Tokyo Mater is the latest episode of Cars Toons, an animated short series from the world of Cars directed by John Lasseter, Rob Gibbs and Victor Navone. It actually premiered theatrically in 2008 in front of Bolt, but now it’s coming to Disney Channel on March 12th at 8:55 p.m., ET/PT. Here’s a clip:
Passion Pictures director Dan Sumich helmed this new PSA for Action for Children, “a source for early learning, parent resources, school readiness, and professional development for the childcare workforce.”
Over at the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd, I met up with 3 of the clever people behind the Oscar-winning film Logorama yesterday – (inset: left to right) co-director Hervé de Crécy, producer Nicolas Schmerkin and co-director Francois Alaux. They all had a look in their eyes that I think only Oscar winners get, and I heard quick mentions of partying with Madonna the night before and an upcoming CNN interview – all while their cell phones endlessly rang.
Next up for Autour de Minuit founder Schmerkin is a series of CG/live-action shorts called Babioles. I’ve seen the first episode, and it’s wonderful. Here’s a teaser from the project, which is being directed by Matray:
A new clip has emerged from DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming CG feature How to Train Your Dragon. In the 1-minute sequence, we see the star of the film Hiccup, who is voiced by Jay Baruchel, attempting to tame his dragon. The film hits theaters later this month on March 26th.
The latest Salty spot, Mask, directed by David Hicks from Sons & Daughters, revealed itself this past month, and this poor guy just can’t get a break. On the bright side, his merchandising ventures are a huge success! According to the Sidekicks site, the salt and pepper shakers they were selling are all sold out. Wonder if the meals they’re marketing are having similar success.
Supinfocom graduates Solene Chan-Lam (Pollen) and Vincent Techer (Voichon) directed this CG short film about a hunter, a rabbit and deer. The film is titled Tea Party.
Elk Hair Caddis is a highly-entertaining, new graduate film created by Peter Smith, Alice Holme, Anders Brogaard and Magnus Moller, all students at The Animation Workshop in Denmark. The 4-minute CG-short is chock-full of energetic, rubbery gags and it also appears they’ve composited photographs of stop-motion sets into the piece. “Caddis,” if you’re wondering, is a type of bait used for fishing.
