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Andy Serkis (Venom: Let There Be Carnage) is directing an animated adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novella Animal Farm for Aniventure and his company The Imaginarium. Production is underway at Cinesite, which is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary as a world leader in animation and VFX.

The dystopian fable published in 1945 watches as a group of farm animals rebel against their human owner, in hopes of creating a society where they can be equal, free and happy. It was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels between 1923 to 2005, and won Orwell a Restrospective Hugo Award. It’s previously been adapted for radio and the stage, with John Halas and Joy Batchelor mounting a film adaptation in 1954, and John Stephenson adapting it into a TNT TV movie in 1999.

Nicholas Stoller adapted the screenplay for Serkis’ long-gestating film, previously set up at Netflix, which...

The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history. The Animated World is a regular feature spotlighting animation from around the globe. The series "Fables, Folklore, Futurism: Visionary Hungarian Animations" is showing on Mubi starting September 20, 2021.Johnny CorncobFor the past several years, the Hungarian National Film Institute has been celebrating 120 years of Hungarian cinema with film restorations, including a generous selection of animation. These films run the gamut from experimental to commercial and reflect well the rich variety of animation that has been produced in Hungary since 1915, with a special focus on the golden years of animation at Pannónia filmstúdio. Hungarian animation from this period steadily built up an international reputation for excellence, imagination and an intriguing mixture of traditional and modern storytelling, with Pannónia becoming a central and influential studio. Hungarian animators also wielded a great deal of influence as immigrants,...

Fury (David Ayer)

[via the BFI]

The programme for the 58th BFI London Film Festival launched today, with Festival Director Clare Stewart presenting this year’s rich and diverse selection of films and events. The lineup includes highly anticipated fall titles including David Ayer’s Fury, Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, the Sundance smash Whiplash, Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Jason Reitman’s Men, Women and Children and Jean-Marc Vallee’s Wild.

As Britain’s leading film event and one of the world’s oldest film festivals, it introduces the finest new British and international films to an expanding London and UK-wide audience, offering a compelling combination of red carpet glamour, engaged audiences and vibrant exchange. The Festival provides an essential profiling opportunity for films seeking global success at the start of the Awards season, promotes the careers of British and...

Animator who captured Orwell's Farmer Jones in Britain's first animated feature film, Animal Farm, in 1954

Harold Whitaker, who has died aged 93, drew some of the most memorable scenes in British animation history. He successfully captured the pathetic, drunken brutishness of George Orwell's Farmer Jones in Britain's first animated feature film, Animal Farm (1954), but was most at home in the comedic realm. Figures such as the naive inventor of the self-reproducing car in the allegorical Automania 2000 (1963) were full of boisterous energy, earning that film an Oscar nomination for best animated short – another British first.

A quiet, reserved figure, with a healthy resentment of any camera pointed his way, Harold had no desire to run his own company and preferred to work under the direction of others. Despite this, he became a key player in an industry from which he kept a discreet distance.

He was born in Cottingham, east Yorkshire,...

Joy Batchelor and John Halas’ 1954 adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm might look like a children’s film at first glance, populated as it is with cartoon animals, but this bleak political allegory does not make for light-hearted Saturday morning viewing. Made during (and partially shaped by, thanks to financing from the CIA) the height of Cold War tension, the film is definitely worth watching as a product of its time.

The first live action version of the story was released in 1999 as a TV movie, featuring creature effects from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and a pretty impressive voice cast that included Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart and the late Pete Postlethwaite. The next Animal Farm, however, will ...

Click to continue reading Andy Serkis to Begin Filming ‘Animal Farm’ in 2014

The post Andy Serkis to Begin Filming ‘Animal Farm’ in 2014 appeared first on Screen Rant.

Exclusive: Deal with former UK animation studio includes 1954 classic Animal Farm.

Hollywood Classics has signed a deal to represent the library of classic animation studio Halas and Batchelor.

The deal was signed between Joe D’Morais and Vivien Halas, daughter of John Halas and Joy Batchelor and Hollywood Classsics.

The famous UK studio made more than 2,000 films and the deal includes features Animal Farm (1954) and Ruddigore (1964), series Max & Moritz (1976), Snip and Snap (1960) and the Foo Foo series (1960) and short films Owl and The Pussycat (1952) and Butterfly Ball (1974).

BAFTA-nominated classic Animal Farm is widely considered the first UK animated feature.

John Ramchandani, managing director of Hollywood Classics, said: “Halas & Batchelor animations occupy a unique place in British cinema history and they are as relevant to the contemporary film landscape as they ever were.

“The catalogue of shorts and features continues to draw great attention from audiences around the world and we anticipate a healthy interest from our international...

Cinecity: The Brighton Film Festival | Bradford Animation Festival | Bath Film Festival | William Klein

Cinecity: The Brighton Film Festival

Before Cinecity came along 10 years ago, this most movie-friendly of cities didn't have a regular festival to call its own. The void has been decisively filled ever since, thankfully, and this year's anniversary event springs up in venues across the city, including the Pavilion and The Basement, which becomes a pop-up cinema showing music films. There's the expected roster of new international cinema, such as The Hunt, but off the beaten track are artists, films, live music, and a celebration of the late Brighton-based film-maker Jeff Keen.

Various venues, Thu to 2 Dec

Bradford Animation Festival

Animation might reach the parts live-action can't, but it doesn't always reach the audiences it could. So it's only through events like this you'll even find out what you're missing. Led by the feature-length Crulic, which uses...

Lord of the Rings star plans fresh take on George Orwell's political satire with 'emotionally centred' family movie

Andy Serkis will direct a partially motion-captured take on George Orwell's Animal Farm, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Serkis, who may also take a performing role, is currently enjoying a stint as second unit director on Peter Jackson's latest fantasy trilogy, Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit. Animal Farm will be produced through a London-based performance-capture studio named The Imaginarium, which Serkis founded last year with Bridget Jones's Diary producer Jonathan Cavendish.

"I think we found a rather fresh way of looking at it," Serkis said. "It is definitely using performance capture, but we are using an amalgamation of filming styles to create the environments.

"We are in proof-of-concept stage at the moment, designing characters and experimenting on our stage with the designs. It is quite a wide...

Murray Mints TV ad and Animal Farm film among Halas & Batchelor gems given to institute

Different generations will have different memories: the only feature-length animation of Animal Farm, perhaps, or the first Murray Mints TV ad. Then there was Foo Foo from the 1960s, Jackson Five and Asterix cartoons from the 1970s, numerous education films screened in schools or one of the first pop videos featuring downright weird and trippy animation that accompanied Kraftwerk's Autobahn in 1979.

All of the above were from one of the most important British animation studios there has ever been – the husband and wife-run Halas & Batchelor, sometimes called the British Disney – which for more than 50 years produced adverts, public information pieces, feature films, TV cartoons and serious award-winning animation respected the world over.

Today, 15 years after the studio's last release, the British Film Institute will announce that it has been given the Halas & Batchelor archive, including film prints,...