Don Hertzfeldt writes us:

I thought the cartoon brewery might like a heads-up about the big Bitter Films dvd due for release this summer. We have been working on it for, well, too long now but it’s finally upon us and is looking like it will not disappoint. The whole package is sort of a thank-you gift with a bow on top to all our fans and friends over the last ten years, so we’re doing our best to reach all the assorted drifty riff-raff out there who enjoy the cartoons.

The Bitter Films online shop is offering early birds a four dollar discount and random mystery gifts, including original artwork from one of his films or “a happy little doodle from Don on a post-it note.” Don tells us the dvd won’t be available in regular stores for months. All the news is at www.bitterfilms.com. I’ve already ordered.

FAIRY BERRY was one of the student films in competition at Annecy. It’s a CG work by Thomas Guittoneau, Yacine Sefsaf, Virginie Giroux and Ho Hung Yu produced at EESA (Ecole Européenne Supérieure d’Animation). Nothing groundbreaking animation-wise or story-wise - the plot is a scene right out of SLEEPING BEAUTY - but it’s nice to see students not getting caught up in photorealism and pushing CG in a more stylized direciton.

With the World Cup in full swing now, it’s a perfect time to share Grant Orchard’s two-minute masterpiece PARK FOOT BALL (2005), which can be seen on the studio AKA website. The film was created entirely in After Effects, and it’s one of the most brilliant bits of animation I’ve seen in a while. All the characters in the film - people, birds and a dog - are reduced to abstract blocks of color, yet their actions are not only clear, they’re also funny. The sound design by Nic Gill is equally perfect and inspired. I’d previously written about another of Orchard’s films, WELCOME TO GLARINGLY, here.

The new trailer for Warner Bros.’s upcoming ANT BULLY is posted HERE. It looks like a pretty good CG film…especially if it was currently 1994 and nobody had ever released a computer animated feature. The studio responsible for the animation, DNA Productions, has already laid off most of the ANT BULLY crew, and if the film does as well as I think it will, it’s unlikely they’ll have to worry about restaffing anytime soon.

Animation artist Cholki Han was inspired by the Annecy pics I posted yesterday and did some amusing caricatures of folks in the photos (see below). He has some other nice work on his blog as well.

Last year Tribune Media launched a new syndicated Pink Panther comic strip, by Bill and Eric Teitelbaum (Bottom Liners), and they are still trying to build awareness of it. It’s certainly not running in L.A. So here’s a link to the Tribune Media web page, with several downloadable strips. Since I wrote a book about the Pink Panther, I feel a certain obligation to keep you informed on new Panther developments.

Self-professed “animator, actor, comics artist, archivist, director, collector, writer, historian, painter, packrat, recluse, hermit, crank, and all-around weirdo” Clay Croker (best known for his vocals as Zorak and Moltar on Space Ghost Coast To Coast) now has a blog. He is slowly reprinting the contents of the booklet John Kricfalusi wrote for the out-of-print FLINTSTONES laser disc set. John K.’s interview with Ed Benedict is here and John discusses the individual animators here.

I’m back. Thanks to Jerry for holding down the fort and keeping the Brew updated while I was having an awesome time in Marseille and Annecy.

I’m pretty sure that I saw less films at this year’s Annecy animation festival than at any other festival I’ve ever attended before. And yet, I ended up learning more than ever about what’s happening throughout the animation community. Living in the insular and industry-driven Los Angeles animation world, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there’s a huge world of cartoons beyond Burbank. Annecy is a wonderful place to connect with this broader animation world, and to discover artists and films from all over. No doubt I’ll be sharing plenty of Annecy discoveries here on Cartoon Brew over the coming months.

While I recover from an exhilarating and inspiring week filled with leisurely cafe lunches, late-night parties, tasty picnics and boat races, I thought it’d be a nice idea to share some photos from the festivities because, after all, an animation festival is only as good as the people attending it. The photos below represent only a fraction of the people I spent time with at Annecy, but it should offer a taste of the incredible gathering of talent at the festival. (Note: People in the photos are identified left to right.)

Main hall at the Bonlieu, the festival’s primary screening location

My camera can barely contain all the talent in this photo: Bob Camp (currently directing ROBOTBOY in Paris), Gwynn Adik (producer, Duck Studios), Bill Plympton, Pat Smith and Dave Wasson

British invasion: Curtis Jobling (creator of the forthcoming series FRANKENSTEIN’S CAT) and illustrator/character designer JAKe

New Yorkers Pat Smith, Lisa LaBracio and Aaron Hughes, and German animator Frederik Ring

Composer Nik Phelps (TWISTED TALES OF FELIX THE CAT) and COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG creator John Dilworth

Bill Plympton, Marv Newland, and Jesper Fleng (director and co-founder of Happy Flyfish Studio in Denmark)

John Dilworth and filmmaker Biljana Labovic

Former Disney Feature animator and TELL-TALE HEART director Raul Garcia, TELL-TALE producer Rocio Ayuso, and Joanna Quinn, whose latest film, DREAMS AND DESIRES - FAMILY TIES, won the Jury’s Special Award and the Audience Award at Annecy.

I was surprised by how much interesting and quality animation is currently being produced in Spain. Here’s a group shot of some Spanish animation folk: Guillermo Garcia (co-creator of POCOYO, which won best TV series at Annecy), Juan Pablo Etcheverry (director of one of my favorite shorts in competition, MINOTAUROMAQUIA, PABLO IN THE LABYRINTH), stop motion director Sam Orti and Raul Garcia.

Cartoon Network development manager Alex Manugian and animator Will Krause came up with an unconventional (and very fun) game of pasta strainer frisbee.