KIDS FIRST! News

He’s funny, blunt, and has a bit of a problem accepting the rules of society. Award-winning animator John Dilworth, creates unique films, which encourage viewers to embrace silliness. With successes such as “Noodles and Ned” and “Courage the Cowardly Dog” in his background, Dilworth has already proven that he’s got what it takes to entertain viewers, and he continues to make people laugh all over the globe with his new films. You can catch several of the in the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival. Dilworth tells us what he does and how he does it:CP: Could you please give me a brief background of your filmmaking experience?JD: My filmmaking experience began during my university studies in NYC attending the School of Visual Arts. My aspiration was to become a famous animator and make animated films that would be admired. I started drawing intuitively. This is where it all went wrong for me. Right from the start, I should have focused more on the art of storytelling. I would have been more satisfied with my animated films. However, I was ambitious and established a resolve to do the best I was capable of. I sought out any kind of work in animation from production to animating and eventually to directing. This was a tough journey without thrills; I suffer from judgment and do not sit well with criticism. I get through it with a suspicion of tranquility. I was solicitous to influential people, eyeballing hope through favor and talent. Strategies of self-interest are essential to an artist.CP: When you create a film, are you doing it for yourself or your viewers or both?JD: Audience considerations have often been secondary to my intentions in art. However, when I am with corporate contract, I employ a more discriminating effort to prioritize.CP: What do you want viewers to get from your films?JD: I would be content with knowing that viewers felt in their sixth sense that it is okay to be silly and still be engaged in “life.” Silliness is not immaturity. The way I see it, reality is loaded with enough serious stuff to put you in a morgue. One test of an individual is in how one reacts to the surplus stuff of responsibility, obligation, duty. Travel deep into the nonsense and silliness I say. With our obsession with respectability and refinement, where have the “unaffected moments” gone? What happened to our “expressive imperfections?” Can we not pay our monthly bills and add a funny drawing on the check? Being silly does not mean we are swinging out of orbit, rather it is more an earthiness of intention, deliberately purposeful play designed to abstract our “reality.” How’s that for cocktail party philosophy?CP: Your films are really wacky and push the boundaries of what parents deem acceptable for their children, what is your philosophy on film content for children?JD: Thank you. Your question makes me think of the pursuit of Shakespeare, to mold a human being, to become an “individual.” Parents are the custodians of the future of human character. I share with them the same concerns for admirable human qualities: virtue, courage and devotion to the good of all. My characters are obsessed with the pursuit of love as a defining element of their character and this element is not a harmful one. Love is the pressing on the boundaries towards human achievements in aesthetics, morality, spirituality and of the mind’s capacity to expand. Love is a funny thing.CP: What is one of the craziest experiences you have had in your job so far?JD: I was demonstrating to audiences how to do the Noodles & Nedd dance from the film, “Noodles & Nedd” wearing a space suit. It was one of those impossible to predict questions from children. I was returning from “pitching” a cartoon show to an executive wearing the suit and didn’t have time to change.CP: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career choice?JD: The laughter from audiences. I recall attending a film festival in Bilbao, Spain. My film, “The Dirdy Birdy,” was the last film to screen. I cannot sit through a screening of my own animation. I break out itching myself with my feet. Anxiety puts me in a head lock. I left the auditorium to sit outside alone. Then the audience begins to laugh and laugh and laugh. I was sitting in a empty corridor with laughter bouncing off the walls from invisible lungs. This was something special, a natural moment, authentic like young love, and as impermanent as light.CP: How did you get involved with KIDS FIRST!?JD: As a filmmaker, sending your films to festivals is a requisite to getting your art seen. I sent one of my films to Ranny Levy some time ago and found a sincere supporter over the years.CP: What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers?JD: Not every night is filled with song, not every day blooming with spring. To keep sane, I rely on my irrational reactions of cartoon behavior, and I am the most sane individual I know.More information about

THE Roger Daltrey returns as the voice of Argon the bus driver in “Wheels on the Bus: Mango’s Big Dog Parade” (33 min), the new title The Wheels on the Bus animated DVD series, which will be released January 22, 2008. The DVD series aims to teach preschoolers early socialization skills through original songs composed by Laura Hall and lyricist Timothy Armstrong. The DVD also comes with a Parent’s Guide as well as a behind the scenes video, a lyric sheet and a short titled Behave Bernard. Produced by Our Happy Child Productions and distributed by PorchLight Home Entertainment.

