The initial content on the platform includes imaginative and beautiful making-of and work-in-progress material from both ​Song of the Sea ​ and ​The​ ​Secret of Kells, courtesy of Cartoon Saloon.  The popular and innovative fantasy series ​Tales of Alethrion
​ is also available and more content is scheduled to come online regularly.  Industry professionals, students, and fans can explore all this material for learning and inspiration–compare different versions, see the progression, and even download the actual files to deconstruct how something was made and the thought process behind it.

Enter into the material either through selecting the project or by selecting your area of interest or craft, such as concept art, animation, character design, scriptwriting, storyboarding, editing, sound and music among others and browse from there.  Craft is also a community building around the making of films, series, and games.

Users can ask questions and creators can directly engage them, adding their notes and comments or answering questions about the material. The Craft Store provides an opportunity to access merchandise, print artwork, and order specialty items, such as 3D printed character figures or art books.

Craft is a concept from the co-producers of the Oscar-nominated ​Song of the Sea ​ and the award-winning ​Long Way North. “We’re passionate about the art of animation, we’re passionate about the craft of filmmaking, and we’re passionate about the creative process.  We know how long it takes to get an idea from script to screen—think of all of the amazing and inspiring work that goes into the making of a film that never makes it into the final product. It’s all part of the process, but why should that material sit on a shelf or languish on a hard drive somewhere?  We love that stuff and believe other people love it too and will be inspired to be invited into the creators’ process,” says Craft CEO and Co-Founder Frederik Villumsen, who is also behind the highly respected animation studio Nørlum​.

Craft is available now—check it out at www.itsoncraft.com​!

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OIAF invites animators from around the globe to submit their recent work in the following major categories:

• Animated Feature
• Narrative Animated Short
• Non-Narrative Animated Short
• Student Animation

Commissioned Animation:

• Short Preschool Animation Made for Children 0-5
• Short Animation Made for Children 6-12
• Preschool Animation Series Made for Children 0-5
• Animation Series Made for Children 6-12

Notably, the children’s categories are now divided by age group. In addition to category prizes, submissions will also be considered for a variety of craft and other awards including the Film Critic’s Prize, which is new to 2017!

“With our first 40 years behind us, we’re getting started on year 41,” says Chris Robinson, OIAF Artistic Director, “We’ve made a few tweaks. The ‘Experimental/Abstract’ category is now simply ‘Non-Narrative’, student films have been rolled into a single category, and we have some additions: new category divisions for kids, and a brand spanking new Film Critic’s prize that will be awarded by accredited members of the Canadian and International media. Beyond that, we expect another year of groundbreaking and eclectic animation that you simply cannot see on television.”

For more information, including Festival rules, please visit the OIAF website at:
www.animationfestival.ca

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Mitchell’s most recent project was DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls, which did an outstanding $340 million at the box office. Mitchell also directed the semi-animated Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Sponge Out of Water. He has also directed the live-action films Sky High and Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

Mitchell is replacing Rob Schrab, who is leaving due to “creative differences”. Schrab came on board on February 24, 2015, when he replaced Chris McKay, who left to direct The LEGO Batman Movie (which also ended up taking The LEGO Movie Sequel‘s first release date).

Release in 2014, the original The LEGO Movie was a major hit bringing in almost $470 million globally and delighting theatergoers with its slightly silly humor and innovative approach of paying homage to the look of LEGO stop-motion in CG animation. It was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar and won around 70 awards, including the animated feature BAFTA and the Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Feature Production Annie Award for Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

The success of the original film has spawned three spin-off movies to date, including The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Ninjago Movie, as well as the sequel.

The sequels sees Phil Lord and Chris Miller, writers and directors of the first film, returning as producers and co-writers. Raphael Bob-Waksberg was brought in for the first rewrite, and additional drafts are being done by Matt Fogel. Lord and Miller are also producing the sequel with Dan Lin and Roy Lee joining in for fun.

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No management team has been announced for the joint venture, but the new studio will report to a board of directors comprising executives from both Mercury Filmworks and Cartoon Saloon. No projects for the fledgling studio have been announced yet, either. It is expected that more information about the studios first development and production projects, as well as hiring details, will be released in the coming weeks.

Cartoon Saloon began as an informal partnership between a group of animators brought together by Paul Young and Tomm Moore in 1999. Cartoon Saloon has since grown into a multi-award winning animation and illustration design studio. Cartoon Saloon is probably best known for two of it’s feature animated films which have been in the running for an Academy Award, Brendan And The Secret Of Kells and Song of the Sea.

Canadian animation studio Mercury Filmworks has close ties with Walt Disney Television, producing shows such as Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Tangled: The Series, among other TV series.

Mercury Filmworks’ CEO Clint Eland spoke of his company’s “enormous respect” for its Irish counterpart and said that the new studio would be “the best parts of each”.

