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One
of the more delightful events of the Oscar season in
Los Angeles, animation-wise, is the annual luncheon
hosted by the Consul General of Canada at his luxurious
mansion in Hancock Park, just south of Hollywood. The
purpose is to honor Canadian nominees, which usually
means animation filmmakers based at the National Film
Board of Canada. The event, held Thursday, March 21,
honored Cordell Barker, whose Strange Invader, made
for the NFB's Winnipeg studio, has been nominated in
the Best Animated Short Film category.
Attendance
is small and usually includes friends of the nominees,
L.A.-based Canadian filmmakers (such as Jane Baer and
Barry Nelson), and local animation folk. This year,
Gary Doer, the Premier of Manitoba, helped officiate
and informed us the title song for Barker's The Cat
Came Back has become their theme for historical
preservation efforts, in which they brag about how “The
house came back!” Colin Robertson, the Counsel
General, also bragged about the 66 or so Oscar nominations
garnered by the NFB.
For his
part, Barker gave special thanks to Ron Diamond, co-owner
of Animation World Network, for his prenomination lobbying
efforts on behalf of Strange Invaders, and made
it clear he would like to win. He
mentioned the 45-second hourglass timers the Academy
gave each nominee, so their acceptance speeches would
not go on too long. That reminds me, I forgot to ask
if the Academy will, for the second time, give a large-screen
TV to the person who gives the shortest acceptance speech;
last year it was won by animator Michael Dudok de Wit
for Father and Daughter, so Barker has a tradition
to uphold!
Aside from
the brief formalities, most of the afternoon was devoted
to schmoozing and gossip. Thus, voice actor and Academy
Governor June Foray, who played no small part in creating
the Best Animated Feature Oscar, talked about the problems
surrounding the Kodak Theater, the new home for the
Oscar ceremonies. It seems the recently built theater's
3,200 seats is inadequate to fill all the ticket requests
by Academy members; previously, the Oscars were previously
held at the more spacious Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
and Shrine Auditorium. June sympathized with these complaints,
though she thinks the new theater is beautiful. She
had suggested the Academy use the Universal Amphitheater
instead, but it was nixed on the grounds of its name
being too closely associated with a major studio. “Well,
I guess that means Kodak will not be getting any Oscars
this year,” I said.
David Silverman,
back in town after co-directing Monsters, Inc.,
said he was in the midst of doing the new Halloween
special for The Simpsons. Next up, he will direct
the computer animated feature version of Curious
George for Universal. Production,” he said,
“will be done at ILM.” “Then that will
be their first feature?” “Yes,” he replied,
“unless they go with Where the Wild Things Are,”
another Universal effort which Eric Goldberg is
to direct.
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