Some Help? - Repost

We've gotten some great submissions for this, and as the other segments are barreling along we'd love to add your contribution!


As previously mentioned, we're doing the signal films for this year's Ottawa Animation Festival.

Like most of our projects we're making it both simpler and far more complicated than it needs to be. 
There will be several episodes.

In one, we're going to do that face thing, in three parts, flipping.  From the kid's books.  I have no idea what it's called.

Rule Change

Even if you don't care much about awards, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' clarification of animation eligibility is interesting.

image from HERE

The first is simple and obvious:

In the Animated Feature Film category, the rule governing running time for a motion picture to qualify was changed from at least 70 minutes to greater than 40 minutes, which is consistent with the running time requirements for feature films in all other categories.

This will affect two things.

First, it will make more films eligible for the nomination, thereby making it almost certain to have 5 nominees over the usual 3.   The two additional slots will allow for films which might otherwise get overlooked to benefit from the publicity of the nomination.

The Oscar nomination helped "Secret of Kells" box office in the US, and it only stands to reason that other smaller films would get a boost as well.  "My Dog Tulip" or "Idiots and Angels" were both worthy contenders that got the short shrift by the short list.

Second, it weighs in favor of independent films.  Dreamworks, Disney and the other big studios will  be releasing at least one 85 minute animated film every year.  They don't even consider any under 70 minutes.  Independent animators -40 minutes -that's a feasible  accomplishment. 

The other significant change regards motion capture:

An animated feature film is defined as a motion picture...in which movement and characters’ performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique. Motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time.

This is a statement of the obvious, in my opinion, and I'm glad someone with credentials has put this on the record.

It's not a value judgment on motion capture, but a clarification of what should be a widely known Funk & Wagnall's definition of animation.

The disqualification of a Robert Zemekis film or two will be more than offset by the newly eligible shorter feature.

It Takes A Village

After being put on the back-burner for a while, picking up on this segment for the Ottawa Signal Film.

It'll be the third in the arc.

The cityscape will largely exist as backgrounds only.

And most of the backgrounds will need much larger scale objects.

I suppose I just wanted to build a city of paper.

The roads will be affixed to the ground, so we won't have rising surfaces.

But the buildings will still be fairly raw as they are here.

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, TriBeCa Premiere

We did seven little animated inserts after a Hirschfeld illustration for Carol Channing: Larger Than Life which premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival yesterday.

Very often we'll screen lots of different cuts on these sorts of projects, sometimes sitting in the editing room to offer thoughts on the overall structure and content of the film.   By the time of the premiere, it might be possible to recite the film line for line.

In this case, we pretty much stuck to our sequence only screening a very early cut.  So it was like seeing the film for the first time.

Tyne Daly delivers a note from the star who couldn't make the screening.  Director Dori Berinstein to her right.

Turns out to be a terrific film.

Dori Berinstein, the director, and Adam Zuker, her editor and co-writer, present a loving and layered portrait of an iconic performer.

One moment is particular touching (amongst many touching moments): with her stage performances numbering into the high thousands, Carol Channing has the reputation of having never missed a single show.  She steps into correct that, she did miss a show -the second act at least -after contracting food poisoning and vomiting all over the stage.  Even while taking treatment for ovarian cancer she would fly to New York after her Saturday show for therapy only to return to the stage in whatever city the tour had landed for Monday.

What I find particularly touching is her dedication -not so much to "craft", although her love of performing is contagious -but to her fellow performers, and moreover her audience.   She says something to the effect, people save up a lot of money and more importantly go to a show to have an experience they'll remember forever.  They're doing all of that to see her and she refuses to let them down.

She shows a commitment which we all should make to our work.

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life has three more screenings this week. And will next show at Hot Docs in Toronto.

Little Help?

As previously mentioned, we're doing the signal films for this year's Ottawa Animation Festival.

Like most of our projects we're making it both simpler and far more complicated than it needs to be. 
There will be several episodes.

In one, we're going to do that face thing, in three parts, flipping.  From the kid's books.  I have no idea what it's called.

Above is an example.  The top third is eyes.  The middle is nose.  The bottom is mouth.  These will flip through with other looks making funny faces.

We're going to "crowd source" and see what we get.  We'll use any drawings submitted to asteriskanimation AT gmail DOT com.

Here's the template.