They are set to launch an interactive website for the animated preschool series “Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies.” Designed by NDi Media, the site underlines hands-on learning and, like the series, features wildlife videos from the National Geographic and BBC archives. Among the many other features, upon entering each visitor is given an animal egg to care for while on the African savanna that slowly hatches.

Monday, January 14, 2008 at 7p., Nickelodeon is set to premiere The Backyardigans in a new primetime TV movie titled, “Tale of the Mighty Knights” (60 min).In “Tale of the Mighty Knights,” royal knights Uniqua and Tyrone are ready to do mighty deeds in service to their King (Pablo). It seems like a pretty simple task until the King asks them to babysit an egg, which grows legs and runs away! A rock opera soundtrack moves the action along as the knights pursue their egg in Goblin Land and encounter a grabbing goblin (Austin), through Fairyland where they meet a tiny and mischievous fairy (Tasha), and finally to Dragon Mountain where they face a mighty baby dragon (Adam Pascal). Will the knights conquer their greatest challenge yet?The premiere of the TV movie will be followed by a new Backyardigans CD release from Nickelodeon/Sony BMG, titled “Born to Play,” on January 22.The third CD from the hit series features 22 new tracks, including six songs from “Tale of the Mighty Knights.” Joining the backyard gang in the studio are celebrity guest artists Alicia Keys, Cyndi Lauper and Adam Pascal. Alicia Keys lends her unique R&B vocals on “Almost Everything is Boinga.” Cyndi Lauper reminds us to think pink on the jazz-tinged “Lady in Pink,” and Adam Pascal powers the Zepellinesque rock-opera ballad “Not an Egg.”Also, “The Backyardigans Live! Tale of the Mighty Knights,” a 50-city live tour, in partnership with Live Nation, kicks off on March 28.

When you submit a title to KIDS FIRST!, who knows where it can take you? The award-winning producers of “The Tillamook Treasure” can tell you since their film was picked up for distribution through their KIDS FIRST! connections.Independent title, “The Tillamook Treasure” won the Moving Pictures Magazine award at the KIDS FIRST! Best Award ceremony in October of 2007. Equally impressive, the film was created mostly by a single family. Mom, Jane Beaumont Hall is the Director, Dad, Richard Doyon is the Executive Producer and their daughters, Suzanne Marie and Janine Doyon, played major roles in the movie. Jane Hall took a few moments to share with us what KIDS FIRST! has done for them and their film:We saw that KIDS FIRST! was making quality children’s programming available to many children by traveling around the country. Our film is about a young girl whose family is breaking up, and she discovers what really matters as she hunts for a buried treasure. Our movie was right in line with the good values that KIDS FIRST! promotes – wholesome and fun.KIDS FIRST! sent our film out to many festivals which increased the awareness of the movie. Then, as a surprise, they asked if they could rep the movie for distribution purposes. We said “yes” and they arranged with Maitland Primrose for North American distribution. Since distribution is the name of the game in filmmaking, they were tremendously helpful on the business end of our movie as well as the festival promotion. Maitland Primrose also cares about social values, but it is unlikely we would have connected to them without KIDS FIRST!’s assistance.I think the biggest piece of advice I could offer new independent producers is in the writing. Get the best script you can before starting pre-production because time becomes a factor after you start. Also, our casting director, Dino Ladki, was of immeasurable help in finding quality actors to star in our production. The bigger the stars, the easier distribution is to secure. We had an amazing cohesive team that got stronger as time went on. Obviously, the Director of Photography is a huge factor and Rene Jung of Jurifilm, is a saint to work with. He made the pictures sing even with the budgetary factors we were constrained by. But bottom line it is the writing.We are so pleased to have won the Best Independent Film Award from KIDS FIRST! Having this kind of endorsement from as well respected an organization as KIDS FIRST! means a lot in letting the viewing public know that the movie is family material and well worth seeing. Not only that, but the Awards Ceremony was great fun!**Remember, the deadline for festival submissions for the Second Quarter 2008 is January 15! Details and applications can be found on the KIDS FIRST! web site.