect it to be a lot of fun. Hopefully Tartakovsky will give it an exceptional new look as one of his strengths is unique looking art direction. It is being made by Sony for Columbia Pictures.

Another film that could be a unique looking hit is Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. He is turning his short of the same name, made at Disney in 1984, into a stop-motion feature. In the short young Victor conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life (see the short on YouTube). In the feature, when Victor brings Sparky back to life, expect unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences. Tim Burton can dream up really bizarre plots so a lot of fans will want to see what he has c! reated when Disney releases his latest strange creation on Oct. 5.

Disney is also releasing Wreck-it Ralph! on November 2. Ralph Reilly is a bad-guy character in an arcade game who longs to be a hero. He brings trouble to his entire arcade when he sneaks into a new first person shooter game and unleashes a deadly enemy. This 3D computer film was originally scheduled for release in 2013, but the production was ahead of schedule and Pixar's Monster's University was behind schedule so Ralph will open November 2 instead of Monster's University. Monsters will open June 21, 2013.

The final animated film coming out in 2012 with a confirmed release date is Rise of the Guardians from DreamWorks. On November 21 the world will find out why Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost and the Sandman have banded together to form a united front against the Boogeyman aka Pitch, the Nightmare King. The film is being described as an adventure comedy based on William Joyce's forthcoming book The Guardians of Childhood.

There are also several films that should be ready for distribution in 2012, but no release dates are set. Blue Yonder Films has produced Escape from Planet Earth about an astronaut trapped on "a notoriously dangerous planet." The Weinstein Company is the distributor.

Lionsgate plans to release Norm of the North, about a polar bear named Norm. He ends up in NYC as the mascot for a corporation.

Starship Troopers: Invasion is also planning a 2012 release, but no details are available. "Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie" is a feature made with Flash that uses old Cheech and Chong comedy records for the soundtrack.

There are several foreign productions that are seeking US distribution. Rabbit from Malaysia is about a frog with an identity crisis. Wrinkles from Spain is a hand drawn film that was recently shown in Los Angeles to qualify it for the Oscars and Annies. A Liar's Autobiography, based on the writings of the late Graham Chapman, a member of the old Monty Pyth! on cast, opens theatrically in the UK this spring and it will be shown on the EPIX HD channel in the US. Fifteen British animation studios contributed segments to this production.

Note: The following article introduces us to how versatile animation is as an art and communication medium in northern Europe. Their focus is different from the established film culture in the US. I hope you find her discussion interesting.

A NORDIC – BALTIC ADVENTURE
THE FREDRIKSTAD ANIMATION FESTIVAL
November 8-13, 2011 by Nancy Denney-Phelps

For five days every year the historic town of Fredrikstad, Norway becomes the center of Nordic/Baltic animation. The festival brings in an illustrious roster of names from the international animation community.

I am a fan of Rem and Stimpy but had never met John Kricfalusi. He turned out to be as delightfully wacky and as fun as his characters. During his Masters of Animation presentation he talked about characters and films that inspired him and he showed animation classics from UPA, Disney and by others to illustrate his points. He also shared excerpts from his favorite live action Hollywood films which he considers just as good, if not a better inspiration for cartoonists. I was fascinated to learn what a big influence film noir played in his life.

The next day The John K Special Screening featured his own films, including a 35 second "couch intro" he created for a Simpsons episode. Following the screening he did a drawing session. A lot of people went home very happy to have an original John K caricature of themselves.

Designer and director Tod Polson gave a fascinating presentation on The Noble Approach. After graduating from Cal Arts, where he won a Student Oscar for his short film Al Tudi Tuhak, Tod was hired by the legendary Oscar winning team of Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble to help develop various projects including a number of Looney Toons shorts and an Emmy Award winning version of Peter and the Wolf. Later Tod, Maurice, and several of Maurice's assistants formed their own company called Noble Toons. Polson accompanied his talk about his dear friend and mentor Maurice Noble with numerous photos of their travels together as well as Noble's paintings and drawings. He is currently working on a book about Maurice's life and career.

