Producer of the Year Nomination for Magma Films with the feature film Niko and the Way To The Stars at Cartoon Movie
Magma Films along with co producers Anima Vitae, Ulysses Films, and Afilm is nominated by this year’s Cartoon Movie for the Producer of the Year award. The event takes place in Lyon from March 4th to 7th. Niko and the Way To The Stars, an internationally acclaimed CGI family feature film, coproduced by Magma Films in Galway was recently nomintated in three categories in this year’s IFTA awards which took place on February 14th in Dublin. The nominations were for best animation, best original score, which was composed by Wicklow based Stephen McKeon and best sound, which was completed in Ardmore Sound.

The film also recently won Best Film and Best Script, at the “Jussi” awards which took place in Helsinki on Feb 1st. The script was written by Irish based writer Marteinn Thorisson who has written on many Magma Films projects during the last 12 years.

In France it was recently voted the third top European film. The film has now sold to over 120 countries across the globe and so far has seen over 1,200,000 admissions world wide. In France, it enjoyed a great reception from critics and audiences alike and has had a very significant 650,000 admissions.

At the Cinekid festival in Amsterdam in September ‘08, Niko picked up the Best Film and the Audience award; the first time ever a film received both at the festival.

“We are really thrilled with the international reception Niko is getting. It is a huge achievement for an Irish company and for a European co production in this very competitive genre. We are on a small budget in comparison to the Hollywood giants so we are very proud to have produced a film of such quality to which audiences are responding all around the world. Producer Moe Honan

Jam Media’s tales of ‘Badly Drawn Roy’, a cartoon boy marooned in the real world is currently being produced for the BBC. One of the distinguishing features of Jam is that they also develop personalisation software called ‘Headhunter’ that allows for broadcasters and consumers to superimpose their viewers/children onto the animated content making them stars of the show. ‘Funky Fables’, currently in production with the BBC, allows for multiple children to appear in the series and really empowers the children to create, edit and distribute the content themselves.

Dancing Girl Productions have a slate of animation projects including Jo and Jack a charming 39 x 7 mins pre-school series. They are also introducing Harmony Heights, a 26 x 26 min series about a brother and sister who discover a parallel universe which can only be accessed through the magic of music.

Kavaleer - The year 2008 brought the launch of Kavaleer Productions video channel www.vimeo. com/kavaleer, where they have some original content to view. Kavaleer is looking forward to launching their new show ‘Garth and Bev’. They are also at an advanced stage of development on their next series ‘Beyond Mortified’ with TV Loonland (Germany).

Cartoon Saloon
Cartoon Saloon Nominated for a BAFTA Award for Skunk Fu!
30 October 2008 - Cartoon Saloon, an award-winning animation and illustration design studio, is nominated for a BAFTA award for its Animated Children's Series SKUNK FU! which airs on TG4 in Ireland and on BBC in the UK. Created for children between the ages of six and nine, “Skunk Fu!” received the Irish Film and Television Award for best animation in 2008 also and is currently distributed by Cake Entertainment in over 100 countries on every continent. The series is a shared production of Cartoon Saloon and Telegael in Ireland, and Cake Entertainment in the UK, which also distributes the series

September 08
In Ludwigsburg at Cartoon Forum, Ireland's own Cartoon Saloon (Skunk Fu) picked up the award for Producer of the Year pipping Cosgrove Hall Films, Folimage, Scopas Medien and Xilam Animation to the post

September 08 Director Tom Moore won the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland Directors Finders Series Award for the feature animation 'The Secret of Kells'. John Carney and Michael Apted (The Chronicles of Narnia: Dawn Treader, Gorillas in the Mist, The World is Not Enough, etc) co hosted the prestigious award event).

August 08 Paul Young (Cartoon saloon) and Adina Pitt from Cartoon Network celebrated the launch of Skunk Fu! On Cartoon Network in the US, at Enterprise Ireland’s Breakfast with Ireland Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Brian Cowen in the New York Stock exchange. (Pic to be included)

Boulder
Boulder's First Feature Commission- Boulder is delighted to have secured their first feature commission, providing services on Classic Media's revival of Mr Magoo in 'Kung Fu Magoo'. Magoo became a true animated celebrity since his launch in 1949, starring in Academy Award winning theatrical shorts, three tv series, two tv specials and a live-action film. Boulder's also at work on sequences of 'Metropia', an adult, sci-fi feature film for Swedish producers, Atmo. Juliette Lewis and Vincent Gallo are the lead voices and the film will launch at Cannes 09. Production on a new Disney property, 'Sunny County' was recently completed by the studio.

Brown Bag Films
Noddy comes to Ireland!.- Chorion has inked two major broadcast deals with Five in the UK and France 5 for brand-new preschool series ‘Noddy in Toyland’. The new Noddy is currently in production and will be broadcast in spring and summer 2009 on Five's preschool block Milkshake! and the Les Zouzous block on France 5. Directed by David McCamley, the new 52 x 11-minute HD CGI series is being produced by Brown Bag Films and will mark the 60th anniversary of the property based on books by Enid Blyton. Chorion has developed an extensive consumer and retail marketing campaign leading up to the 2009 debut of the series, along with a new toy range and live entertainment.

