Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles and CinemaWithout Borders in collaboration with The Art Institute of California — Los Angeles and by support of ELMA, will present the second ItaliANimation event on August 22, 2013 at 7 PM in Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles location.
The program includes screenings of Art Institute of California — Los Angeles students short animated films; a tribute to Italian/American character designer Marco Regina ; Screening of Italian short Animation films and presentation of the Life
Achievement Award to legendary claymation artist, director and producer, Will Vinton.
Art Institute of California — Los Angeles Students films:
Modern Myth by Lars Ingleman
Kenari by Eugene Kim
Eastwood Tots by Nathan McCoy
GDP by Christian Vasquez & Pedro Espinosa
Flutterfish by Amanda Turnage
Saga of the Sea Beast by Elizabeth McKenzie
OR Dojo by Tim Carter (stop motion)
Save to Desktop by Daniel Padilla (stop motion)
Water your Plants by Jessica Rios (stop motion)
Cooking Naked with Vino by Anthony Morris (stop motion)
Kick the Can by Maribel Orozco (with the presence of the Italian composer, Fabrizio Mancinelli)
Italian Short Animation Films presented by Ron Diamond:
Dell’ammazzare il maiale di Simone Massi, 6’23”
Nuvole, mani di Simone Massi 9’
Il pianeta perfetto di Astutillo Smeriglia, 8’
Training autogeno di Astutillo Smeriglia, 7’
Muri puliti di Davide Tromba, 8’
La danza del piccolo ragno di Giacinto Compagnone, Aurora Febo, Lucia Rotelli, Emma Vasile 5’43’’ L’albero delle spade di Nicola Ballarini, 1’
Artists Awarded 2013
Will Vinton
Academy Award winning director/producer, Will Vinton is known around the world as the pioneer of “Claymation” having coined and trademarked the word and created some of the most innovative dimensional animation in history. Will and his production teams have also created some of the best known animated characters in the world, including The California Raisins and the “CG” (“Computer Animated”) M&Ms “Red” and “Yellow”. He produced and directed the acclaimed Claymation feature film The Adventures of Mark Twain, and he produced Emmy winning television series The PJs for The WB, and Gary and Mike for UPN. Will also founded Will Vinton Studios to explore 3D animation and grew the company at its peak into one of the world’s most respected and creative companies for all types of Claymation and 3D animation.
As a Director and Producer of 3D animation, Will Vinton has won virtually every film and television award given a filmmaker. In addition to his Oscar for the short film Closed Mondays, he has received four additional Academy Award Nominations (The great cognito, The creation, Rip Van Winkle, and Return to Oz) – and eight Prime-time Emmys and for Outstanding Animated Programs (The PJs, Gary and Mike, The California Raisin Shows, Will Vinton’s Claymation Easter, The Claymation Comedy of Horrors, Meet the Raisins, Will Vintons’s Claymation Christmas Celebration, The online Adventures of Ozzie the Elf). Will has also received numerous Clios for advertising and prestigious international awards including the Cannes Golden Lion.
Currently, Will Vinton is building on this history with new projects he has developed which he intends to direct and / or produce in the next few years under his new banner, Vinton Entertainment.
MarcoRegina
Marco Regina (1978) was born in Matera. After graduating from High School for Sciences, he moved to Florence to start his educational career in Architecture. Watching a documentary on the making of Hunchback of Notre Dame on TV encouraged Marco to become an animator. He found a school in Florence which changed his life forever. There, he started as in-between artist in Studio 4 and later he moved to Turin, where he worked on his first 2D animated feature film, The Little Polar Bear. After that, Marco moved to Milan for four years, and there he worked on films such as Johan Padan, Three Wise Men, and on some commercials as well, focusing on storyboard and character design.
In 2005 Marco Regina moved to Santiago de Compostela in Spain to work on his first 3D film, Donkeyxote. After a year Marco went to Madrid to work on Planet 51 at the Ilion Animation Studios, where he worked for about four years as one of the five animation supervisors.