CLARIFICATION: We're just looking for a single drawing of a face in which the three sections align with the above grid. 

Of course, folks are welcome to do multiple faces.  The idea is that we'll take the face and "flip" the parts with others. 

We'll be in your gratitude if you send something.

Odds and Sods.

I have a review of Independently Animated: Bill Plympton up for The Comics Journal.

CLICK HERE

It's an excellent book.  Very well produced and very personable.  It fills a gap in the animation library.

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Anthology Film Archives has program this afternoon which includes Leger's Ballet Mechanique and other short experiments from the 1920s.

These bits of history may not be exciting in the same ways they were 90 years ago, but they're still exhilarating.

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The Tribeca Film Festival has announced it's slate.

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life will be premiering there.  We've done several short segments in the style of Al Hirschfeld for the film.

They also announced their program of animated shorts. (CLICK HERE)

I'm unfamiliar with all of the films and all of the filmmakers in the program.  It's good that such a high profile festival isn't bound to play the old standards.

Here's the list:

The Beaufort Diaries by Drew Jordan and Alex Petrowsky 

Not Over Easy by Jordan Canning

Year Zero by Richard Cunningham III 

Preferably Blue by Alan Dickson

Just That Sort of a Day by Abhay Kumar (looking like India's much anticipated answer to Don Hertzfelt from the promo still)

A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation by Martin Wallner and Stefan Leuchtenberg

Harmonium Mountain by Clifford Ross

Minus One For Clapping

Like many longish-timers in New York animation, I have an on/off relationship to ASIFA. 

Over the past two weeks they've been screening entries for their upcoming awards show.  It's always a mixed bag, there's not much anyone can do about the quality of entries.  Except, of course, to enter films of decidedly high (or low) quality to tip the balance.

The Independent shorts are typically the highlight.  For whatever reason, this year they were the weakest program.

My favorite from that evening was Morgan Miller's Vacuum Attraction.

It's kind of crude and more than a little lewd, but the characters are well defined and the creative vision is precise.

Two things that attract me to ASIFA are its history and its and outreach.  The student films can be exciting and innovative.  Young artists provide fresh blood for untalented creative vampires like me.

I missed a small chunk of the student films.  I see Kelsey Stark's film was in the first few (I've seen it a few times, and it would probably rank in the top of all films shown).

Two other standouts were Jacob Kafka's Giraffe-stronaut



And an unexpectedly great, somewhat unfinished film by Kevin Dossantos titled My 1st Invention. It matches up with Morgan Miller's in some ways, but it's much cuter. No sign of it online.

The history of ASIFA has some meaning and these screenings are reminders. I'm reminded of George Griffin saying how your job in the audience is to program a festival. A festival that is emblematic of New York's relationship to animation.

As fun as it may be to moan and cluck from the auditorium, it's a serious task if one takes animation seriously.

That's why I find the clapping and hooting for personal favorites obnoxious. A member has a vote, yes. That vote has meaning, but screenings aren't about you, hooting voter. They're not even about the films, per se, or the film makers. The ASIFA show, the awards, represent Animation. It represents New York, community, for better or worse, and the continuum of an art form from Stars & Stripes Prods. Forever, Inc. "Sparklettes: Desert" (the first best in show) and the great Sesame Street films of the 70s (Jerry Lieberman's Parrot capturing 1972 title) and Suzan Pitt's Asparagus and Michael Sporn's Marzipan Pig and John Schnall's Grim to the groundbreaking, individual artists of the future.

Test Village

As previously mentioned, we're working the signal film for this year's Ottawa Animation Festival.

Since we like to needlessly complicate things, this is shaping up more like a signal cycle.

For the third installment, we're thinking an environment like this.

These are the first models.  Eventually a whole city will be constructed.

There was a time when I'd insist on hiding the edges.

Today, edges don't bother me.  Not that it should look sloppy (there are a few sloppy folds in some of the buildings), but it should look attainable.

The film as a whole should be magical, should come together in seemingly impossible ways.  The elements which comprise the film -whether it's animation, actors, music, photography -don't need to be perfect.  In fact, it's may be more effective if somewhat rustic parts work together to create a piece greater than its sum components.

Another Failed Experiment

We're doing the signal film for this year's Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Have a basic idea figured out and have started on some technique experiments -it's going to be a mixed media thing and evolved through several passages.

