This week, Irish animation has seen award wins and production/distribution developments, while Irish animators have allowed a 1980s favourite cartoon to make a comeback.
‘Coda’ Wins at Edinburgh Short Film Festival
‘Coda’, an animated short directed by Alan Holly and voiced by Brian Gleeson (‘Love/Hate’) and Orla Fitzgerald (‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’), has won the prize for Most Creative Short Film at the Edinburgh Short Film Festival. The short, which was funded by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the Arts Council via the IFB’s Frameworks scheme, is about a man who meets death, who shows him many things.
‘Coda’ previously won Best Animated Short Film at SXSW in Texas. It will next screen at Anima Mundi in Brazil, Seoul Cartoon & Animation in South Korea and Odense in Denmark among other film festivals. In July, the film will screen in Dublin at the Irish Film Institute alongside documentary ‘Finding Vivian Maier’.
Another award-winning animated short this week is ‘The Missing Scarf’. Eoin Duffy’s animation was awarded the Grand Prix at the 2014 Toronto Animation Arts Festival International, and also won the Audience Choice award. The film has won awards both nationally and internationally, and was shortlisted and commended for the Oscars.
‘Inis Spraoi’ Wraps Production
Production has recently wrapped on ‘Inis Spraoi’, which is a co-production between Magpie 6 Media and Monster Entertainment. The series consists of 26 episodes that are 11 minutes long each, and is aimed at 3-6 year old children.
It follows Séan, Róisín and their friends who hop on the yellow school boat every day and are driven by Skipper Séamus the seal to the island of Inis Spraoi, a magical place of fun and learning. Their school teacher is Mr O’Dear the deer who takes them on a daily action-packed adventure where they learn through song, imagination and teamwork.
The series has also secured its first international sale to Ukraine.
Irish Animators bring ‘Danger Mouse’ back to the small screen
It was recently announced that a new series of ‘Danger Mouse’, a 1980s favourite animated series, will return to CBBC. ‘Danger Mouse’ follows the adventures of the secret agent mouse and his sidekick hamster, Penfold. The new series will see them return to the small screen 33 years after the first series aired thanks to the Irish producers and animators at Boulder, who are partnering with FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment.
Boulder is an Irish company based in Dublin and is one of the largest animation studios in the country. Its credits include the Emmy award-winning series ‘Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends’ and BAFTA award-winning ‘The Amazing World of Gumball’, both produced for Cartoon Network, and they are currently working on ‘Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja’ for Disney.
The studio, which employs 85 animators, was founded by creative director Robert Cullen, and is run by Robert with producers Anne Tweedy and Peter Lewis. ‘Danger Mouse’ will be directed by Cullen and produced by Tweedy and Lewis. The series will be animated by Boulder and co-produced with FremantleMedia.
Rick Glanker, general manager of FremantleMedia, has said that the rebooted version will be updated for the tech-savvy and content-hungry generation of children today. He states, “In this new 21st century version, the laughs are set to be louder as the world’s smallest agent faces mightier missions, voracious villains and knee-trembling threats.”
