Author Archives: Jerry Beck

Gene Deitch Tribute in San Francisco

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Gene Deitch will be the Guest of Honor at the 3rd annual San Francisco International Animation Festival (SFIAF), a four-day event from November 13th through 16th at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema.

Deitch will discuss his career in animation and show highlights of his work on Saturday morning Nov. 15th at 10:30am. Another highlight of the festival is the opening night event, Sita Sings The Blues Thursday, November 13 at 6:45 pm, with Nina Paley in person.

On Friday and Saturday, the festival will screen The Best of Annecy 2008 and several other retrospectives including a screening and discussion with Bay Area animation collective Encyclopedia Pictura. Bill Plympton will be there in person with his latest feature, Idiots and Angels and there will be an advance screening of Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir.

Go! Get the ticket information online or call (925) 866-9559.

$9.99

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9.99

$9.99 is a new clay animated feature-length movie opening in Los Angeles for an Oscar qualifying one week engagement on December 12th. It’s based on a story by Etgar Keret (Wristcutters: A Love Story), was directed by New York-based film-maker Tatia Rosenthal (Blues Clues), and produced in Australia with voice overs from Anthony La Paglia and Geoffrey Rush.

Looks intriguing. I don’t know much about it, there is no trailer online, but I’ve been told Asifa-Hollywood members will be getting an Annie screening next month.

Don Hahn book event

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In conjunction with the release of the new book, The Alchemy of Animation, Woodbury University and ASIFA-Hollywood will hold a book signing and panel discussion hosted by author/producer Don Hahn. The panel will include several of the best animators working today, including James Baxter (Beauty and the Beast, Enchanted), Mike Belzer (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Bolt) and Nik Ranieri (Hercules, The Princess and the Frog). They plan to share their insights into process of making animated films across a variety of mediums – traditional, computer and stop-motion animation.

Monday, October 20, 2008, 7:00 p.m
Fletcher Jones Foundation Auditorium
Woodbury University
7500 Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91510

Proceeds from the sale of books at this event to benefit the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. To RSVP please email alchemy@asifa-hollywood.org. The deadline to RSVP is October 17, 2008.

Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6

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Two weeks to go – Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6 will go on sale – and I’ll be plugging it several times in the next ten days. Sixty newly restored cartoons (like Page Miss Glory above and Bear Feat below) and dozens of extras. I admit I’m biased as I had something to do with shaping contents of this series, but this is really one of the best of the group.

Two highlights, as far as I’m concerned: #1 the original titles restored to the Henery Hawk/Sylvester/Foghorn Leghorn classic Crowing Pains (picture below left – click thumbnails to enlarge) which features additional dialogue, animation and music unseen and unheard in 60 years! #2 Martha Sigall’s audio commentary on the Leon Schlesinger Christmas Blooper reels. Martha talks about being at the studio in the 1930s, while identifying every staff member appearing on screen – including herself!

And that’s NOT all, folks… stay tooned for more details.

Azur and Asmar

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Michel Ocelot’s animated feature Azur and Asmar will open October 17th for a one-week run at the IFC Center in New York City. This film, from the director of Kirikou and the Sorceress, was picked up by The Weinstein Company last year and never got a wide theatrical release. GKIDS is presenting the US Premiere engagement of of the film as part of it’s ongoing New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Upcoming festival features include Sita Sings The Blues (with Nina Paley in person) playing Nov. 8th and 9th at the IFC Center, and Lotte from Gagetville (Estonia) January 24th at the Symphony Space. For ticket information click here.

Jerry on Stu’s Show

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Once again, tomorrow Wednesday October 8th, I will be the featured guest on Stu’s Show on Shokus Internet Radio. This will be my eighth visit to discuss all things animation with Stu and his listeners, live beginning at 4:00 p.m. PDT (7:00 p.m. EDT). Topics this time will include the upcoming Popeye Volume 3 DVD box set from Warner, the new Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6 and our plans for Cartoon Brew TV. As always, listeners will be encouraged to call in with their questions and comments on the station’s toll-free telephone number. Click here for more details. Tune In, Turn On and… Call Us!

Animation Art Auctions

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Is it me, or are animation art auctions becoming less and less frequent?

One thing is for sure, vintage production cels are getting scarcer and scarcer, and their values (in other words: prices) are getting higher and higher. I can’t afford to collect these pieces myself but I love getting the catalogs to see what still survives.