This isn't exposed or framed or really animated in anyway.





Trying to find bubbly, watery textures. Towards the end of the clip it starts to get somewhere.

Everything is digital these days -with the exception of stalwart holdouts like Don Herzfeldt. To us, there's great value in creating elements of the picture with tactile materials. A computer is a calculator, an accountant. It works towards uniformity. If the starting point is far, far from perfect the design and the animation have the chance to retain some of that chaos in the final piece.

Ottawa Leftovers

I'm not so good with the snap shots, owning a camera is a new experience.  I've only recently learned that you're supposed to take pictures of people.

These are some shots that didn't make any earlier posts.

Advertisers knew animators were coming to town.

 Bustling Lobby After Screening "The Illusionist"

Once and Future Champion, Gary Leib

Smilin' Steven Woloshen

Barry Sanders and The Pumpkins

Unused Upstair of "Picnic" Location

Anne Denmen, Polaroid Moment During Sample Reel Workshop

Dominique Forget Did an Incredible Job This Year

Theo Ushev Re-enacting the Signal Film

 The Chateau Laurier Was Sad To Learn We Stayed Elsewhere 

The Magnificent Helene Tanguay In Her Natural Habitat 

Liesje Showcases The Latest Technology At The NFB With Theo's Help

Bears Just Wanna Have Fun

Ottawa Animation Festival 2010 - Day Five

Sunday, the final day, can be slow.

Things wind down -fewer screenings, folks packing up or leaving entirely.

Still, the 9:00 AM "meet the filmmakers" sessions are typically overpopulated with filmmakers after the 5 competition screenings (2 shorts, 2 children films, 1 feature) the day before.

This leads to unfortunately cumbersome sessions.  The NFB, who sponsors these terrific events, should consider breaking these up by screening on the final day of the festival.  As mentioned, there's not too much else happening -schedule it in two parts one from 9 to 10, another from 10 to 11.  This would give the audience an opportunity to discuss the films in a little more depth than fitting two dozen filmmakers into an hour.

We then had a nice brunch with Dan Sarto from awn.com before taking a 4 hour break before a screening of films from Winnipeg.  Winnipeg animation has a great punk feel, they also tend to keep them short.  Interesting to see Richard Condie as a musician on many.  The music was uniformly great throughout the show.

Then, on to the awards.

Here's the list.  We twittered them as they were announced.  Earlier in the day Festival Director Chris Robinson approached and said "I know who the grand prize winner is."  I replied, "So do I do.  It's David OReilly."   There was clearly no other choice.  It's a great film.

Actually, it's hard to argue with any of the choices.  I think the jury did a great job with the selections.  While I preferred Brent Green's feature to Phil Mulloy's.  Mulloy's is equally genius and absolutely deserving of the award.

Ottawa Animation Festival 2010 - Day Four

Saturday can be a long day.

The first event yesterday was a 9:00 AM workshop I moderated with Anne Denman, Tom Knott, Dawn Haagland and Fran Krause on Sample Reels.

It was geared towards students (most colleges come in for the weekend portion so Saturday morning programming focuses on scholastic presentations).

We had a packed house, I had a lot of fun so I hope everyone else did.  The initial idea was to create a sort of "American Idol" style panel to review people's reels.  That became something a little more ordinary in format.   With this format I hoped to have "recruiters" at studios discuss what they go through when looking for talent, giving artists a better idea of how to position themselves.

Then looked at the demo of software which creates 3D stereoscopic images.  It was pretty much Flash MX in 3D with even fewer capabilities.  If the 3D fad last for another 4 or 5 years, this technology could quickly become a workplace final.

Short nap, then Shorts Competition 4.

A few highlights from this program:  Ruth Lingford's "Little Death" a pretty film with voice over interviews discussing orgasms.  I did feel like the picture could live just as well without the soundtrack and the soundtrack might be a little more interesting without the picture.  Both elements were strong but their marriage didn't necessarily make the other stronger.

"In A Pig's Eye" by Atsushi Wada from Tokyo University of the Arts harkened the pre-anime illustration tradition of Japan.  The look is decidedly modern, but the ancient influence makes it particularly interesting.

In watching these films, I've learned that its best to go in with an open mind, to want to like them.  It makes week more enjoyable if you're not hating seventy percent of what you see.

