Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

Sesame Street and Aniboom, the world’s first virtual animation studio, are collaborating for the Fourth Annual Aniboom Animation Awards! The Aniboom Awards 4 Sesame Street contest recognizes outstanding creativity among independent animators around the world and encourages animators of all levels to push the boundaries of innovation in the medium. Aniboom’s Virtual Animation Studio currently consists of over 8,000 professional animators from 72 countries and has provided its members with opportunities to make programming for FOX, music videos for Radiohead and animation for Marvel Comics. This contest marks the first time Sesame Street has participated in an world-wide open competition for content in its 40 year history. A total of $50,000 in cash and development money is to be awarded to the winners. Additionally, the Grand Prize winning animation will be included in Sesame Street’s 41st season which begins airing later this year.

This year’s awards will showcase the work of artists creating animations appropriate for pre-school age children in 5 different categories: School Readiness Skills, Pro-Social, re-make of the Sesame Street classic animation “Pinball Number Count,” Anything Goes “The Sky is the Limit”, and Community Favorite (to be determined by a voting tool on the Aniboom website). Each category will have one finalist determined by Sesame Street’s production staff (with the exception of Community Favorite). The Grand Prize winner will be chosen among the finalists by a panel of celebrity judges.

“Animation as an art form and communication tool is especially powerful for developing children, and no programmer or educator knows that better than the producers behind Sesame Street,” says Uri Shinar, founder and CEO of Aniboom.

“Sesame Street has a long history of using animation to teach generations of children all about numbers, letters, shapes and the world around them,” adds Carol-Lynn Parente, Executive Producer of Sesame Street. “We are thrilled to partner with a community of animators like Aniboom to find unique programming from around the globe to help educate and engage today’s kids.”

Animators registered with the Aniboom Virtual Animation Studio will be able to submit their entries over an eight week period from March 1st until April 26th. The top 5 category winners will be announced on May 10th, 2010 and the Grand Prize winner on May 17th. For the full list of rules and Sesame Street animation guidelines for the competition, please visit http://www.aniboom.com/.

The 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards are on the way, airing live on Saturday, March 27, 2010. That means that the orange carpet, the celebrities, the fun, and of course the slime are all coming soon.  Kevin James will host the KCAs, which will air March 27 from UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. Last year’s broadcast was the cabler’s highest rated in the event’s history, with nearly 8 million viewers tuning in.
Voting for the KCAs takes place online beginning Feb. 25.

The nominees are available at http://www.nick.com/kids-choice-awards/nominees/#tvshow

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and redbox today announced a new multi-year distribution agreement that will make Warner Bros. new release DVD and Blu-ray titles available to redbox customers after a 28-day window. The agreement also marks the end of the lawsuit that redbox filed against Warner Home Video in August 2009.

“We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to sit down with redbox and negotiate an arrangement that benefits both parties and allows us to continue making our films available to redbox customers,” said Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “The 28-day window enables us to get the most from the sales potential of our titles and maximize VOD usage.”

The new arrangement provides redbox with reduced product costs, sufficient quantities of product and optimal stock levels four weeks after street date as well as extends redbox’s access to Blu-ray titles, which redbox is currently testing in select markets. The agreement also provides Warner Bros. the opportunity to maximize the sales of new release titles as well as video on demand and other forms of digital distribution.

“This agreement enables redbox to fulfill our commitment to providing consumers affordable and convenient home entertainment,” said Mitch Lowe, president, redbox. “By agreeing to a delayed release date, redbox can now acquire Warner Home Video titles at a reduced product cost, preserving value for our consumers and increasing customer access to Warner titles at redbox locations nationwide.”

Warner Home Video and redbox will be implementing delayed availability during the month of March and will reach a four-week window by March 23 with the release of The Blind Side. The new agreement will run through January 31, 2012. Redbox has also agreed to destroy Warner Home Video content following its lifespan in kiosks.

“The 28-day window for redbox balances the economics of our relationship while continuing to offer great value to their customers,” said Ron Sanders, president, Warner Home Video. “This accord establishes a mutually beneficial relationship that will foster an ongoing and productive partnership.”

Warner Bros. is currently a leader in many home video categories including total video (DVD and Blu-ray combined), Theatrical Catalog video, TV on DVD, and Blu-ray and will ensure the DVD rental company access to sufficient quantities of Warner Home Video titles including The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Box, The Informant!, Where the Wild Things Are, The Blind Side, and Sherlock Holmes.

Heartland Truly Moving Pictures is proud to announce its first annual High School Film Competition!

The Heartland High School Film Competition was established to encourage tomorrow’s filmmakers to create films that explore the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for positive values of life and educate them about Heartland’s mission.

The competition is open to all currently enrolled high school students who have not yet graduated. Film submissions will be judged on criteria similar to that of the Heartland Film Festival, including artistic excellence, technical merit and representation of Heartland’s organizational values.

The 2010 High School Film Competition’s theme is “hope.”
Submissions are being accepted now until May 15.

Four finalists and one Grand Prize winner will be awarded. Winners receive a cash prize, Heartland Film Festival tickets, recognition and much more!

Kids’ CBC Wonderworld, an online channel featuring games and on-demand video for preschoolers has won the iParenting Media 2010 Award for best software. This prestigious prize, awarded annually by iParenting.com, a Disney Internet Group media property, honors the best products and service for children and families. The jury is made up of parents, experts and educational professionals. The winning products are selected for their quality, innovation and educational value.

Kids’ CBC Wonder World is a totally secure, colourful online environment where kids aged three to six years old learn through fun and games. The various activities are tied to themes and specific learning objectives and are supported by a proprietary technology platform that adapts and recommends learning content based on the progress of the child. Full parental control is a key feature of the platform, with simple tools giving parents the opportunity to monitor their child’s online activity and skill development.

“Kids’ CBC is all about providing learning tools for parents and their children,” said Kim Wilson, creative head, childrens and youth programming, CBC Television. “This generation of children learn in a variety of different ways, including online, so we have created an integrated approach to learning. On the air, you will see the ‘Kids’ CBC Word Power Hour,’ with a focus on literacy that works beautifully with that aspect of Wonderworld—not only to promote early language skills, but also to introduce media literacy.”

The various games and activities in Kids’ CBC Wonderworld are brought to life by characters from popular children’s television programming that airs on the CBC, including Poko, Animal Mechanicals, Mighty Jungle, Bo on the Go !, and Super WHY.

Produced by Tribal Nova and DHX Media, Kids’ CBC Wonderworld is distributed in Canada by the CBC at www.kidscbcwonderworld.ca by paid subscription, after a free 15 day trial. Kids’ CBC Wonderworld was produced with funding from the Bell Fund, Fonds Quebecor, Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund.
For more information on the iParenting Media Awards, please visit www.iparentingmediaawards.com

Experience the power and joy of true love…on and off the ice as two-time Academy Award® nominated director Donald Wrye returns to direct his classic tale of a young skater with Olympic dreams who is blinded in an accident and attempts to overcome the tragedy with the help of her loving boyfriend. Popular recording artist Britt Nicole re-records the Oscar® nominated (Ice Castles, 1978) theme song “Through the Eyes of Love.”

Posted in Feature Film Reviews | Comments Off on 2010 remake of the classic, “Ice Castles” comes out on DVD February 9.