Here’s a clip from François Bertin’s traditionally-animated 9 minute film La vénus de Rabo (The Venus of Rabo). Here’s a cryptic synopsis provided for the project, which was produced by Les 3 Ours “Rabo’s program for the day? Just like yesterday! Wake up late, have breakfast, take a shower and then… work. Even though he is a free man, he has to go to work like everybody else!”

Scott T. Petersen, an animator with credits on films like Space Jam and Iron Giant, is hard at work on a Halloween-themed promotional short for his production company Golden Street Animation. Below is an assembly of Franky Brings 2D Back to Life that combines rough animation with animatic sequences to give us an idea of what’s in store. His world-class traditional animation skills are clearly evident:

Bill Plympton’s latest feature, Idiots and Angels, is about to start theatrical runs in both New York and LA. This Wednesday the traditionally-drawn feature opens at the IFC Center in New York, and starting on October 29th Los Angelinos can see the film at the Laemmle Sunset 5. It’s a dark comedy about a morally bankrupt man’s battle for his soul. Here’s a teaser: [NSFW - nudity and language]

Hai Puka is Lucie Mayjonade’s graduation short from her studies at the French animation school L’Ecole Georges Méliès. In this traditionally-animated short, we watch a little girl chase an imaginary goldfish, while being persued by an ominous shadow monster. It’ll make more sense when you watch….

via animatie

Here’s a top-notch, traditionally-animated ad for Animal Pharmaceuticals’ product Mini Donuts, which helps pet owners administer medication to their dogs. It was produced out of a Canadian studio coincidentally called Animation Dog, which was founded by Jason Doll. You gotta wonder if this job landed on Doll’s desk because someone typed in “animation and dog” into Google.

The 2010 Annecy International Animation Film Festival Awards were handed out months ago. The award for Best Graduation Film went to Le Phare (The Lighthouse Keeper), which we featured here back in 2009, but another student film was honored that night. Sauvage, by Paul Cabon, took home the Prix spécial du jury pour un film de fin d’études (Special Jury Award for Graduation Films). I hadn’t seen a clip of this 5-minute film on the web before, but this morning Annecy uploaded :30 from the short (a longer clip is viewable on his site). I would have guessed this was made in the 70s or 80s, judging by the art direction, but it was produced by Cabon in 2009 while studying at La Poudrière. The short follows a bald man who returns to his wild nature. [NSFW - male frontal nudity]

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American rights to Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, so the film is likely to get a theatrical release here in the States soon. In the meantime, a few new clips have magically appeared:

Garden Party