One of the best things about crowdfunding in animation is that it gives a chance to people who might otherwise not be able to break into the industry. This is true of quite a few of the projects we've featured on Kickstart This!/Crowdfund This! Naledi is a 10-minute 2D animated short from writer director Lola Aikins. It follows Naledi, a superstar athlete experiencing debilitating grief. During an all-important race at the African Athletic Championships, she trips and falls. As a result she experiences a panic attack, and her world begins to collapse around her. She must grapple with gr ..read more

There has been a lot of exciting animation this week, thanks to the revealing of the full selection and events for the Annecy festival. In the wake of the revealing of the feature film line-up, two of the most respected names in animation have announced they have acquired one of the films playing. The United State's GKIDS Films and Britain's Anime Limited (also known as All The Anime) have announced that they have picked up the global rights for Japanese feature The Colours Within. The film is the latest directorial outing for Naoko Yamada, the award winning director of A Silent Voice Surpr ..read more

The Annecy International Animation Festival has, over the past couple of months, been gradually revealing this year's selection. We've already discovered the short films, TV films commissioned films and student films that will screen in competition this June. Now we reach the climax as the highest profile category of all was announced- the feature films. Announced during the annual press conference, the features include films screening both in and out of competition. In competition films include Flow, from Away's Gints Zilbalodis,  Ghost Cat Anzu, Naoko Yamada's The Colours Within,  ..read more

Crunchyroll recently announced several anime features that they would be bringing to cinemas. They are all based on popular TV series that they stream. The first of these to arrive will be Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle, based on the popular sports anime. Now, Crunchyroll has released the first English-subtitled trailer Haikyuu!! is based on the Shonen Jump manga by Haruichi Furudate. The series follows Shoyo Hinata who wants to follow in the footsteps of a short-statured volleyball player known as The Little Giant. Forming his own volleyball team in the last year of middle sch ..read more

There's a surprisingly long history of animation being adapted for the stage. The success of Disney's The Lion King on Broadway and later London's West End, led to stage shows based on Frozen,  Aladdin, Tarzan,  Hercules and even The Prince Of Egypt and Shrek. Meanwhile, in Japan every anime franchise worth its salt has had one or more adaptations of various kinds. For example, Bleach was adapted as a rock musical. In 2022 an adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki's timeless classic Spirited Away opened at Tokyo's historic Imperial Theatre. Now the production is coming to London's ..read more

Netflix has, in a relatively short space of time, turned itself into one of the biggest names in animation globally. In just five years since they released their first original animated feature, they have bagged an Oscar win for Guillermo del Toro's Pinnochio, and nominations for Nimona, The Sea Beast, Over The Moon and Klaus. Earlier this year Blue Eye Samurai was the most successful series at the Annie Awards The streamer-turned-studio has been teasing its line-up for the upcoming Annecy International Animation Festival. Festival highlights will include an on-stage panel Next On ..read more

For one week every June a picturesque alpine town in France becomes the centre of the animation industry. The Annecy International Animation Festival attracts animation professionals and enthusiasts from around the world. The festival features lots of screenings as well as work-in-progress sessions, masterclasses and making-of panels. The programme for these events are to be announced in May. This year the festival will run from 11-17 June,  and will put Portugal in the spotlight. The festival has previously announced the first part of this year's official selection. Now they have also ..read more

One of the really cool things about animation festivals- or film festivals in general, is the opportunity to see films from countries that you don't often see films from. It gives you a real window into countries and cultures that are not seen on screen so often. The Missing hails from the Phillippines, which it's fair to say is not one of the world's best known animation industries. The film was selected for the Philippines' official entry in the Best International Feature Film at the 9th Oscars, although it didn't make the final shortlist. The film's British premiere took place at the Quee ..read more

Another edition of Out This Week is here to brighten your Monday (or whatever day you read this article on). It's a good week for fans of DC animation that leans towards the mature with season four of Harley Quinn released alongside the second part of Justice League: Crisis On Infinite Earths. Also rereleased is anime series Otaku Elf and a Crunchyroll Store Exclusive complete boxset of Monogatari. New for the UK this week are recent anime feature Blue Thermal and retro anime cult classic sci-fi Venus Wars. A new steelbook 4K release of the original Kung Fu Panda is also released. All i ..read more

    Animation Nights New York presents “INTERDEPENDENCE” (Program #93 | Season 9 | In Competition Films)   Animation Nights New York (ANNY) is in person at The Gutter Spare Room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn! Tuesday, April 23, 2024 IN PERSON EVENT DETAILS: Sunday, April 23, 8pm-10pm Eastern Time—The Gutter Spare Room, 200 N14th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Please RSVP  (Seating is limited). Event is Free. Donations are accepted and appreciated.   Sunday, April 28, 2024 ONLINE EVENT DETAILS: Sunday, April 28, 11am-11pm Eastern Time—ANNY Virtual Events Join us to watch a cura ..read more