THE MOON AND THE SON WINS ANIMATED SHORT OSCAR

Los Angeles, March 5, 2006 – John Canemaker and Peggy Stern won the 2006 Academy Award for their animated short subject, THE MOON AND THE SON: An Imagined Conversation. The 28-minute film, which explores Canemaker’s troubled relationship with his Italian immigrant father, will air on HBO/Cinemax on Father’s Day 2006.

John Canemaker and co-producer Peggy Stern
hold their Oscar statuettes after winning the
Academy Award for Best Animated Short in
Hollywood on Sunday, March 5, 2005.

In his acceptance speech, Canemaker said, “Peggy and I thank the Academy for this great honor. And also for your faith in hand-drawn animation, which still can pack an emotional wallop.” He also thanked his students and colleagues at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

This is the first Academy Award for Canemaker, who has been making personal and sponsored animated films since 1975.  He is director of the animation program at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and an internationally recognized animation historian.

The Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy has invited John Canemaker to deliver the Jonathan Dennis Memorial Distinguished Lecture
at the 26th edition of the festival, October 6-13, 2007.

Canemaker will present a lecture and screening of the films and comic art of pioneering animator Winsor McCay (1867-1934),
the subject of Canemaker’s book Winsor McCay: His Life and Art.

The festival is also presenting its Jean Mitry Award to Canemaker, which has been given for 21 years to an individual or institution
for their "reclamation and appreciation of silent cinema." Former winners include Kevin Brownlow and David Gill.
Canemaker is the first animation historian to be so honored.

"We are aware you are a true pioneer," wrote Giornate Festival organizers Livio Jacob and Pietra Patat,
"making claims for the importance of Winsor McCay and Otto Messmer when even silent film historians were ignoring them."

For more information: http://www.cinetecadelfriuli.org/gcm/


Canemaker Joins PLATFORM Animation Festival Jury

John Canemaker will serve on the jury of the PLATFORM International Animation Festival, June 25-30, 2007, in Portland, Oregon www.platformfestival.com. Other announced jury members include French director/special effects specialist Gaelle Denis (City Paradise), American director/animator PES (Roof Sex) and Japanese animation producer Eiko Tanaka (Mind Game).

PLATFORM, making its debut this year, is a brand new breed of festival. Along with being an international competition with cash prizes, the Festival will break boundaries into other art forms including comics, illustration, character and toy design, motion graphics, gallery art and live action cinema.
For further information, see Animation Magazine: http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/6543


Marymount Manhattan College Hosts John Canemaker Screening, Art Exhibit and Reception on April 19

Join us for a screening of John Canemaker?s Academy Award-winning animated film The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation on Thursday, April 19, 2007, followed by a reception in the Hewitt Gallery of Art at Marymount Manhattan College.

The screening will begin at 5:30 p.m. sharp at the Beekman Theatre, which is located at 1271 Second Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets.
A reception, featuring hand-drawn, original animation art from the film, will follow at 7:00 p.m. at the Hewitt Gallery of Art at Marymount Manhattan College, 221 East 71st Street. This event is free of charge for all attendees.

Seats are filling up fast. Please RSVP to Laura Davis, Manager of Alumni Relations via e-mail at ldavis@mmm.edu or phone at (212) 517-0416.
The Canemaker exhibit will be on display in the Hewitt Gallery of Art from April 16 through May 23.


Tribeca Film Festival Salutes John Canemaker

The Animated World of John Canemaker, a program of shorts and documentaries spanning John Canemaker's career as a filmmaker, will be presented at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. The program will be shown on the following dates:

Monday, April 30, 6:15 pm
Sunday, May 6, 10:30 am
AMC Kips Bay Theater 14
570 Second Avenue (at 32nd St.)
New York, NY 10016

Thursday, May 3, 11:59 pm
Tribeca Cinemas - Theater 2
54 Varick Street (Below Canal Street, at Laight Street)
New York NY 10013

Jon Gartenberg, curator of The Animated World of John Canemaker notes that the program continues the Tribeca Film Festival's continuing "celebration of NYC-based independent animators" by "featuring a program of the career work of John Canemaker, pre-eminent filmmaker, author, teacher and historian. Due to his longstanding, unflinching commitment to this particular moving image art form, Canemaker has been called 'animation’s ambassador at large [who] has brought animation’s unsung heroes into the limelight, expanded the parameters of the medium, and inspire[d] those who are embarking on careers in the industry.' "

Film in the program include: Confessions of a Stardreamer; Bridgehampton; The Wizard's Son; Bottom's Dream; Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat; and the Academy Award-winning The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation.

THE ROAD TO OSCAR ®



In 2006, Ward Jenkins asked me to recall the hectic week leading up to the 78^th Academy Awards for his animation and design-focused blog, Ward-o-Matic.