The one film in program 4 which I didn't like was "The Tannery", a Scottish production.  It was attractive and well made.  The content -the story of a ghost fox and other woodland spectres - manipulates the audience to feel crummy and never gives any redemptive payoff for feeling so rotten.

Caroline Leaf's Masterclass was beyond standing room when we arrived.  Along with several others, we were turned away.

That gave an hour and half or so before the final competition screening.

"Tord and Tord", a very "Fantastic Mr. Fox" like stop motion film from Sweden's Niki Lindroth von Bahr is charming and clever.

Tord och Tord Trailer from Niki Lindroth von Bahr on Vimeo.

"Blockhead", a video for The Music Scene was energetically animated and nicely piece of bravado by Anthony Scheppard.  Folks who love handcrafted animation will get a big kick out of this dynamic film.

It wasn't until the second to last piece when I felt "enough already" and had to close my eyes to make it through.   While there are a couple films that standout as being "good", it hints at a minimum level of quality for the festival set at a reasonably high level.

Ottawa Animation Festival 2010 - Day Three

Action packed day.

Friday morning is typically a lull in Festival activities.  This Friday Maral Mohammedian from the NFB interviewed Steven Woloshen about his work and his process.

He's recently published "Recipes for Reconstruction" -a handsome sort of cookbook for making cameraless  films.  Each of the nine chapters gives the "recipe" for how he made a film on the accompanying DVD.

Caroline Leaf examines the scratch device

The 90 minute conversation was captivating for the first hour.  The filmmaker detailed his many techniques, including burying his films to let insects eat into it and decay set in and passed around a homemade box for doing scratch films he used while working as a driver on feature films.

In some ways the Festival centers on the Friday afternoon picnic.  This year, presumably since the dates have slid fairly late on the calendar, it was held indoors.  The location may have been physically warmer but the atmosphere was significantly colder than years passed. The restaurant's architecture dispelled the informal looseness that typically leads to forced socializing.  I did get to catch up with the great Tom Warburton who's excited about working on Fish Hooks for Disney and having a great time there.

I found Brent Green's "Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then" to be extraordinarily moving.  Even stronger than Phil Mulloy's feature from the previous day.  It's pixelated, oddly some students were debating the "animationy-ness" of the technique.

"Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then" hit me hard

A few people (the aforementioned Maral, one) vehemently disliked the picture.  It's kind of the exact opposite of something like Toy Story 3, so I can understand the depth of the dislike.

To me, it was captivating from beginning to end.  A discussion of  humanity and sadness and trying, trying to do whatever you can to save the person you love.  Festival director Chris Robinson credited Suzan Pitt for recommending the film to him.  Yet another thing to be thankful for to her.

While the highlight of the night may have been Chris Robinson's uncensored "discussion" with Amid Amidi about the shorts program (Amid didn't like it), the showcase itself was fairly solid.

There was a music video which I hated and some middling films but the two standouts -David OReilly's "The External World" and Kelsey Stark's "LGFUAD" along with a fun/energetic exquisite corpse high school film from CSSSA would alone make any program special.

If there were laws against genius, David OReilly would be spending a life behind bars

I've already written about "LGFUAD", and as much as I'd like to write about "The External World" I'm afraid I don't have it all together to put words to it.  I do think it's exceedingly unfair to the rest of us that the filmmaker is so preternaturally talented.  I'm looking forward to screening this film several more times, like a deciphering a poem and digesting all its layered meanings.

Ottawa Animation Festival 2010 - Day Two

Filed From: The Icy North

Not so icy.  Just chilly.

[for updates throughout the day you can follow: www.twitter.com/asteriskpix]

The morning started early with an 8:30 TAC keynote by Portfolio Entertainment's Lisa Olfman.  She is an Executive Producer on PBS' new "Cat in the Hat" series.  Her talk gave interesting and insightful detail to the development and sale of that project.  Her company is "production and distribution", it's unclear how much actual production they do.  Everything seems to be subcontracted and resubcontracted.

She's clearly a great salesperson.  By the end of her talk I was eager to see the Dr. Seuss show but was sadly disappointed to find that it's just "symbol" animation in Flash and the non-Giesel characters lack the visual charm of the originals with whom they coexist.

Also at the Television Animation Conference, Ron Diamond interviewed Jan Pinkova, who is now developing a feature film with Laika.  I haven't seen "Ratatouille" but his talk and the clip he showed were enough to put it towards the top of my list.

