ASIFA-Hollywood has unveiled its selection of Juried Awards recipients for the 48th Annual Annie Awards™. The Juried Awards honor career achievement and exceptional contributions to animation.
The Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation are being presented to three recipients: Willie Ito, animation designer whose career began at Warner Bros., then for 20 years at Hanna Barbera and eventually at Disney TV; posthumously to Sue Nichols, one of the few women who had a voice in the development of classics like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan and Brave; and Bruce Smith, influential character animator, director, and producer of feature films (Bebe’s Kids), shorts (Hair Love) and television series (the groundbreaking The Proud Family).
The June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation will be awarded to animator and art director Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi for his work initiating the Totoro Forest Project as well as Sketchtravel, a sketchbook passed from one artist to another through 12 countries over more than four years, benefiting charities that the participating artists determine.
The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement that has made a significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to Epic Games for its Unreal Engine, the world’s most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool that continues to make important technological inroads into cinematic storytelling, including previsualization and fully rendered animation pipelines;
The Special Achievement Award recognizing the unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation will be presented to Howard, the documentary about lyricist and storyteller, the late Howard Ashman, who, with music by Alan Menkin, penned lyrics for Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.
Created in 1972 by veteran voice talent June Foray, and in whose name the philanthropic June Foray Award was established, the Annie Awards™ have grown in scope and stature for the past four decades. ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the art of Animation and celebrating the people who create it.
Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, Animation Educators Forum, animated film preservation, special events, scholarships and screenings.
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More