Renowned Hollywood producer Don Hahn talked about his career as producer of such Disney classics as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. A highlight was hearing of Don's experiences as assistant producer on the ground-breaking Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

In 2009 Hahn made his directorial debut with Waking Sleeping Beauty. The documentary chronicles the people and circumstances that led to Disney's animation renaissance in the 1980s and ‘90s. He concluded his presentation by introducing his documentary and giving insights into the events that led up to making the film. Waking Sleeping Beauty has been shown at numerous festivals and has been written about extensivel! y so I don't feel that I need to add anything else about it.

Although Suzie Templeton's career consists of only three films she is already regarded as a master of modern puppet animation. Her 2008 interpretation of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf won an Oscar and she has won numerous other international awards including the Cristal d'Annecy.

The audience had the opportunity to hear Suzie talk about her work in an interview with Norwegian animation authority Gunnar Strom. As part of the special event Suzie's films Dog, Stanley, and Peter and the Wolf were screened. I am particularly fond of Dog (2001), a sensitive story about a boy and his father trying to come to term! s with the death of their mother and wife. The film won the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival as well as a BAFTA (the British Academy Award).

As part of the day long Masters of Animation series, multi-talented director/artist Rosto engaged in a delightfully relaxed chat with Joakin Pedersen, Project Manager at The Animation Workshop in Denmark. Rosto talked about his never ending quest for new frontiers in a career that has encompassed everything from short films to music videos and beyond. Mind the Gap, a mixed media project that started with an online graphic novel and continued with music, print, and films is on-going on Rosto's blog, www.rostoAD.com

I've written extensively about Rosto's latest film The Monster of Nix in my Annecy 2011 article. He is currently working on a storybook version of the film for children as well as a music/film project and a concept for a feature film. The conversation ended with a screening of The Monster of Nix. I have seen the film several times and I always find new, surprising levels ! every time I watch it. It was a treat to see a pristine print on the big screen again. An exhibit of art work from The Monster of Nix was on display at the festival café.

Opening night

The opening night film was Arthur Christmas from Aardman Animations. I was really looking forward to its Scandinavian premier and Senior Supervising Animator Alan Short and Seamus Malone, Supervising Animator, were on hand to introduce the film.

I wanted to like Arthur Christmas as I respect the work of Aardman Animation and it is their first feature film directed by a woman, Sarah Smith. The story of Santa and his dysfunctional family started out all right but rapidly deteriorated into Arnold Schwartzenegger meets Battlestar Galactica. Santa's oldest son and presumed heir Steve, persuades Saint Nick to shed his reindeer and sleigh in favor of a high tech s! pace ship. When younger brother Arthur, who has been relegated to the lowly job of answering children's letters to Santa, discovers that one little girl who he had promised a bicycle to had been missed by Santa, the film turns into one long chase, pitting Steve and Santa in the star cruiser against Arthur, who is aided by a slightly dotty Grandfather Santa in sleigh and reindeer. The result looks more like a Hollywood blockbuster than the beautifully crafted films I expect from Aardman.

I talked to audience members, several of whom echoed my thoughts. One said "I don't want my child growing up thinking that Santa delivers gifts in a high tech spaceship instead of the traditional sleigh and reindeer." I'm sorry to say that I have to agree with him. Nik's comment was that it turned Santa into Fed Ex. But don't despair, Peter Lord's long awaited pirate film is nearing completion and that will be an event to celebrate!

The opening was followed by a reception at the festival café where I had my first chance to talk to other guests. I was particularly delighted to meet Seamus Malone. He is a director of Aardman Studio's clever claymation Shaun the Sheep series which was created by Nick Park. It is a big favorite of mine and my animated film dog critic Remi. He gives it four paws up. We both love the hilarious adventures of Shau! n, the leader of the flock, Bitzer, the long suffering sheep dog, and the totally oblivious farmer. It is shown on BBC every weekday afternoon, and I understand that it plays worldwide so if you have never seen it be sure to check it out. Seamus told me that a new series of Shaun's adventures will premier soon. He also drew Shaun and Bitzer in my sketch book, which I really treasure.

The Nordic Forum

The daylong Nordic Forum for Professionals has become an important part of the festival. Nordic studios and producers present their projects and it is an opportunity to learn firsthand what the new films and television shows will be from this very diverse region. This year's presentations ranged from Kristian Pedersen's moving Poetry in Motion films to a talk by two representatives from Caoz, the leading 3D studio in Iceland.