One reason I haven't the film is that I find the stories generated by Pixar pretty lackluster despite their PR machinations claiming they're "story first" -a phrase Pinkova reiterated.

The final TAC event was "Pitch This!"   A panel of TV execs hear and critique two pitches.  Most remarkable, to me, was how Linda Simensky approached and handled each prospective showrunner and their property.  She was thoughtful and measured, gave solid advice and criticized sharply without being mean (or even sounding negative).   Cool and impressive.

Cooler, though, and more impressive -in fact, if everything else in the Festival is gawddawful it would still have been a great week because of it -was Phil Mulloy's "Goodbye Mister Christie".  It is the opposite of last night's feature, "The Illusionist", in just about every way.


If I were to tell you that 80 minutes of silhouette close ups of ink blot-looking faces speaking with the "human" voices standard in most computers was hilarious, moving, captivating and downright stunning you'd tell me I was a pompous fool who didn't know what he was talking about.  Now, that may be true -but it doesn't change the fact that "Goodbye Mister Christie" is a remarkable achievement, undeniably the fruit from the mind of a brilliant and singular artist.

Most animated films which rely so strongly on spoken words tend to be visualized radio plays (even the good ones like "Mary and Max").  "Goodbye Mister Christie" has no cinematic visuals to speak of, it really is silhouette faces for well over an hour, yet no other medium could convey it so essentially.

Short Animation Program 2 was a bit of a letdown.  Picking a standout is like picking your favorite child -if you've spawned a litter of workaday, mediocre kids.  In a rareity for this festival, the individual films weren't helped by their companions in the lineup.

A universal tint of black and white or monochromes was only punctuated by a film or two with any color to speak of.  Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet's "Parade" led off with a smartly designed color based film that used the visual equivalent of puns to showcase a simple wit.  Coupled with Malcolm Sutherland's beautiful "Light Forms" (a sort of Miro meditation), "Parade" set up a colorful brightness which was paid off with dozen films in dreary palate of 1960s European animation.




Light Forms (HD - 2010) from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.

In looking over the list, I can pick out several pieces which ranged from very nice to very good: Gary Leib's "Midtown Twist", "Sinna Mann (Angry Man)" -albeit overlong -by Anita Killi, Joseph Peirce's "A Family Portrait" which successfully combines rotoscoping with cartoon animation and others.  The program as a whole was a bit unsatisfying.

Then again, I could have just been anxious about the Phillies game and the Lincecum looking hoser with the toque sitting in front was a constant reminder.  Hey, Festival Goers (and Lincecum looking ones at that),  take off you freaking hats in the theater.  Maybe the big point on top was covering his head.

Ottawa Animation Festival 2010 - Day One

An unexpected detour kept us from arriving for any of TAC (Television Animation Conference) events.

They seemed to be mostly Canada-centric anyway.  The downside, all of the TAC booklets had been distributed but I've since learned more have become available.

NOTE: as long as my phone has charge I'll be twittering the Festival twitter.com/asteriskpix

One thing you may not have heard about the city of Ottawa is that it's seemingly always under construction in the same places.

On to the shows.

First screening was Sylvain Chomet's much anticipated "The Illusionist".  It's not a stretch to say that it features some of the most articulate, realistic animation of the human to have graced the screen.   Prior to the screening I had heard whisperings from several quarters that the picture was lacking in the story department.  I wouldn't necessarily agree with that -the characters, however, are questionable.

Later in film, we're left to question if that's a rabbit in his pocket

Americans, at least, might think the worst when it comes to old men "adopting" and doting on stray teenaged girls.  This whole set up -and the girl's generally unsympathetic character -make for uncomfortable viewing.

The short film program started with politics.

Award winning "Logorama"

Academy Award winner "Logorama" kicked it off.  There's not much to say for this.   It would be generous to say this was a film about consumerism and not just "too clever by half."

Matching it with Simon Robson's "Coalition of the Willing" gives "Logorama" that political edge which makes it tolerable.  I spent the day with Simon several years back, he's a great guy and terrifically gifted. This film is a bit heavy on words but the visuals carry it.

still from "Coalition of the Willing"

The theme of the program winds up taking from the style "Coalition of the Willing" more than the content.  Much of the rest of the show is comprised of mixed media or 2 1/2D hybrids.