Kavaleer
Representatives from three major Basque studios visited Kavaleer recently. Ricardo Ramon González (Manager, Dibultoon Studio), Iñigo Obeso (Financial and Administrative Director, Irusoin) and Juanba Berasategi (General Manager, Lotura Films) were in Ireland as part of a delegation organized by Donostiako Sustapena (City Hall, San Sebastian), hosted by Nora Mendoza Michelena, Technical Director for Emerging Sectors. The delegation consisted of nine media companies with strong interest in collaborating with the Irish sector, exploring potential joint ventures, commercial exchange and outsourcing. Donostia City Hall has recently embarked on a project to build a media park to support the city’s emerging media sector, and gained valuable insights in discussing the ‘cluster effect’ with Digital Hub tenants such as Kavaleer.

Jam Media
September - Anne Gilchrist, Controller, CBBC, BBC's channel for 6 to 12-year-old children, dedicated to mixed genre programming, announced exciting new dramas for CBBC. Jam Media’s tales of a cartoon boy trapped in the real world will be included on CBBC’s truly fantastic drama line-up. New to the CBBC drama family is Roy, the story of an extraordinary cartoon boy marooned in the real world; and Paradise Café, a beachside mystery with a supernatural twist. Executive producers of Roy are John Rice for JAM and Sue Nott for CBBC. In 2007, CBBC won eight BAFTA awards at the British Academy Children's Awards including Best Drama, Best Entertainment, Best Animation and Best Factual.

Caboom
‘The Special One Returns’ to Setanta Sports -
Setanta Sports has commissioned a new season of the hit comedy puppet sketch series ‘I’m On Setanta Sports’ from production outfit Caboom. Written and performed by Mario Rosenstock, the series is produced and directed by Damian Farrell. ‘I’m On Setanta Sports’ will air after every Barclays Premier League game on Saturdays on Setanta Ireland and Setanta Sports One. The first series proved a popular hit with football fans around the globe pulling in regular audiences from Ireland, Britain, the US, Canada and Australia and is currently being screened in 10 territories. The series also featured in the top weekly comedy & sport clips on YouTube, receiving over one million hits in its first weeks and articles in the New York Times and UK soccer mag ‘FourFourTwo’. New episodes of ‘I’m On Setanta Sports’ and the first series can be viewed on www.setanta.com/IOSS.

Porchlight Entertainment to distribute Caboom’s ‘Beary Boo’ -
Los Angeles based PorchLight Entertainment has signed on as worldwide distributor of ‘Beary Boo’, a new animated series created by Dublin production company Caboom. ‘Beary Boo’ focuses on inspiring its target audience of 3-6 year olds to incorporate ecological awareness into their everyday lives. This deal marks Caboom’s first distribution deal of an original property in the US.

Caboom’s creative director, Damian Farrell, describes the association with PorchLight as not only a great move forward for the 'Beary Boo' project but also for Caboom. “'Beary Boo' is part of a slate of original animated and live action projects being developed and pitched through Caboom’s LA office.
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Latest trends in children's programming Friday 11th July
Guests: Gary Pope, Director of Kids Industries, Jens Bachem, Director of Digital Outlook and chaired by Cathal Gaffney, MD Brown Bag Films. Please note this event is free but pre- registration is required
View flyer

Internationally acclaimed French writer and director, Michel Ocelot,
visits Ireland May 22nd Digital Hub



Left to Right: Cathal Gaffney, Brown Bag Films. Andrew Kavanagh, Kavaleer Productions.
Michel Ocelot, French Writer & Director. Gary Timpson, Kavaleer Productions. Maeve McAdam, Dancing Girl Productions. Aidan Hickey, Aidan Hickey Productions.

Lifeboat Luke Sets Sail
RTE’s latest cartoon caper, ‘Lifeboat Luke’ wraps animation production today, with the crew of 16 animators from Dublin’s Kavaleer Productions getting a taste the real thing. Volunteer members of Dun Laoighaire’s RNLI Lifeboat ‘Anna Livia’ helped kick off the festivities. Lifeboat Luke is a 52 x 5 minute series aimed at young kids which combines rollicking nautical adventures with themes of water safety.
Read the full story

 

KidScreen Summit February 13-15, 2008
A large contingent of leading Irish animation companies will be attending KidScreen's premier annual event in Hilton New York. The event has quickly grown into the world's leading conference on the business of kids entertainment hosting 1400 attendees from around the world.

Alan Gregg Joins Brown Bag Films - New Canadian Office
Alan Gregg, former VP of the kids division at Alliance Atlantis, has joined Brown Bag Films as Vice President, International Production. Working closely with Director of Development, Gerald Murphy, Gregg will oversee the expansion of the company’s development slate in both television and feature films with an emphasis on pre-school, family and tween properties. He reports to Cathal Gaffney, Managing Director, and will be working out of the newly-opened Toronto office
Read the Press Release

  

The Animation CEO Forum
The Animation CEO Forum meets on a quarterly basis in The Digital Hub, the enterprise district in Dublin dedicated to digital media. The CEO Forum has proved an ideal meeting point for a range of stakeholders in the industry including government agencies, industry and educational and training partners.

Jam Media
John Rice, CEO of Jam Media, accompanied by a host of other broadcasters and veteran producers, will be leading a round table workshop at Kidscreen 2008, which aims at fine tuning your pitching prowess.
View Jam Media profile