Base14

Yesterday, the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood announced the nominees for the 39th Annual Annie Awards, the highest honor in the animation industry. Included on that list? “The Girl and the Fox.” Right beside all the best studios like Pixar, Walt Disney Animation, Warner Bros. and the National Film Board, Base14 stood proudly as a candidate for Best Short Subject. As a growing animation studio, this is undoubtedly the greatest honor we have ever received.

The nomination alone is a stunning testament to our entire crew of talented artists, animators, musicians, sound engineers and producers. As director, I want to thank each and every one of them for making this vision a reality. I’ll be in LA for the Award Ceremony on Feb. 4th, and hopefully we can get a few of our other key crew members to attend as well.

Finally, as a necessity to the film gaining a new place in the spotlight, I’ve launched the official website for “The Girl and the Fox”. For now it features a modest view of the tour schedule and trailer, but will grow as time goes on. We still have about a year’s worth of festivals on our tour schedule.

Here’s to many more exciting days ahead of “The Girl and the Fox”!

Last night marked the beginning of the Savannah Film Festival, easily the best single week you can spend in the city of Savannah! As noted earlier, “The Girl and the Fox” is among one of the featured films, as a part of the Student Competition “B” programming block, and I’m all kinds of excited! This is my fourth year at the festival, and second as a featured director. “Duck Heart Teslacoil” was featured in 2009. Last year I was a blogger for “Voices of the Fest”.

I’ve got three major appearances during the week, so for those of you that are Savannah locals, be sure to come say hello:

“The Girl and the Fox” Screening No. 1
Monday, October 31st @ 11:30am
Lucas Theater

Coffee Talk – Short Films and the Festival Circuit. What Works?
Thursday, November 3rd @ 8:15am
Marshall House Hotel Lobby

“The Girl and the Fox” Screening No. 2
Friday, November 4th @ 9:30am
Trustees Theater

Also, I’m providing a fun and detailed account of my own festival experiences on my personal Twitter account, so do follow up, if you please!

So due to working full time nowadays on top of “The Girl and the Fox” and “Rain Dance,” I have fallen way behind on my posts! So just to summarize, here’s ALL the Film Festivals we’ve been accepted to lately. Sorry that about half of them have already come and gone:

South Dakota Film Festival
9/16/11 @ 1:30pm – Aberdeen, SD

Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival
9/17/11 @ 12:00pm – Seattle, WA

Cincinnati Film Festival
10/2/11 @ 5:15pm – Cincinnati, OH
Awarded: Best Animation

Angelus Student Film Festival
10/8/11 @ 2:30pm – Hollywood, CA
Awarded: Honorable Mention

Louisville’s International Festival of Film
10/8/11 – Louisville, KY

Heartland Film Festival
10/18/11  @ 2:45pm – Indianapolis, IN
10/20/11  @ 8:15pm – Indianapolis, IN
10/21/11  @ 5:15pm – Indianapolis, IN
10/22/11  @ 10:30am – Indianapolis, IN

Ojai Film Festival
10/22/11 @ 8:00pm – Ojai, CA
10/23/11 @ 8:00pm – Ojai, CA

Utopia Film Festival
10/28/11 @ 8:00pm – Greenbelt, MD

Savannah Film Festival
10/31/11 @ 11:30am – Savannah, GA
11/4/11 @ 9:30am – Savannah, GA

Miami Short Film Festival
November 14-20 – Miami Beach, FL

Columbus International Film + Video Festival
11/19/11 @ 10:00am – Columbus, OH
Awarded: Student Chris Plaque

Anchorage International Film Festival
TBA

The most important one at this point is the Savannah Film Festival! I will be there for the entire week of festivities, so watch for more to come about the SFF very soon!!!

So usually when posts here on Base14 start to run a bit dry it’s because we’ve got some huge film project going on that’s been sapping all our time. And the past two months have been no exception. On top of continued festival runs for “The Girl and the Fox”, Base14 has been completing production on our fifth animated short film, titled “Rain Dance.”

