Weekly Briefing: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires ‘Ruben Brandt, Collector’

Welcome to our new weekly briefing of essential animation news from around the globe. The briefing will be delivered to your inbox by 10 a.m. Pacific on Monday mornings for those who have signed up.

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Here’s today’s briefing:

• It’s usually a good sign when Sony Pictures Classics acquires an animated feature. Their latest pickup is the Hungarian action-crime thriller Ruben Brandt, Collector. Sony plans to release the film theatrically in 2019, with an end of year qualifying run. Read our interview with writer-director Milorad Krstić, published last month when the film world premiered at the Locarno film festival in Switzerland.
• The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the winners of the 45th Student Academy Awards. Winning animation films come from USC, Calarts, Ringling, and MOPA. All of these Student Academy Award-winning films are now eligible to compete for the 2018 Oscars.
• Over 80 projects were presented last week at Cartoon Forum, the essential European co-production platform for animated television and new media projects. We profiled In Your Face, a unique series of micro-shorts that take a humorous view of an ugly topic: street harassment.
• Cartoon Network Latin America will launch the original series Toontorial on its Youtube channel next month. The mixed-media show is created and produced entirely in Mexico.
• Presented by Netflix: The latest animated feature worth catching isn’t screening in a movie theater — it’s on the streaming service, Netflix. The action-packed sci-fi film Next Gen premiered on Netflix September 7. Cartoon Brew spoke with the directors about how they crafted the futuristic world of the film.

Upcoming Events

• In October, the 10th edition of 3D Wire will take place in Segovia, Spain. There’s no better place to get an overview of what’s currently happening in Spanish and Portuguese animation and video games.
• In November, Pictoplasma’s two-day conference in New York City will have a strong focus on animation designers.

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