Movie Talkback - Alma (animated short film)

I wanted to mention a 5 minute animated short film I came across called Alma, about a little girl who comes across a small shop with a doll displayed in the shops window, that looks surprisingly very much like her. And you know what people say curiosity did to the cat right? Ran right over her. I don't have much inform concerning the short, but here's some information about the short's director directly from the films site, http://almashortfilm.com.

Alma is Rodrigo Blaas’ first short film as a director. Originally from Spain, Rodrigo Blaas has worked in animation for more than ten years, in Spain and in the United States.

Seizing the possibility of directing his first independent short film, Rodrigo Blaas asked some of the best artists in their field to take part in this independent project: French animator Bolhem Bouchiba, character designer Carlos Grangel and Sergio Pablos, ArtDirector Alfonso Blaas, music composer Mastretta and sound designer Tom Myers.

It's a bit freaky, weird and cute, all things that make Alma a winner for me. It's been making the festival circuit and winning awards and for a short time (I don't know how long) you can view the short for free. I've added the video below so check it before it's gone. It's definitely worth your time. Here's a big congrats to Alma's director Rodrigo Blass and here's hoping we see more from him soon.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Movie Talkback - Panic Attack (Ataque De Panico!)

I want to take the time to mention a fantastic, almost fairy-tale like story. Basically, an unknown producer from Uruguay, Fede Alvarez, shelled out about $300 to create a cool video of a robot invasion in Montevideo, the capitol of Uruguay. The four-minute short, "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack) features huge (slow moving) weapon-wielding robots that blow stuff up. Panic Attack looks amazing, and when you take into account that the film cost 300 bucks, wow, it looks like it cost 100 times that much. But the story doesn’t end there.

Fede Alvarez told the BBC, "I uploaded 'Ataque de Panico!' on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of emails from Hollywood studios." Long story short, a bidding war ensued. The offer he pocketed: A $30 million deal with Sam "Spidey" Raimi's Ghost House Pictures to direct a sci-fi thriller set in Uruguay and Argentina. So yeah, from 300 bucks to 30 million, sounds about right to me.
So congrats to Alvarez and it’s always nice to hear a good Hollywood story rather than stories of the rich getting richer and making bad movies.

So check our Panic Attack on below and let me know what you think. It has a very Neil Blomkamp vibe to it, so I'm very excited to see Alvarez’s upcoming movie.

Podcast News and Oktapodi

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone. As you may have noticed, there wasn't a new podcast posted this weekend and that's because [drumroll please]... we didn't do one. However do not fret, I'll have something up for all our faithful listeners and readers around Wednesday or Thursday, so look forward to that and thanks for the patience.

To hold everyone over, I am posting one of my favorite animated shorts, 2007's Academy Nominated short from France, Oktapodi. It's the cute, quick and oh so charming story of two octopuses, or is that octopi, in love. Check it out, enjoy and I'll talk with you all soon.