I sure hope some of the material (cels, backgrounds, pencil animation, model sheets, etc.) listed in the latest S/R Laboratories Auction catalog (Fall 2008) ends up in the right hands. Several jaw dropping items posted there include this original title card (above) from the black & white Silly Symphonies (left) and the main titles from the super-obscure 3-D Jamboree (which was publicly screened in 2006 at the 3-D Festival in Hollywood). For more information on this auction, to get a copy of their catalog, or to view it online, click here.

Sita Sings The Blues

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Attention Angelenos! Nina Paley’s incredibly wonderful full length feature film Sita Sings The Blues will have its Los Angeles Premiere in glorious 35mm at the RedCat Theatre (within the Walt Disney Concert Hall downtown) on Monday night October 13th at 8:30pm. For details and tickets click here.

I saw the film, twice, in Ottawa and I’m absolutely wild about it. And here’s why: It’s a perfectly realized, solid piece of work. Visually beautiful, extremely entertaining, it has so much going for it I really can’t think of anything I’d change about it.

The film tells the story of Nina’s ill-fated long distance relationship (and eventual break-up) to a boyfriend who was transfered to India on business. This part of the film is animated and drawn in Nina’s comic-strip, bigfoot style (above). She intercuts this story with the Indian legend of Ramayana – this told by three off-screen Indian contemporaries who hilariously try to remember all the little details. This part is animated in a paper cut-out collage style, using all manner of Hindu commercial imagery and iconography — not unlike Ward Kimball’s pop-art educationals (Music, Space, Birds, etc.). Within the Ramayana sections, Paley re-imagines certain plot points as elaborate musical-fantasy sequences, animated with Max-Fleischer-meets-UPA designs (see image below) set to a soundtrack of vintage 1929-era Annette Hanshaw recordings. Imagine Betty Boop in a Bollywood musical and you are close the mood Paley achieves.

And it all works. It works as a full length feature – It’s not a short stretched to fill over an hour. The film has a simple but strong personal story narrative, which many can relate to. It’s so clearly an independent film, not the tired product of a factory made, committee driven studio. Did I mention this film was made by one person, over a five year period, on her home computer? That fact alone makes Nina’s achievement here even more incredible – and refreshing.

Above it all, it’s fun. The film seems so effortlessly enjoyable in that same way all classic animation feels. I urge you to see the film when you can (in L.A. that means Oct. 13th at RedCat) and support Nina’s efforts to recoup her production expenses and find distribution. Sita Sings The Blues is an accomplishment to be celebrated by all who love animation.


“That’s all.”

Splatter

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Artist James Cauty has a new art show opening in London entitled Splatter. The exhibition, produced by Cauty and his 15 year old son, opens next week at the Aquarium L-13 Gallery. According to the press release:

The Cautys’ new project employs hijacked popular cartoon characters and liberated animations, to violent, shocking and entertaining ends, all of which will be part of their own specialist cartoon art gift shop. The Cauty animated collection will be degraded, overlaid & looped, fractured, and repeated on multiple LCD screens, presenting the viewer with unrelenting acts of bloody, cartoon violence, which, in cartoon law, ultimately cannot cause fatal injury.

This show by jCauty&Son warrants laugher, discomfort and aims to provoke thought on violence and our media saturated culture. THE AQUARIUM L-13 will produce a vast array of merchandise to support and fund this project, including original draft collages and drawings, life size models, limited edition animation cells and prints, badges, balloons and fake blood. Everything will be for sale and 25% of all profits will be donated to Amnesty International.

The opening reception is next Thursday October 9th and the show will run for a month. More more information and images from Splatter click here.

(Thanks, Joe Dante)

Sid Sirloin

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Animator Mark Christiansen has a serious thing for vintage Hanna Barbera.

I found a copy of his self-published children’s book, Sid Sirloin and his Friends, at House of Secrets this afternoon. It isn’t just a loving homage to early 60s HB, it’s so perfectly realized its practically from an alternate Saturday morning universe. The 32 page full color soft cover book was “printed in the U.S.A. at the Warner Bros. Copy Center” (so it says in the small print in the front of the book). I found it highly enjoyable. I’d love to tell you where you can buy it (other than at House of Secrets) or send you to Mark’s website — unfortunately the URL listed on the back cover doesn’t go anywhere.
UPDATE: Mark’s blog is now up and features a list of stores selling the book – or how you can order it directly from him.