The animation world will descend on the town of Dingle this weekend for the annual Animation Dingle Festival which attracts major overseas and local guests. Co-founded by John Rice of JAM Media and Dingle International Film Festival CEO Maurice Galway, this  is now in its seventh year, taking place on Kerry peninsula in the southwest of Ireland, celebrating student creativity and excellence in Irish and international animation.

Over the course of the two day event, key decision makers from Amazon, BBC, Disney, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Pixar, RTE and Sony Pictures Television Networks along with keynote speakers, will share insights into the many opportunities that exist in this growing and vibrant animation sector. Students will get to mingle with industry professionals in a thought provoking, inspiring and fun environment.

Rice said “Once again we’re delighted with the quality of the speakers and keynotes at this year’s event. The festival celebrates the work carried out by students in Ireland and internationally and this year we welcome back The Irish Animation Awards to honour the vibrant industry on the island. As always the festival naturally maintains our current gender balance of 1:1 in both guests and speakers. The festival has resonated with students and professionals alike with ticket selling out within 24 hours of release.”

Keynote speeches will be delivered by Nora Twomey (Oscar nominated director, The Breadwinner / Cartoon Saloon) Bob Peterson (Oscar nominated for best original screenplay, Finding Nemo / Pixar), Kira Lehtomaki (Walt Disney Animation Studios co-head of animation), Bonnie Arnold (Oscar nominated & Golden Globe Winning producer, How to Train Your Dragon) and Richie Baneham (Oscar winner for best visual effects Avatar).

Further highlights of the festival include The Animation Dingle Student Awards, as well as The Irish Animation Awards.

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APC Kids, the children’s entertainment division of co-production and distribution company About Premium Content (APC), is expanding the production slate of its animation studio, Zephyr Animation, with new adventure-comedy CGI series, Pronto (52 x 11).

Pronto, an original series from Finnish studio Gigglebug Entertainment and created by the company’s founders Anttu Harlin and Joonas Utti, will be co-produced by Zephyr and Gigglebug. APC Kids is now seeking broadcaster partners for the series.

Everybody loves to receive an exciting package, but who delivers the truly tricky, awkward, impossible ones to far-flung, often dangerous destination at top speed, safely, and all tied up with a bow? The IMP-EX ! An elite package delivery service that takes pride in posting the impossible: a black hole, the Loch Ness monster, a beehive, a magic carpet, Jack’s beanstalk beans or even hair care products for a grumpy Medusa. Pronto’s team of underdogs are determined to prove they’ve got what it takes to deliver the world’s most impossible packages.

“In just a few short months, Zephyr Animation has assembled a great slate of projects with top-class co-production partners,” said Zephyr Animation chief creative officer David Sauerwein. “We’re now thrilled to be working with the wonderfully creative team at Gigglebug on Pronto which we’re confident will delight kids and families around the world with its very original concept, action-packed adventures and endearing characters.”

Zephyr Animation was launched in September 2018 to develop its own projects as well as co-develop and co-produce properties with partners from around the world. With an emphasis on strong international sales potential, Zephyr shows will cover all children’s demographics from preschool to kids aged six to nine and across all genres from action/adventure to comedy.

“With Pronto, we want to tell the story of a young delivery hero with the most amazing job in the world. But he has a hopeless sense of direction and zero natural talent for the job. Still, Pronto always manages to come out on top, because his heart is his compass. It’s the kind of lovable comedy underdog superhero story that really tickles us. Bumps, bruises, and blunders guaranteed. Lionel and David are wonderful people who set their eyes on the premise about a year ago and we are thrilled to have sealed this partnership in order to bring this story to the global stage,” said Harlin.

Zephyr’s slate of shows includes Adoonga, an animated comedy series from South Korean studio Vooz (creators of PUCCA) and the recently announced Gone Gills, an original comedy-adventure series created by Ferly which will also be co-produced with Canadian Yellow Animation.

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Recently 9 Story Distribution International announced that it has entered into an agreement with Vancouver-based Slap Happy Cartoons to acquire the animated series The Hollow, aimed at children 8 and up. Following its worldwide Netflix premiere, 9 Story Distribution has retained all other distribution rights worldwide and will be featuring the title at MIPTV in April.

Created by the team behind Nerds and Monsters (Vito Viscomi, Kathy Antonsen Rocchio, Josh Mepham and Greg Sullivan) this mystery/adventure series focuses on three teen strangers – Adam, Kai and Mira – who awaken in an underground bunker with no memory of themselves or each other. Forced to make sense of their connection in a mysterious realm, together they must fight through the challenges presented in this strange world, like magic portals, peculiar puzzles, and nasty beasts, while discovering new strengths within themselves to assist them along the way.