The two following films are the with political overtones.  Dustin Grella's "Prayers for Peace", a student film from SVA, recounts the filmmaker's experience with his brother's death in Iraq and Steve Woloshen's "Playtime" is a direct on film romp.  "Playtime" has some violent imagery amidst the snappy soundtrack and bright visuals and serves as a segueway out of the overtly political films.

Festival Director Chris Robinson giving his opening "speech"

Most notable amongst the rest of the program are "Hand Soap" a student film from Japan by Kei Oyama.  It's a dark (visually), difficult piece that has some striking imagery and interesting draughtsmanship.  

"This is Love" by Lei Lei from China is a goofy piece of fluff with nice design.  As a viewer, it raises some questions about the cultural nature of film.  Is the absurdly simply because it's foreign?  The crude design and loopy storytelling may be perfectly standard in the community in which is created, but to an American it's just shy of bizarre.

Ways of Seeing

Next week I'll be at the Ottawa Animation Festival.

Daily updates will be forthcoming.  Heck, I may even twitter it: www.twitter.com/asteriskpix   e.g. "@OIAF y so many cartoon at ur fest? #animation"

While walking to an edit room yesterday, planning for the Festival and my Saturday Morning Workshop on Sample Reels (9:00 at the Arts Courts.  Come.  Bring your reel.  I'll be there with 3 big time recruiters and a big time animation genius), I starting thinking about the different kinds of viewing my various jobs require.

1) Producers/Directors: Here you're screening work with the intention of making it "better". 

This involves several things.  The technical -making sure there aren't glitches, pops, dirt, poor animation.  The creative -are the concepts presented in the strongest and most compelling manner.  The personal -motivating the artist to continue to produce their best work.

That last point usually involves encouragement.  All points- and pretty much every job -demand an honesty.

2) Teachers: A teacher has many of the criteria as a producer, a few differences.  A teacher's concern should be more on the technical and focus strongly on that.  As for creative worries, a teacher is only there to suggest and open possibilities not to dictate how the film should unfold.  A teacher has to allow students to make mistakes then provide avenues for them to correct them.  A producer's job is to prevent mistakes and to fix them as quickly as possible.

A teacher should also be more blunt than a producer.  The producer/director is a collaborator, not a career adviser.  If a student's work is terrible, the teacher must let that student know and (again) give them the means to improve it.  If the student is unable to improve, that's when it is the teacher's responsibility to let them know of other career options.

A teacher also looks for the little things in a film -small positives which can used as a building block.

3) Recruiters: Like teachers, when recruiting artists the little positives are important.  Finding that individual's strength is paramount.

Screening applicants' work is about strengths and weaknesses.   Which is greater?  Does the artists strengths suit the needs of the studio/project?

Great animation can be more important in recruiting than a great film.  Good draughting can outweigh poor animation.  Or not.  Depending on the needs.

You're looking at the parts, finding the positives and negatives.

4) Critics:  In some ways the Critic is the the opposite of the Recruiter. You're looking at the film as a whole, trying to figure out what it's "point" is and analyzing how successful it is in making that point.

You're calling on other films, other pieces of literature, art, historical events, scientific facts -a universal range knowledge to come to an opinion and express it.

All of these positions include the #1 most important way of watching: as an AUDIENCE.  Do I like it?  That's the hardest part about a festival, taking off all of those hats for 4 days and just letting the films do the thinking.

Some Housekeeping

Here's where we ask for your money.

If not your money, your clicks.  Unfortunately, we don't actually get any of your money either way.

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First, please vote for our panel at SXSW.   I'd love the glamour of a free festival pass.

CLICK HERE to vote.

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Congratulations to John Pirozzi and Linda Saphan.  Their Kickstarter campaign for "Don't Think I've Forgotten" doubled their goal.




We've been working hard on a few minutes of animation for this remarkable film.

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Also on the Kickstarter front, our friends at Arts Engine are in the last week of a funding drive.




A few dollars can help finish this interesting film (and let them contract us for some graphics!).

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Netflix subscribers can stream The Buddha on demand.

CLICK HERE

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Moment of Death is now available on DVD from National Geographic.

CLICK HERE

We're currently in production a similar film for National Geographic, hopefully it'll turn out just as well.

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Another film we contributed to The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is available on DVD

CLICK HERE