“Rain Dance” is the first film where we’ve been able to overlap production schedules. The film has been in development since Fall of last year, when “The Girl and the Fox” was still in corrections and post-production. We were able to do this by bringing on a second director, the very talented and honorable Nate Swinehart. “Rain Dance” was Nate’s original concept, and Tyler came on as Producer, agreeing to house the film under the umbrella of the Base14 Studio. Much of the elite squad on “Rain Dance” are veterans of the “Girl and the Fox” crew, including Nate, so this was a natural progression. Base14 will assist with production, promotion and distribution. So it’s all win-win.

The best part of this announcement is you barely have to wait to see this fine creation! “Rain Dance” will be shown in its first public screening this Saturday, at the ever-popular SCAD animation showcase SCADanimate!  This is set to be a test screening, where the producers will be analyzing audience response and making recommendations for further post-production work based on reactions.

From here, “Rain Dance” still has a ways to go in production. We want to add a whole pass of tones and shadows to the film, as well as finish up sound design and music composition. In the end, it’s going to be a grand product. It should be completely finished and hitting the festival circuit some time next year, hot on the heels of “The Girl and the Fox.” But if you don’t want to wait that long, don’t forget to come on out this Saturday:

“Rain Dance” Sneak Peek
As part of the SCADanimate Animation Showcase
Saturday, September 24 – 7:30 pm – Lucas Theatre
Savannah, GA

We’ll see you there.

Our screenings in Indy wrapped up this week so it’s time to start getting excited about a whole new slew of festival appearances coming up in the next few months! “The Girl and the Fox” is being accepted like hotcakes to festivals around the globe (and remember you can always keep track of all the dates on the tour page). Here’s the latest announcements:

Feel Good Film Festival
Another festival that Base14 has been featured in before, the FGFF is the most upbeat, friendly film festival there is and we’re proud to be the opening film of 2011!
8/12/11  – 8:00pm – Hollywood, CA

Landlocked Film Festival
Each year thousands of audience members gather in Iowa City’s historic downtown to watch diverse films at Landlocked, attracting great talent and culture to the heart of the country.
8/25/11 – 8/28/11 – TBA – Iowa City, IA

Prix Ars Electronica
A large festival for art, technology and society, Prix Ars Electronica hosts an animation festival that showcases outstanding work from around the world.
9/1/11  – 10:00am – Linz, Austria

San Francisco International Festival of Short Films
From the website: “SF Shorts is about grabbing someone by the eyeballs and making them think, feel and react. SF Shorts proves that entertainment can have human value.”
9/8/11 – 9/10/11 – TBA – San Francisco, CA

Naperville Independent Film Festival
The premiere independent film event of Naperville, IL, this festival attracts lots of top notch film and talent to what is known as one of the most livable cities in the USA.
9/22/11 – 7:00pm – Naperville, IL

Attention all Indiana residents! Don’t forget that “The Girl and the Fox” will be playing in Indianapolis this weekend with an additional showing on Wednesday as part of the Indianapolis Film Festival! This may be your only chance to see the film in the Hoosier State! (Although we are vying for showings in Louisville, Chicago and Cincinnati.)

So to all my friends and family back in the Heartland, please don’t miss this great opportunity to see our hard work up on the big screen! Associate Producer Alysha Kupferer will be there on Saturday to represent the film and take any orders for adorable fox rings.

“The Girl and the Fox” Indy Film Fest Screening
At the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Saturday, July 16 – 2:45 pm – DeBoest Lecture Hall
Wednesday, July 20 – 7:45 pm – DeBoest Lecture Hall
(A part of the ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ shorts block)

Big thanks goes out to everyone who voted for our TV show concept “Duck & Monster” in the Animation Magazine Pitch Party Contest last month. Because of your brilliant support, we won the 1st Place Staff Pick among all the other entries!

Now this isn’t the grand prize that includes us getting to pitch to a industry executive, but it was great to be the favorite pick of the magazine staff, and also exciting to be among the favorites of two judges: Ted Biaselli, Exec Director of Programming at The Hub, and Linda Simensky, VP of Children’s Programming at PBS. Judges, if you like what you see, feel free to drop me a line. I have plenty of material and ideas to back up the “Duck & Monster” idea. And don’t forget that we have essentially already made the pilot.