The resulting two-part interview will give you some idea of what the five nominees in that year’s Animated Short competition experienced on a ‘road show’ tour of animation studios in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. 

http://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/my-oscar-experience-interview-with_28.html

This link has a complete set of photos from Oscar week

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wardomatic/sets/72157594389132570/

The photo above shows me and co-producer Peggy Stern, as we accepted the Academy Award for THE MOON AND THE SON: An Imagined Conversation, on Sunday, March 5, 2006.

January 9, 2007 - Elmira Salutes Native Son John Canemaker
The city of Elmira, New York, proclaimed January 9, 2007 John Canemaker Day, honoring the filmmaker whose Academy Award-winning animated short THE MOON AND THE SON described events that occurred there.  Canemaker returned to his hometown for a day of public appearances, including talks to students at his alma mater Notre Dame High School and a standing-room-only screening of his films at Elmira College.  Local news coverage at the links below:
http://www.star-gazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070111/NEWS01/701110335/1001
http://www.star-gazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070111/NEWS01/701110316/1001

December 7, 2006 - Thursday 7:30pm - Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA
John Canemaker hosts the DVD debut of DISNEY TRUE-LIFE ADVENTURES 1949 -1960,
screens highlights from the famous series, and leads a discussion with a panel of filmmakers
including Roy E. Disney.

November 16, 2006 - Thursday 7:00pm - Wexner Center for the Arts
Columbus, OH
"John Canemaker: Selections of Recent Work"
http://www.wexarts.org/fv/index.php?eventid=1845&page=2

November 2, 2006 - Thursday 11:30am - Red Gallery
Savannah Film Festival - Savannah, GA
"Winsor McCay" - Lecture by John Canemaker

September 1-5, 2006 - Telluride, Colorado
The 33rd Telluride Film Festival
As designer of this year's festival poster, John Canemaker is a special guest.

August 29, 2006 - San Francisco, California
LucasArts Studio (not a public event)
"Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation"

August 28, 2006 - Emeryville, California
Pixar Animaion (not a public event)
"The Art and Flair of Mary Blair"

August 26, 2006 - Berkeley, California
Pacific Film Archives
"John Canemaker: Marching to a Different Toon"
"Winsor McCary - His Life and Art"

July 18-25, 2006 - Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil
Anima Mundi the 14th International Animation Festival
John Canemaker Presents:
"John Canemaker: Marching to a Different Toon," a program of his own films and two illustrated lectures:
"Winsor McCay - His Life and Art"
"The Art and Flair of Mary Blair"

June 12, 2006 - Zagreb, Croatia
Animafest, 17th World Animation Festival
John Canemaker receives the 2006 Award for Special Achievement in the Theory of Animation.

• Feb 23 – 26, 2006 - Sedona International Film Festival - Sedona, Arizona.
John Canemaker will conduct a workshop on his own work as an animator and will also present his lecture/screening on Winsor McCay. For further information: http://www.sedonafilmfestival.com

• Jan 14, 2006  7:30 pm - Los Angeles County Museum of Art - California.
John Canemaker will present his lecture and screening of the art of Winsor McCay, (see above for details) preceded by a book signing of Winsor McCay: His Life and Art.

• Jan 12, 2006 7:30pm - ASIFA Hollywood - California.
ASIFA Hollywood will host An Evening with John Canemaker at the Dreamworks Animation Campus in Glendale, featuring a retrospective of his films. For further information see http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/anifest.html

• Nov 30 - Dec 4, 2005 - I Castelli Animati Animation Festival - Genzano di Roma, Italy.
John Canemaker was one of several artists honored with career retrospectives at I Castelli Animati animation festival.  He also gave three presentations on the history of Disney animation.  His latest film, The Moon and the Son, which had been selected for competition, won the Fabrizio Bellocchio Prize for Social Content.

• Nov 17, 2005 - Winsor McCay: His Life and Art  - The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
In conjunction with the publication of the revised edition of his acclaimed biography of Winsor McCay (1867 – 1934), John Canemaker presented an overview of McCay’s prolific career as artist, cartoonist and animator.  Examples of McCay’s work from throughout his career were shown, including circus posters, editorial cartoons and comic strips, such as “Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend” and his masterpiece, “Little Nemo in Slumberland.”

A capacity audience of 400 attended the talk, which also featured four of McCay’s rarely-seen animated films: a hand-colored print of Little Nemo (1911), How a Mosquito Operates (1911), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) and the deeply emotional The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918). 

Canemaker will present this lecture and screening again in Los Angeles and Sedona, Arizona, in early 2006 (see below).

• Jun 2-5, 2005  - VISIONFEST keynote speaker, Indianapolis, IN.

• Apr 28, 2005 - 6 p.m. THE MOON AND THE SON screening / discussion at NYU Cantor Center, 35 East 8th St., N.Y.C.

• Apr 14, 2005 - 7 p.m. "Classical Toons" lecture at Jacob Burn Film Center, Pleasantville, N.Y.

• Mar 24, 2005 - 7 p.m. "Looney Tunes and Silly Symphonies" with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra  - Panel discussion at American Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, N.Y.