The first season of The Hollow premiered June 2018 on Netflix and has received critical acclaim for its edgy, serialized storytelling. Common Sense Media said, “…the kind of kid who’s maybe just a little too young for Stranger Things is just the right age for this appealingly weird series.”

Collider listed it as one of the Best New Animated Series for 2018, calling it an easy binge watch, and an addictive one at that. Netflix recently greenlit the series for a second season, set to launch in 2020.

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In the last three months, we’ve been treated with as many glimpses of Marvel’s upcoming magnum opus Avengers: Endgame, but the most common feature of all these trailers is Thanos – the Mad Titan is highly conspicuous by his absence as his whereabouts following the snap is tightly kept under the wraps.

All we know so far is that he has supposedly hung up his armor in the shape of a scarecrow and now reposing in a sunkissed paddy field. But we don’t really get a clear picture of him. Neither of the trailers reveal his face. Heck, we can’t spot a shadow of him in either the Superbowl teaser or the latest trailer that dropped last week.

Marvel is once again whipping up a frenzy by keeping him clandestine, but a new cover poster of Empire’s magazine might just hint at a possible proposition of the film: Thanos would don his shining armor from Infinity War, again!

The purple giant was seen tucked away in his iconic sheathe in that movie for a few fleeting moments – the opening sequence and the flashback scene from Gamora’s younger days. But we might just see more of that in Endgame as the magazine cover reveals Thanos strutting his stuff on the battlefield in the metallic armor.

This is the first ever glimpse at Josh Brolin’s CGI-character since last year. But it keenly seems to weave itself into a possible narrative.

Our superheroes may be crestfallen on losing their near and dear ones, but have vowed to bring the universe back to normalcy and its original count. So it’s natural that another epic and more elaborate confrontation awaits, and that makes it all the more obvious that Thanos is going to need his armor during the battle, or at least put it on for a while.

Not that it would make much difference to him, but as we’ve seen in Infinity War, he often ventures out on a mission in the armor. And upon discerning that the Avengers are coming for him again, he would gird up the loins by reaching out to it again like a warrior readying to enter the battle field.

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame releases on 26 April 2019.

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The Maruti Suzuki Arena ComicCon India Awards 2019 have been announced at the second edition of Pop Culture Forum. As part of the awards, ComicCon India felicitated Raj Comics for their exceptional contribution to India comics over the years.

The winners in various categories were announced, ranging from Best Film and TV promotion to Fan Favourite Publisher and Best Comic Book Cover to Best Webcomic. The comic fraternity looks out for Comic Con every year. Catching up with fellow comic artists and others from the industry is what the guests look forward to.

Here is the list of the 2019 ComicCon Award winners:

Fan Favourite Publisher:

Simon and Schuster India – Gold

Scholastic India – Silver

Penguin Random House India – Bronze

The Best Webcomic:

Bakarmax by Sumit Kumar – Gold

Brown Paperbag by Sailesh Gopalan – Silver

The Circus by Abhinav Krishna – Bronze

Best Comic Book Cover:

Amar Chitra Katha’s Shakti – Gold

Penguin Random House India’s The Cloudfarers – Silver

Village Comic’s Zero: An Indian Alien’s Adventure – Bronze

Best Children’s Illustrated Book

Boondi – Gold

The Girl Who went to the Stars – Silver

Maccher Jhol and Nani’s Walk to the Park – Bronze

Best Graphic Novel/Comic:

Ashoka: The Mauryan Emperor – Gold

Shakti – Silver

Shaitan – Bronze

Best Penciller/Inker:

Rajesh Nagulakonda (Ashoka: The Mauryan Emperor) – Gold

Harsho Mohan Chattoraj (Shaitan Vol. 5) – Silver

Abhijeet Kini (Rhyme Fighters Vol 3) – Bronze

Best Comic Book Writer:

Tripti Nainwal (APJ Abdul Kalam) – Gold

Anupam Arunachalam (Ashoka: The Mauryan Emperor) – Silver

Zafar Khurshid and Akshay Dhar (Holy Hell Vol 5) and Ashwin Kalmane (Aadhira Mohi Vol 1) – Bronze

“Feels great to win this award for our very own Rhyme Fighters Vol 3. This is a series very special to Diksha and I, since this is based on everyday people in our lives, around the city. Also, it feels really good to have won the award in a category full of such talented artists!,” said Abhijeet Kini Studios founder Abhijeet Kini.

Bakarmax creator Sumit Kumar added, “I have written and drawn two graphic novels, but have suffered to find a space for slightly long stories on social media. Social media only offers space to tell 4-panel jokes. With Bakarmax I wanted to create a space to write slightly longer, funny stories. Me and 21 other cartoonists published our stories, akin to mini graphic novels, on Bakarmax. This award is a collective win for all of us.”

Heartiest congratulations winners! Keep making the Indian comic industry proud!

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