Animated poetry has become increasingly popular over the past few years and Pedersen's visual interpretation of Erlend O. Nodtveldt's poem Norangsdalen is a beautiful, moving representation of this art form. Nodtveldt's poem tells the story of one of Norway's narrowest, steepest valleys. The area is notorious for its frequent avalanches and landslides. In 1912 an enormous landslide dammed the river valley causing it to flood and submerge a farm and the surrounding small forest. Today the spot is known as Lake Lygnstoylvatnet and the stone foundation of the farm house and barn, as well as tree stumps can still be seen clearly in the lake. Kirstian's moving images were especially poignant to me because on my previous trip to Volda the month before I had been taken to the very spot where you look down and see the remains. It was a very eerie and moving reminder of the power of Mother Nature.

Sverre Fredriksen is a friend and I am a fan of his unique short film When I Am King which I wrote about in my Volda article. The Nordic Forum showed me an entirely different side of this talented young man's work. He is animation director and lead animator on The Alzheimer Experience. The ten episodes of this interactive video are posted online to help increase awareness! about this devastating illness that touches so many lives. Each video provides scenes from the point of view of the patient, family members, and care givers. View this unique project from The Netherlands (with English subtitles) at:

www.dailymotion.com/video/xj5t_alzheimer-s-experience.puts-diease-in-public-view_news.

Producer Hilmar Sigurdsson and director Gunnar Karlsson from Iceland's Caoz gave the audience a look at Legends of Valhalla – Thor. The studio is making Iceland's first 3D animation in co-production with Germany and Ireland. Based on the 13th Century Heimskringla (History of the Kings of Norway) by Snorri Sturluson, the film takes some poetic licenses that are definitely audience appealing.

The film will tell the familiar story of how Thor got his powerful hammer while taking us behind the scenes of his family life. Odin is an absentee father, Thor's mother, Jord, is a giant of a woman and a blacksmith. This type of film doesn't generally appeal to me and the 3D didn't add much, but the multi-layered story should entertain the entire family and it got me curious to see more.

Films "guaranteed to entertain the entire family" often leave parents yawning in their seats but Legends of Valhalla – Thor has some humor aimed at the adults in the audience along with a story of a one parent household that, unfortunately, many children these days will relate to.

The award winners

I was a member of the festival's 2011 selection committee for Short Animations and Commissioned Films so I was looking forward to watching our choices again with a live audience. Unfortunately this wasn't the strongest year for Nordic/Baltic short animation but the packed audiences enjoyed the two short film programs judging from their reactions.

The awards jury selected PL.ink as the Best Nordic/Baltic film and I completely agree. Norwegian animator Anne Kristin Berge's 3 minute fast paced film is a ride through an inky world where a minimalist painter loses his toddler inside of one of his paintings. The artist climbs inside the canvas to rescue his child from the ink monsters, with the help of an inky flying machine. Anne Kristin, a friend of ours, is the mother of a very active young daughter so the inspiration for PL.ink is self-evident to anyone who knows her.

Director Marc Reisbig's film Lexdysia, the story of a dyslexic boy struggling to read a letter from his father who is at sea, was not the most inspired combination of live action and stop-motion but those shortcomings were compensated for by the script. As a sufferer of dyslexia myself I felt that the director put into pictures what is so difficult to explain in words. The message was a strong, realistic interpretation of this affliction and it would touch any child who suffers from this difficult handicap.

The films in Student Competitions are often much more interesting and creative than in the professional category. Students can take risks that professional animators working for a studio or with other people's financing can't take. This year the student films were no exception, ranging from the dark and macabre to the very funny.

Helena Frank's graduation film from The National Film School of Denmark, Heavy Heads, is a black comedy about loneliness, solitude and a woman seducing a house fly. The style is minimalistic with a tiny body dominated by a very large head and the story is very Kafkaesque.

Finnish animation student Joni Mannisto's drawn animation Kuhina (Swarming) begins innocently enough as a child strolls along in the woods. When he finds a dead bird and begins to play with it the story takes a macabre turn as the bugs inside the bird turn the tables on him. Kuhina won the Golden Gunner for Best Student Film.