Cartoon Saloon is currently finishing up The Breadwinner for a 2017 release. The film is executive produced by Angelina Jolie, and tells the story of Parvana, a young girl living under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

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Also among the big winners was Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings with three wins out of ten nominations, Pixar pulling in Best Animated Short, and Studio Ghibli’s The Red Turtle for Best Independent Film. One of the surprises was Google pulling in three Annies with their short Pearl, as well as the special Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement.

Overall, the winners are:

Best Animated Feature

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Best Animated Feature – Independent

• The Red Turtle– Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions

Best Animated Special Production

• Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Massive Swerve Studios and Passion Pictures Animation

Best Animated Short Subject

• Piper – Pixar Animation Studios

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial

• Loteria ‘Night Shift’ – Passion Pictures Ltd

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children

• Tumble Leaf – Episode: Mighty Mud Movers / Having a Ball – Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children

• Adventure Time – Episode: Bad Jubies – Bix Pix Entertainment Cartoon Network Frederator Studios

Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production

• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: Glued, Where’s My Bob? – Bento Box Entertainment

Best Student Film

• Citipati – Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production

• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Head of Effects Animation: Marlon West, Effects Lead: Erin V. Ramos, Effects Lead: Blair Pierpont, Foundation Effects Lead: Ian J. Coony
  Effects Lead: John M. Kosnik

Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production

• Dr. Strange – Mirror Dimension – Marvel Studios -FX Supervisor: Georg Kaltenbrunner, Digital Artist : Michael Marcuzzi, Digital Artist : Thomas Bevan, Digital Artist : Andrew Graham, Digital Artist: Jihyun Yoon

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Becoming, Part 1, DreamWorks Animation Television, Character Animator: Mike Chaffe Character: Blinky, Aaarrrgghh!!

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Animator: Jan Maas Character: Multiple

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production

• The Jungle Book – Walt Disney Pictures – Animation Supervisor: Andrew R. Jones, Animation Supervisor: Peta Bayley, Animation Supervisor: Gabriele Zucchelli, Character Supervisor: Benjamin Jones

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Video Game

• Uncharted 4: A Thief ‘s End – Naughty Dog – Lead Animator: Jeremy Yates Character: All, Lead Animator: Almudena Soria Character: All, Lead Animator: Eric Baldwin Character: All, Lead Animator: Paul Davies Character: All, Lead Animator: Tom Bland Character: All

Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Win, Lose or Draal – DreamWorks Animation Television – Character Designer: Victor Maldonado, Character: All Characters, Character Designer: Alfredo Torres, Character: All Characters, Character Designer: Jules Rigolle Character: All Characters

Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Character Design : Cory Loftis Character: Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps, Flash, Chief Bogo, Clawhauser, Mr. Big, Fru Fru, Koslov, Bellwether, Yax, Finnick, Doug, Mr. and Mrs. Otterton, Duke Weaselton, Misc. Characters

Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Director: Patrick Osborne

Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Director: Byron Howard, Director: Rich Moore

Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Composer: Scot Stafford, Composer/Lyricist: Alexis Harte, Composer/Lyricist: JJ Wiesler

Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production

• Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) – Netflix and On Animation Studios – Composer: Hans Zimmer, Composer: Richard Harvey, Composer/Lyricist: Camille (no last name)

Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Production Design: Tuna Bora

Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Production Design: Nelson Lowry, Production Design: Trevor Dalmer, Production Design: August Hall, Production Design: Ean McNamara

Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Win, Lose or Draal – DreamWorks Animation Television – Storyboard Artist: Hyunjoo Song

Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Storyboard Artist: Dean Wellins

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show – Episode: Ponce de León – DreamWorks Animation Television – Cast: Carlos Alazaraqui Character: Ponce de León

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production—TIE

• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios- Voice Actress: Auli’i Cravalho Character: Moana
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Voice Actor: Jason Bateman Character: Nick Wilde

Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: The Hormone-iums – Bento Box Entertainment – Writer: Lizzie Molyneux, Writer: Wendy Molyneux

Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Writer: Jared Bush, Writer: Phil Johnston

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Disney Mickey Mouse – Episode: Sock Burglar – Disney Television Animation – Nominee: Illya Owens

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Nominee: Christopher Murrie

JURIED AWARDS

Winsor McCay Award – for their career contributions to the art of animation

• Dale Baer
• Caroline Leaf
• Mamoru Oshii

Ub Iwerks Award – for technical advancement in the art of animation

• Google Spotlight’s Virtual Reality Platform

Special Achievement Award

• Life, Animated

June Foray Award – for their significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation

• Bill & Sue Kroyer

Certificate of Merit

• Leslie Ezeh
• Gary Perkovac

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Lou is a red hoodie-covered creature with eyes of mis-matched baseballs and lost and found buttons who is seen grinning mischievously from inside a school’s Lost & Found bin. Reminiscent of Sid from the Toy Story series, J.J. is a bully who takes his classmates’ stuff and destroying their beloved toys. Lou decides to teach this bully a lesson with some carefully crafted hijinks.

