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 Anonymous posted on Tuesday, February 09, 1999 - 03:24 pm
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8436 Colonial Drive Stockton, CA 95209-2139 USA http://lfca.org
PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release - Photos Available
Media Inquiries: Judith Rubin, tel. 510/595-9664
LFCA-SPONSORED ANIMATED SHORT FILM
MORE NOMINATED FOR ACADEMY AWARD
The giant-screen version of Mark Osborne’s award-winning film has been picked up by MacGillivray Freeman Films Distribution Company and will be packaged with Everest
LOS ANGELES, February 9, 1999 -- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nomination of MORE for this year’s Best Animated Short Film. Directed by Mark Osborne and presented by Flemington Pictures, MORE is a six-minute, stop-motion animation tale of a weary, aged inventor struggling to finish the invention that he hopes will give his life meaning and value. The film tells its story through an experimental combination of claymation and cel animation.
Co-produced by Bad Clams Productions and Swell Productions, MORE was made possible by support from Flemington Pictures and from the Animation and Experimental Film Task Force of the Large Format Cinema Association (LFCA). The music track is the song “Elegia” by the electronic pop band New Order.
MORE is the first animated film to be released simultaneously in standard 35mm and giant-screen 15/70 (70mm, 15-perforation). Both versions were created from a single 65mm master. The film premiered in its giant screen version last November at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it ran for four days with Everest. MacGillivray Freeman Films, producer of Everest, announced today that it will begin distributing MORE packaged with Everest, through its distribution arm, MacGillivray Freeman Films Distribution Company.
“I’m overwhelmed by the Academy nomination and honored that MacGillivray Freeman has taken on my film,” says Osborne. “I guess we broke a barrier for animation - the film just seems to draw people in and engage them emotionally. I’ve made people care about lumps of clay!”
“MORE is a superb achievement and the first 15/70 animated short to be distinguished by an Academy nomination, and we are very, very pleased to be associated with it,” says Bill Bennett, President of Distribution for MacGillivray Freeman Film Distribution Company. “It’s a new thing to exhibit shorts in large format theaters, but we believe audiences want them. The response to MORE’s initial showing along with Everest was very good.”
Creating MORE in 15/70 giant-screen format was made possible through sponsorship from LFCA and a number of LFCA member companies. Production services and equipment were donated by Cal Arts, CFI, Dream Quest Images, Eastman Kodak, Graphic Films, Image G, IMAGICA USA INC., Iwerks Entertainment, RPG Productions, Swell Productions and LFCA. The film will be showcased at the annual LFCA Conference and Large Format Film Festival, an industry gathering May 18-22 in Los Angeles.
“LFCA is proud to have been a part of this important milestone in the development of a new cinematic genre,” remarks LFCA President Christopher Reyna. “Mark Osborne is a distinguished and versatile artist in his field, backed by a first-rate production team. We commend the Academy’s recognition of this accomplishment, and we are delighted that MacGillivray Freeman will make it possible for many people to experience MORE on the giant screen.”
LFCA-Sponsored MORE Nominated for Academy Award...
In January, MORE became the first animated film ever to win the prestigious Jury Award for Special Recognition for Short Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival, held in January in Park City, Utah. The version screened and judged at Sundance was the 35mm version, which will continue to make the rounds at film festivals, while MacGillivray Freeman circulates the 70mm version to large format theaters in science centers, entertainment centers and movieplexes.
Stop-motion director and animator Mark Osborne graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in June 1992 and has already produced an impressive resume of projects, winning numerous artistic and professional awards. His strata-cut, clay-animated E! Swirl I.D. won a gold Broadcast Design Association award in 1994. His co-direction of a fully animated music video for Weird Al Yankovic spoofing Jurassic Park earned him a Grammy nomination in 1995 for best music video. Osborne also won a Los Angeles area Emmy in 1997 for an animated ABC show open for the late night movie show Insomniac Theater. He is currently teaching stop-motion animation film classes at Cal Arts.
Founded in September 1996, the Large Format Cinema Association is a not-for-profit worldwide association open to all those working in the international large format industry, including filmmakers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, theaters and their support industry, as well as film students, film studios and theme parks. The mission of LFCA is to promote global public awareness of large-screen entertainment formats, to provide a forum for sharing information and to foster the growth of the industry. Information on joining the organization can be obtained at the LFCA website, http://lfca.org or by telephoning the LFCA office in Stockton, California at 209/477-2726.
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Media inquiries: Judith Rubin, tel. 510/595-9664; email shmata@compuserve.com |
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