Denmark's Animation Workshop's students constantly turn out high quality creative animation and Captain Awesome: The Rumble in the Concrete Jungle is yet one more success for the Workshop. Ercan Bozdogan's super hero is about to save the day once again when an upset stomach forces his urgent need to find a toilet. What should be a simple matter turns into a series of hurdles to clear and shows the human side of our hero as he has to choose between saving little old ladies or taking care of his own needs.!

Bo Mathorne, also from The Animation Workshop, earned a Special Mention from the Jury for The Backwater Gospel. This tale of a small, isolated community in the 1930's dust bowl, a minister hell bent on ruling his congregation with an iron fist and an undertaker who always arrives in town just before death makes an appearance is very cleverly told in song by the town's minstrel.

I find very few commissioned film competitions interesting but AIDS ‘Smutley' was a definite exception. This French AIDS awareness video features Smutley, everyone's favorite promiscuous cat who jumps on anything that moves and has unprotected sex. Done with a Fleischer Brothers black and white animation style and with catchy period music, the film puts a smile on the audience's face while reminding everyone to be responsible sex partners. I wasn't surprised that Smutley won the Golden Gunnar for Commissioned Films.

Fredrikstad Animation Festival is one of the ten European Animation Festivals whose Grand Prix winner is automatically nominated for the Cartoon d' Or. The prestigious award is accompanied by a 10,000 Euro prize to be used by the winning director to launch a new, more ambitious project. The 2012 Fredrikstad Nominee is Mankeli (The Mangel), an 11 minute film by Jan Andersson and Katja Kettu from Finland. The puppet and mixed technique animated poem tells the story of Mangel, a male angel who falls from the heavens into a tree which he falls i! n love with. Unfortunately, all does not go as Mangel plans when a wood cutter decides to fell the tree.

Features

On Saturday were screenings of animation features for the residents of Fredrikstad, films that the entire family would enjoy. They were shown in the Kino at special reduced prices.

I watched two of the Animated Saturday features, Knerten I Knipe (Knerten in Trouble) and The Adventures of Tintin. Knerten in Trouble is the third and final film in the series based on the books of the revered Norwegian children's writer Anne Cat Vestly. Knerten, a pine twig is an imaginary friend of a lonely boy named Brother, who comes to life when the two are alone together. ! Knerten and Brother have vowed to always be best friends but when the pine twig meets a lovely birch sprig named Karoline and falls in love with her, life changes for all of them. This is the second in the series that I've seen, neither of which had English subtitles but they are designed for young children so I haven't had any trouble understanding what is happening in these delightful films. Karoline made a special appearance in the theatre lobby posing for photos with children of all ages.

I have been a fan of the Belgian author Herge's Tintin Adventure Series since I was a child so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the new Steven Spielberg film The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. The film is based on The Secret of the Unicorn, which is the first book in the Tintin series not to have politic! al themes. It focuses entirely on an adventure story.

I feared the worst, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It took me a while to get past the motion capture which was extremely distracting at first. I was pleased to see they kept the original story, but two things really bothered me. . Snowy (Milou in French), Tintin's faithful terrier companion, makes all of the wise and witty comments in the book. In the movie he only went arf. I missed his perceptive comments and it would have added so much if Snowy's comments had been inserted in thought bubbles over his head. Also, Snowy's muzzle was the wrong shape. Maybe this is a small detail but any true Tintin fan will notice it at once.

I saw Tintin in Norwegian with no English dialogue or subtitles but the plot was easy to follow. I will see the film again in English just to make sure that the dialogue is true to the original.

Other events

Art work from Sverre Fredriksen's music video When I Am King, for Dutch indie rocker Tim Knol was exhibited in the lobby. It was fascinating to get a close look at the sets and characters which Sverre created using a technique called pyrography (a combination of wood burning and soldering on wood).

Also on Saturday there were workshops and activities throughout the city. When I visited the drop-in workshop, which was set up inside a supermarket in a large downtown shopping mall, it was full of children learning to make zoetropes and short stop-motion films under the direction of award winning animators Eirin Handegard and Inni Karine Melbye. Most of the young participants had never animated before and it was very exciting to see their enthusiasm.