The film is directed by Dave Mullins in his first outing as a director, though he has been with PIXAR for many years. Director Mullins says the film was inspired by many incidence in his own formative years while growing up and moving from school to school. The film is produced by Dana Murray and executive producer is (of course!) John Lasseter.

The film ends with a dedication “For Dad”. Mullins father passed away during the production of the short. Lou’s box also contains a football and a skateboard, which symbolize Mullins’ father and himself, respectively. Mullins was a self-described skater punk growing up, and his father was a big football fan. “The football ended up becoming a device for J.J. to annoy the kids at the beginning of the film and then connect to the kids later,” Mullins said of the story device.

Lou and Cars 3 pair up in theaters on June 16th, 2017.

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Harold Eugene Geer was born on Sept. 13, 1916, in Oronogo, Mo. In 1939, he married Nancy Walker. A veteran, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941, two weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and became a Combat Cameraman. He participating in 86 combat missions during the war. He sometimes doubled his documentary and combat duties, acting as a gunner in B-24 and B-25 planes while shooting newsreel images.

After the war, Geer got a job as a color technician at Warner Bros. After four years, he moved over to Disney, where he collaborated with Ub Iwerks and worked on Walt Disney’s Disneyland TV series. He then worked with several independent production companies before returning to Warner in 1967, where he would be a key figure behind Looney Tunes cartoons for over two decades.

Geer worked as an editor for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts until Warner Bros. ceased theatrical cartoon production in 1969. He then moved up as producer on the television incarnation of the The Bugs Bunny Show. When producer William L. Hendricks retired in the late ‘70s, Geer took over the Looney Tunes cartoons. When Warner Bros. re-established its cartoon studio in the 1980’s, Geer was put in as overall producer.

In 1981, Geer and Friz Freleng shared an Emmy nomination for outstanding animated program for producing Bugs Bunny: All American Hero, and in 1985, he pushed a successful campaign to give Bugs a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Geer retired in 1987 and took up lecturing on cruise ships. His memoir, The Life, Times and Tales of Hal Geer, was published when Geer was 99 years old. In it, he wrote:

I don’t know what the purpose of life is. We try to do the best we can while we exist. My purpose was to make the world a better place. I know I made some people happy. I want to be remembered for the things I’ve done: combat photographer, newsreels and historical films. I hope I also entertained people and brought some laughter into their lives.

Geer is survived by his wife Carol, whom he married in 1983 after his first wife died; his children Nancy and Wally; stepdaughter Brenda Lee; grandchildren Christo and Jamie; and great-grandchildren Matthew, Savannah, Whitney and Sylvia.

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For best animated feature film, the nominees are:

“Kubo and the Two Strings”- Laika Entertainment, Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner
“Moana”- Walt Disney Pictures, John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer
“Ma Vie de Courgette” (My Life As A Zucchini)- RITA, Claude Barras and Max Karli
“The Red Turtle”- Wild Bunch, Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki
“Zootopia”- Walt Disney Pictures, Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

For best short film (animated), the nominees are:

“Blind Vaysha“- NFB –  Theodore Ushev
“Borrowed Time“- Quorum Films –  Andrew Coats, Lou Hamou-Lhadj
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes“- Passion Pictures – Robert Valley and Cara Speller
“Pearl“- Google ATAP – Patrick Osborne
“Piper“- Pixar Animation – Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

The 89th Academy Awards will honor films of 2016 on Sunday, February 26, 2017 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.

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A live-action The Legend of Tarzan came between the two animated films, and earned a solid second place with it’s weekend gross of $20.6 million.

Next up from Chris Meledandri and Illumination Entertainment? Sing, which hits theaters in December.

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Wreck-It Ralph director returns to direct the sequel, and is joined by Phil Johnston. The film is to be produced by Clark Spencer.

The story is being kept under wraps, but Reilly let slip a little bit about the story. “Ralph leaves the arcade and wrecks the Internet,” he said. “What could possibly go wrong?” What indeed.

To make room or Ralph, Disney also said that it had moved Gigantic out of the March 9, 2018, date now occupied by Wreck-It Ralph 2. Now, the animated film loosely based on the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk, is rescheduled to be released eight months later on Nov. 21, 2018.

Wreck-It Ralph grossed more than $470 million worldwide in it’s original theatrical release. Disney is growing several animated film franchises with the sequels Frozen 2, Cars 3, The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 also in the works. Disney is also pumping outs a series of live-action remakes of classic films such as this years’ The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon, Beauty And The Beast and Dumbo.

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