Category: Short Films

"We're almost there." I don't remember which nominee said it, but it was very fitting, given that Walt Disney Animation Studios was the last stop yesterday on the L.A. leg. Of course, "Almost There," from The Princess and the Frog, summarizes the hopes and dreams of all the nominees. So, it was also very fitting that Princess and the Frog directors Ron Clements and John Musker were on hand to view the shorts and meet with the nominees.

The AWN Oscar Showcase tour stops at agency CAA where the filmmakers talk animation with agents and "Napoleon Dynamite" star and fellow animator Jon Heder.

On the first day of the L.A. leg, the tour swung by agency ICM.

Pixar is living through a new golden age. The string of hit films, the triumph of Up, the promise of the studio’s ambitious new projects, all fill the space with a glow. I’ve visited Pixar before, and each time I’m aware that someday I’ll be telling people not yet born that, yes, I visited Pixar.

SF’s Dolby Laboratories in Potrero Hill hosts tonights screening of the Oscar-nominated shorts for SF’s ASIFA chapter. As if I’d had any doubts that I was among serious animation fans, chapter president Karl Cohen’s next announcement, that the Balboa Theater will be screening some Gumby shorts in honor of the recently-deceased Art Clokey earns an audible gasp from the audience. This group loves animation, and lives animation.