The New York Film Critics Circle, which I can only presume is a circle of film critics from New York, has announced their picks for the best films of the year. 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. The winners of their best animated feature category over the last four years have been Persepolis, WALL-E, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Illusionist. Compare that to the Academy, whose membership has handed the Oscar to Pixar for the past four years in a row.

Meanwhile, the mysterious National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, which is comprised of “a select group of knowledgeable film enthusiasts, filmmakers, academics, and student,” also announced the winners of their film awards, and they chose ILM’s Rango as their best animated feature. It’s notable 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.

RISD grad and now NYC-based animator/illustrator Andrew Kaiko has completed his first self-funded short, Orbis Park. Says Kaiko:

“Orbis Park is my first short as a professional animator since my college senior thesis five years ago. This is an attempt to display the type of animation I always wanted to do and the inspirations that I am affected by every day. It is also the first short where I wanted to gather a more solid crew – basically all of it brought in online.”

This appealing, exquisitely colored 1952 magazine illustration of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by children’s book illustrator Gyo Fujikawa will be auctioned next week at the Illustration House. Fujikawa worked briefly at the Disney animation studio before she moved to New York to pursue a career in advertising and illustration. The auction estimate for the painting is $5,000 to $7,000.

Cartoon Brew at Animation Breakdown, currently going on this week at The Cinefamily, is incredibly proud to present a special advance screening of Pixar’s newest Oscar ’short-listed’ short film La Luna, a full six months before it hits the mainstream movie audiences! After the screening there will be a Q&A and a “Making of La Luna” presentation by its director, Enrico Casarosa. Casarosa will discuss the journey that led him to create the short and illustrate the roots, influences, and inspirations that led him to tell this very personal story. Join us at 2pm on Saturday (12/3) – Advance tickets available now.

Tweety made the cut! So did Pixar, William Joyce, Wendy Tilby and the NFB. Here’s the official short-list of the ten qualified animated shorts that will be whittled down to five final nominees for this year’s Academy Award. Congratulations – and best of luck – to all!

A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard (Studio AKA)
Read Cartoon Brew’s post about A Morning Stroll.

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Dimanche / Sunday by Patrick Doyon (NFB)

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I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat by Matt O’Callaghan (Warner Bros.)

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La Luna by Enrico Casarosa (Pixar)
Read Cartoon Brew’s coverage of La Luna.

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Luminaris by Juan Pablo Zaramella (JPZaramella Studios)
Read Cartoon Brew’s coverage of Juan Pablo Zaramella.

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Paths of Hate by Damien Nenow (Platige Image) Poland
Read Cartoon Brew’s post about Paths of Hate.

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Specky Four-Eyes by Jean Claude Rozec (Vivement Lundi)

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The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg (Moonbot Studios)
Read Cartoon Brew’s post about The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

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The Magic Piano by Martin Clapp (BreakThru Films) Poland

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Wild Life by Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby (NFB)
Read Cartoon Brew’s post about Wild Life.

The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting in screenings held in New York and Los Angeles. Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in January 2012.

We don’t usually post trailers for live action films but have, when time to time, one is closely related to our field (Brad Bird’s Mission Impossible, Cameron’s Avatar and Disney’s The Muppets come to mind). Pixar’s Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) has been working on a live action adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Princess of Mars for the past few years, and the trailer has just been unveiled. There’s plenty of CG character animation involved (did Pixar animators do it?) and lots of action. The movie will be released in March – and I’m crossing my fingers for its success.

Heads up fans of NBC’s Community. Tonight’s episode has a Retro Anime sequence created by our friends at Titmouse. The sequence has characters from Community animated in the style of 80’s anime (Robotech/Voltron/Bubblegum Crisis style designs). Enjoy these exclusive advance images below (UPDATE: full sequence is embeded above). The animation is directed by Grif Kimmins, animated by Parker Simmons, and Produced by Ben Kalina. Additional credits include: BG Layout & Paint: Lauren Airress & Khang Li, Composite by Mike Newton. Community airs at 8pm on NBC.

I’m selling the original “Old Pro” model sheet artwork on eBay right now. It’s a prime example of Cartoon Modern styling by one of the most prolific studios of the decade Playhouse Pictures. The character, which was created for Falstaff Beer, was among the most ubiquitous characters of the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in literally dozens of commercials (many of them directed by Bill Melendez). This is the final model of the character—it’s a large piece that contains 13 delightfully rendered drawings of the character pasted onto posterboard. (There’s a detailed description of the piece and its physical flaws on the auction listing.) I’ve always enjoyed the piece but haven’t had the space to give it the proper framed treatment. It’s time to set it free from my storage and get it into the hands of somebody who can really enjoy it. The auction on eBay ends on December 5th.