Short Film Spotlight: My Parent, Neal

My Parent, Neal is a short documentary about director Hannah Saidiner and her parent as they discuss her parent’s gender transition.

Saidiner describes her creative process as such:

“The film was made using a combination of rotoscoped and hand-drawn animation. Frames were first drawn digitally in TVPaint, then printed out. Each frame was colored by hand with colored pencil and watercolors, at 1/4 of their original scale in size. This scale change then heightened the tangibility and texture of the coloring materials when scanned and enlarged to fit the screen.”

Mixed Media Spotlight: Seth’s Dominion

Synopsis: Seth’s Dominion, part animation and part live action, is a documentary about Canadian cartoonist Seth, best known for his Palookaville comic books.

Seth produces semi-autobiographical comics, award-winning commercial work, as well as what he calls his “little hobbies.”

Director Luc Chamberland mixes insightful biography with vivid animation in an artful fusion of filmmaking techniques that perfectly captures Seth’s creative universe.

‘Fright Krewe’ Season 2 Trailer: Spooky Series Returns for More Supernatural Adventures

The second season of Fright Krewe premieres March 29, 2024 on Hulu and Peacock.

Synopsis: It all started during detention in a graveyard, when Soleil Le Claire, a girl who lives for horror, accidentally broke a spell on the Tree of Life and unleashed an ancient evil into this world. The spirit of Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans, put her and four other kids in charge of saving the city from Belial, an ancient demon who feeds on fear.

Luckily they’re not alone as each kid gets a special gift from voodoo spirits called Loa. Super strength is given to Missy, Maybe gets the ability to disappear into the realm of the dead, Pat can understand any language or creature, Stanley gets knowledge about anything he touches, and Soleil can summon fire.

The ward they live in, the 13th and a Third, is known for fright tourism and Soleil’s always loved all the scary legends about her creepy little ward. So she’s beyond excited to find out the town’s biggest secret that vampires, rougarous, ghosts, monsters and demons are in fact very real.

The creatures have been secretly living amongst the humans for decades… but tensions between the rougarous and vampires have been high lately, and when Missy has to turn into a rougarou to survive a life-threatening injury, the kids can’t help but get mixed up in all of it.

Our Krewe will have to hone their powers, figure out what Belial’s up to, keep the peace between vampires and the rougarous, and figure out how to be a team because there’s no way they’d all hang out otherwise. But going up against local legends like the Feu Follet, swamp monsters, and demon hounds from the underworld is kind of a weird bonding experience, and our Krewe will realize there’s more to each other than they thought.

‘Suicide Squad ISEKAI’ Official Trailer: Japanese Anime Stars Harley Quinn, Peacemaker and Joker

Release date: TBD 2024.

Synopsis: In the crime-ridden Gotham city, Amanda Waller, the head of A.R.G.U.S., has assembled a group of notorious criminals for a mission: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker, Clayface and King Shark. These DC Super-Villains are sent into an otherworldly realm that’s connected to this world through a gate. It’s a world of swords and magic where orcs rampage and dragons rule the skies — an “ISEKAI!”

Harley and others go on a rampage after arriving in ISEKAI but are captured by the Kingdom’s soldiers and sent to prison. They only have 72 hours before the bomb on their neck explodes. The deadline is fast approaching. After negotiations with Queen Aldora, the condition for liberation was the conquest of the hostile Imperial army. They have no choice but to throw themselves head-first into the front line of battle.

They run; they die. They lose; they die. With their lives on the line, can Harley Quinn and The Suicide Squad survive in ISEKAI? Brace yourselves for the pulse-pounding saga of the elite task force known as the “Suicide Squad” as they embark on a jaw-dropping adventure! Let the party begin!

Directed by Eri Osada. Written by Tappei Nagatsuki and Eiji Umehara. Animated by WIT Studio.

‘WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko’ Wins Best Animated Short Film at 96th Academy Awards

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko is an anti-war story by Sean Lennon and Dave Mullins that features John & Yoko’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over).

Synopsis: WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko is an 11-minute animated film set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, in which two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a game of chess.

A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers’ chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climatic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.

Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ Wins Best Animated Feature Film at 96th Academy Awards

Twenty-one years after winning an Oscar for Spirited Away at the 75th Academy Awards, Hayao Miyazaki and the team at Studio Ghibli are once again victorious, winning Best Animated Feature Film for The Boy and the Heron.

Toshio Suzuki, producer and Studio Ghibli co-founder released the following statement:

“As producer [along with Hayao Miyazaki] of The Boy and the Heron, I am extremely honored to receive the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Academy. I would also like to give my thanks to those who were involved in the production of this film, and to all those who worked to distribute the film worldwide.

This film began with director Hayao Miyazaki retracting his retirement statement. Following that, we spent seven years in the production of this work. It has been ten years since Hayao Miyazaki’s previous film, The Wind Rises, during which time there have been dramatic changes in the environment surrounding films. This film was truly difficult to bring to completion. I am very appreciative that the work that was created after overcoming these difficulties has been seen by so many people around the world, and that it has received this recognition.

Both Hayao Miyazaki and have aged a considerable amount. I am grateful to receive such an honor at my age, and taking this as a message to continue our work, will devote myself to work harder in the future. Thank you very much.”

Short Film Spotlight: MacPherson

Directed by Martine Chartrand. Paint-on-glass animation shot with a 35mm camera.

Synopsis: MacPherson recounts the friendship between singer-songwriter Félix Leclerc and Frank Randolph Macpherson, a Jamaican chemical engineer and university graduate who worked for a pulp and paper company.

Macpherson inspired Leclerc, who wrote a song about the log drives and entitled it MacPherson.

‘Shrek 2’ Celebrates 20th Anniversary with U.S. Theatrical Re-Release

The animated classic Shrek 2 will return to U.S. theaters nationwide on April 12, 2024 in celebration of the film’s 20th anniversary.

Tickets for the re-release of Shrek 2 are available for purchase on Fandango and through theater ticketing sites nationwide.

Shrek 2 is directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon.

The film’s cast includes Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett and Jennifer Saunders.

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Marvel’s ‘X-Men ’97’ Retro Trailer: Sequel Series Premieres March 20 on Disney+

X-Men ’97 premieres March 20, 2024 on Disney+. The first season will consist of 10 episodes.

Beau DeMayo serves as head writer, while Jake Castorena, Chase Conley and Emi Yonemura serve as directors.

The voice cast includes:

Ray Chase as Cyclops
Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey
Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm
Cal Dodd as Wolverine
JP Karliak as Morph
Lenore Zann as Rogue
George Buza as Beast
AJ LoCascio as Gambit
Holly Chou as Jubilee
Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bishop
Matthew Waterson as Magneto
Adrian Hough as Nightcrawler

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