In 2009 Marco moved to California to work with DreamWorks Animation, and here he had the chance to meet and work with some of the best artists in the world of the animation and film industry. In these last four years Marco has worked on several major projects such as “Shrek 4,” Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and The Rise of the Guardians.
Marco is currently working on the sequel of How to train your Dragon, which he considers the biggest challenge of his professional career, and one of the best films he had ever worked on.
Presenters:
Mike Rogers:
Professor of Animation at Art Institute Of California, Los Angeles, with 12 years teaching, before that as an animator /designer with Phil Roman Entertainment, Nickelodeon, Klasky Csupo, Kurtz & Friends, the Gillette Company, and the Boston Globle. Illustrator in Boston & New York City, exhibited at the Tokyo National Museum, and in Paris, France. Mike lives in Lake Balboa with his musician composer wife Deirdre, and their outstanding dogs Whimsy & Reilly.
Terry Thoren
Terry Thoren is a 35-year entertainment industry veteran and multi-media entrepreneur. For 11 years he was the CEO of Klasky Csupo, Inc. where he oversaw The Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, As Told By Ginger, Rocket Power, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and two Rugrats spinoffs. Prior to The Rugrats he served as President of Will Vinton Entertainment. In 1985 Thoren created and launched Animation Magazine
Today Thoren is focused on producing animated multi-media to connect with children at risk. He is the CEO of WonderGroveKids.com providing educators and parents with instructional animations to help children make good choices regarding citizenship, health, nutrition, safety, fitness, and life skills.
Cinzia Angelini
Cinzia Angelini has worked as an animator in productions involving traditional as well as computer animation for more than twenty years. Her body of work includes features like “Spirit”, “Bolt” and Spider-man 2″, the production of the Universal theme park ride for “Despicable Me”, and the role of story artist on the “Minions Movie” at Illumination Entertainment. She currently enjoys working as a story artist at Dreamworks Animation, and is also directing her own independent short film, “Mila”, due out in 2015.
Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles and Cinema Without Borders are honored to have winners of 2011 and 2012 of Life Achievement Award in Animation:
Phil Roman, winner of 2012 Life Achievement Award. Phil Roman is regarded as one of the most influential Producers in animation history. Mr. Roman’s first job as an animator was working directly under Walt Disney on Sleeping Beauty In the 80s he Founded, and was CEO of the Production Company Film Roman, which was responsible for producing legendary shows such as “Garfield and Friends”, The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
Phil Mendez, winner of 2011 Life Achievement Award. Mr. Mendez has been writing, drawing, designing, directing and entertaining millions of people for over 40 years. He is perhaps best known as the author of The Black Snowman, the revered coming-of-age story, which has sold over two million copies and won numerous honors, including the coveted Martin Luther King “Living the Dream” award. Phil has created numerous TV series and films as character designer and director.
Organizers:
Italian Cultural Institute
The Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) was established in 1984 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its building, designed by Richard Neutra’s partner Robert Alexander, houses an art gallery, a theater for screenings, lectures, and concerts, as well as a library with over 6000 volumes open to the public. Events in collaboration with numerous local institutions are organized to give a lively image of contemporary Italy in visual arts, architecture and design, music, cinema and theater, literature, science, fashion, and gastronomy. Director: Alberto Di Mauro
Cinema Without Borders Foundation:
Cinema Without Borders Foundation supports international and independent films and filmmakers and other related arts and artist by promoting and introducing artists and their creations through Cinema Without Borders (cinemawithoutborders.com) on-line magazine, and by granting awards, organizing festivals, competitions, seminars, events and participating in existing festivals and events.
The Art Institute of California — Los Angeles
The Art Institute of California — Los Angeles, a campus of Argosy University, is one of The Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu), a system of over 50 schools located throughout North America. The Art Institutes provide an important source of education for design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals. Several institutions of The Art Institutes system are campuses of South University or Argosy University.
Sponsors: 