Will Vinton Studios, the Portland, Ore.-headquartered dimensional character animation company, has promoted Zilpha Yost to executive producer, a new position in the advertising division which is headed by president David Altschul.
Yost has been a senior producer at Will Vinton Studios since ’92, taking a leave of absence in ’95 to run the stop-motion studio in Los Angeles for Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks, where the characters and significant elements of production design were developed. When Warner Bros. chose to complete the animation in CGI, Yost returned to Portland, accompanied by some of the principal creative artists on that production.
Yost has acted as supervising producer on the M&M’s campaign during much of its five-year history. In that time, Will Vinton Studios has produced over 50 M&M’s commercials with BBDO New York, as well as with BBDO offices in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
“Memoir of a Snail” Takes Top Prize At London Film Festival
The Official Competition jury said: “Our jury was incredibly moved by Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, which is a singular achievement in filmmaking. Emotionally resonant and constantly surprising, Memoir tackles pertinent issues such as bullying, loneliness and grief head-on, creating a crucial and universal dialogue in a way that only animation can. The jury is delighted to recognize an animated film alongside its live-action peers.”
Rounding out the winners of this year’s films screening In Competition are:
- Winner of the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition – On Falling (Dir. Laura Carreira)
- Winner of the Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition – Mother Vera (Dirs. Cécile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson)
- Winner of the Short Film Award in the Short Film Competition – Vibrations from Gaza (Dir. Rehab Nazzal)