Another first this year was a very ambitious project, Ani-Camp North. In co-operation with the E-6 Ostfold Media Workshop the festival invited a group of young people ranging in age from 12 to 15 years old, along with their instructors, to a 5 day workshop. The students from all over the Scandinavian and Baltic area produced 4 films in 4 days. Local instructors were joined by Swedish animator and comic designer Stefan Eriksson and French puppet animator Eric Vanz de Godoy. Nik worked with all 4 groups to create original music and sound designs for the films. The group chose trains as their theme for the films. View the Ani-Camp films at: http://vimeo.com/33147883

The finale of the Animated Saturday events was the early evening closing ceremony for children and youth. To start off the ceremony, the film Amundsen, There and Back, made by Fredrikstad elementary school children under the direction of Katz Plunkett premiered. It chronicles the adventures of Roald Amundsen, famous Norwegian explorer of the Polar Regions. He led the first expedition to reach the South Pole (1910-1912), and was also the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. The Ani! -Camp students' films were shown along with short pieces created by drop-in workshop participants.

The Children's Jury announced the Golden Gunnar winner for the Best Nordic Baltic Children's Film. Their choice was Captain Awesome: The Rumble in the Concrete Jungle. This year the festival in conjunction with the local newspaper launched an on line audience vote for the Best Feature Film. The winner of the coveted statue, Tintin, was announced at the end of the ceremo! ny.

There was a second closing ceremony. The highlight of the adult event was the presentation of the Life Time Achievement Award by the Festival's Board of Directors. In recognition of his meritorious service to the world of animation the 2011 recipient was Gunnar Strom. The entire audience stood applauding and cheering. Gunnar is the founder of the Fredrikstad and Volda Festivals, a beloved teacher at Volda University College, and mentor to many young Norwegian animators. Gunnar is indeed a worthy recipient.&! nbsp; The Fredrikstad award statue was created by noted sculptor Piotr Sapegin and inspired by Gunnar, so it is only fitting that Gunnar now has his very own Golden Gunnar. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful festival. Rosto (left) and John K.

ASIFA-SF IS A VOLUNTEER RUN ASSOCIATION
Newsletter Editor: Karl Cohen
Contributors include Gene Deitch, Nancy Denney-Phelps and other friends of ASIFA-SF
Cover illustration by Ricci Carrasquillo
Proofreader: Pete Davis
Mailing Crew: Tara Beyhm, Dot Janson, Shirley Smith and
Denise McEvoy
Webmaster Joe Sikoryak

Special thank to Stephen Parr and Oddball Films for hosting our annual 12th Night Party Jan. 8 and Sam Sharkey and the Exploratorium for hosting our annual January Open Screening. Thanks also to Gene Hamm for putting together the tribute to Don Albrecht, to The G Man who sends out our e-mail updates, to Nancy Denney-Phelps for representing our chapter on the international ASIFA board, to Tara Beyhm our VP and to our treasurer Karen Lithgow.

ASIFA-SF is a chapter of: Association Internationale du Film d'Animation with almost 40 chapters around the world. Local membership is $25 a year.

Our website and blog is: www.asifa-sf.org
Mail can be sent to: karlcohen@earthlink.net
or to PO Box 225263, SF CA 94122

ASIFA-SF, RON DIAMOND, ACME FILMWORKS AND AWN.COM PRESENT

Dimanche/ Sunday by Patrick Doyon
National Film Board of Canada

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

La Luna by Enrico Casarosa, Pixar

A Morning Stroll Grant Orchard
Studio AKA

Wild Life by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, National Film Board of Canada.

SEE THE 5 OSCAR NOMINATED ANIMATED SHORTS, MEET SOME OF THE ARTISTS

This is a great annual event that Ron Diamond organizes to introduce the honored animators to the Bay Area's animation community. After visiting Bay Area studios and meeting ASIFA members, the group moves on to LA for a fabulous week that ends with the Oscar awards night and plush parties. There will be enough time at our event for our guests to answer your questions and to meet you informally after their presentations.

DOLBY LABS, FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 7:00 PM

100 POTRERO AVE., free, by RSVP only, arrive early to sign in at the receptionist's desk

To attend you need to RSVP to karlcohen@earthlink.net by 9 pm, Feb. 16. Indicate if you plan to bring a guest. Only current members can RSVP. All RSVPs will be confirmed by e-mail. We will probably end up with a waiting list, so if your plans change and you and/or your guest can't attend please let us know so someone can have your seat(s). ! The screening room has limited seating.

The Oscars will be seen on TV in about 200 countries on Sunday, February 26.