FIAF’s Animation First Festival Announces Program Lineup
The event celebrates the legacy and innovation of Francophone animation with U.S. and NYC feature film premieres, ‘First Look’ presentations, filmmaker talks and a Student Short Film competition; event runs January 23-28 in NYC.
Animaj Unveils Animaj AI 1.0
AI-assisted production workflow designed for kids’ animation production features text-to-3D motion, motion-to-motion retransfer and text or animatic-to-motion retrieval.
Exxact Now Offering Workstations with AMD Threadripper PRO 7000WX Processors
The new processor series offers up to 96 cores and 192 threads, with a peak boost clock of 5.3GHz overclockable, to tackle complex simulation, generative design, rendering, and AI training tasks.
Watch the Dark and Chaotic ‘NOIR’ Animated Music Video
Powerful 2D and 3D images meld with musician adiiilya’s vocals to delve into themes of jealousy, obsession, and toxic masculinity while portraying the characters’ fragmented minds and distorted perceptions of reality.
‘The Esteemed Priority’ Unpacks Unconditional Love While Honoring Animation’s Early Roots
Animator, illustrator, and teacher Al Bohl uses paper cut-out silhouette animation, pioneered a century ago by German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger, to tell the timeless – and timely - story of a stranger who helps a man laying beaten and bleeding on the side of the road.
Lionsgate Finalizes Acquisition of Hasbro’s eOne for $375 Million
The sale, first announced this past August, includes almost 6,500 titles, but notably omits popular franchises such as ‘Peppa Pig,’ ‘Transformers,’ ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ ‘Magic: The Gathering,’ ‘My Little Pony,’ ‘Power Rangers,’ ‘Play-Doh,’ ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Clue,’ which will receive ‘significant development, production and financing capabilities.’
Binocular Briefs – December 2023
The latest survey of under-the-radar animated shorts currently traveling the festival circuit or new to online viewing.
NVIDIA Studio Highlights Michael Gilmour’s ‘Winter World’ Videos
NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 now available on real-time 3D creation software D5 Render; blog showcases 3D artists’ long-form “winter worlds’ videos designed to offer viewers a sense of peace and relaxation.
Adult Swim Drops First Sneak Peek of ‘Rick and Morty: The Anime’
Network releases first video of the upcoming anime series, featuring the titular anti-heroes in their brand-new aesthetic, set to stream on Max later this year.
The NFB’s ‘Miserable Miracle’ Selected for Clermont ISFF Lab Competition
Ryo Orikasa’s animated short, inspired by Henri Michaux’s book of poetry and drawings, explores the limits of language and perception; accolades include ‘Grand Prize for Short Animation’ at OIAF 2023.
'Elf North Pole Workshop' Launches on Roblox for Film’s 20th Anniversary
Fairview Portals and Supersocial have teamed with New Line Cinema to celebrate the classic comedy and bring ‘Elf’ alive in an immersive space where users can play as Wish Taker, Toy Maker, or Gift Wrapper, contributing to the success of Santa's Workshop.
Remastered ‘When You Believe’ Drops for ‘The Prince of Egypt’ 25th Anniversary
DreamWorks shares Oscar-winning theme song updated to include 25 different languages to celebrate musical’s 1998 release, plus breakdowns of 3 key sequences as told by directors Brenda Chapman, Steven Hickner, and Simon Wells: ‘Parting the Red Sea,’ ‘Deliver Us,’ and ‘When You Believe.’
NVIDIA Announces Omniverse Enterprise Free Trial
Users can now download and deploy a 30-day trial of the native OpenUSD software platform for connecting complex 3D pipelines and simulating large-scale physically accurate virtual worlds.
Platige Image Shares ‘Exoborne’ Game Trailer
Sharkmob’s upcoming PC and console game’s 90-second action-packed trailer is full of twists and surprising shots, including a segment with mo-capped stunt professionals.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse to Enter Public Domain
Starting January 1, Disney will lose its exclusive copyright ownership of the earliest versions of the modern world’s most recognizable and revered children’s icons.
Makoto Shinkai's ‘Suzume’ Limited-Edition Blu-ray is on the Way
Crunchyroll announces March 2024 home entertainment release of Shinkai’s latest film that follows 17-year-old Suzume as she travels across Japan to close mysterious doors which, when open, usher in destruction and disaster; now available for preorder.
FMX 2024 Shares First Program News
The 4-day event kicks off in Stuttgart on April 23, 2024 with a focus on ‘Connecting Ideas’ and the return of the ‘Lighting & Rendering” track; annual Animation Production Days is now accepting projects through February 6.
Benjamin Renner ‘Draws’ on His 2D Background to Make the 3DCG ‘Migration’
For the Oscar-nominated director, the move from small, intimate films like ‘Ernest & Celestine’ to a major studio production meant learning to rely on a much bigger team and find new ways to communicate story ideas, designs, gags, and creative sensibilities; produced by Illumination CEO and founder Chris Meledandri, the film hits theaters today, December 22.
Call for Entries: Animest International Animation Film Festival
The 19th edition of the festival is accepting submissions for competition in multiple categories; the festival runs October 4-13, 2024, in Bucharest.
‘South Park: Snow Day!’ Collector’s Edition Coming this March
In the award-winning franchise’s latest game, Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny celebrate their day off from school while battling through the snow-piled streets of South Park; preorder now available.
‘Archer’: Chaos and Phrasing May Never Be This Fun Again
Art Director Justin Wagner walks through some of the production highlights – including an almost templated approach to storyboarding nude scenes – on the acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series that just concluded its 14th and final season with a special episode, ‘Archer: Into the Cold,’ now streaming on Hulu.
Academy Announces Shortlists in 10 Categories for 96th Oscars
VFX category narrowed down to 10 films; voting for nominations runs next month, January 11-16, with nomination announcements set for January 23.
Creative Career Coach: Decision Time
The end of the year is a great time to make decisions - decide to make a great life and career for yourself in 2024 and beyond.
Watch ‘Migration’ ScreenX Format Trailer
The first major animated feature releasing globally in CJ 4DPLEX’s Immersive, 270-Degree Panoramic ScreenX format gives audiences an all-new way to experience the funny, feathered family vacation like no other; in theaters December 22.
Call for Entries Animafest Zagreb 2024
Animafest Zagreb invites you to submit your film for the 34th edition of the Festival, taking place 3-8 June 2024 in Zagreb.
