The 7th annual Bleak Midwinter Film Fest is coming up on February 22nd. The kids' show took place on January 18, hosted again by Professor Nik Thierry. Nik is an animation polymath, and he showed an incredibly diverse and interesting range of films. The kids (and everyone else) had an excellent time of it.
The adult show is next, complete with Bleak Club party afterward. If you're in a 100km radius, you ought to come! It's a brilliant way to shake off those late winter blues.
At the end of June we were putting the finishing touches on the second of two spots for Suntory Water of Japan when we were evacuated due to the rising waters of the Bow River here in Calgary. (Yes, it was Suntory whiskey Bill Murray advertised in "Lost in Translation).
In November we'll start work on three more Suntory ads which will keep us pretty busy right through the winter.
Tomorrow the Alberta Ballet opens the remount of their original production of Mozart's Requiem. Choreographed by Jean Grand-Maitre, over 100 singers share the stage with the entire Alberta Ballet Dance Company - and our projections. The ballet runs the gamut of human experience - birth, love, aging, death, war, peace, celebration, grief...it's BIG. We were proud to have worked on this monumental project in 2008, and we're so happy to see it produced again. It plays March 21 to 23 in Calgary, and April 5 and 6 in Edmonton.
This weekend the Alberta Biennial opens in Edmonton, and we're thrilled that Wild Life is going to be a part of it. Normally the film is seen in the context of short film festivals, so this is an exciting change of venue. More than anything we're looking forward to seeing what Alberta artists have been up to this last year. AND we get to ramble around that amazing building...
Every year we host the Bleak Midwinter Film Festival in our neighbourhood of Inglewood, Calgary. It might be a stretch to call it a festival as it's more like an informal gathering of a hundred plus people at the Lantern Church - but that's just fine because it's always a blast. We watch fabulous short films, and then have excellent conversations about them during the post-show hootenanny in the church basement.
This year we're trying something different - a variety show featuring films plus live performances by some of our talented local pals. There will also be an animation program for kids, curated by dedicated animation fiend, Nik Thierry. If you're in the area on January 19 and/or February 23, please come!
All proceeds go to charity.
The animation festival in Ottawa was a blast (as usual) - we caught up with old pals and even saw a number of good films! The Television Animation Conference was a fun and intriguing new world for us. We pitched Space Noodles to assorted broadcasters and production companies and received some truly enthusiastic responses. We're excited about moving forward - we just have to figure out the next step....
We've cooked up an idea for a TV series for kids called Space Noodles. It's about a cat named Saul and a dog named Pepper who noodle around space in a rocket named Stella.
We're off to The Ottawa International Festival of Animation to show it around!
