Fall festival and event updates

Bug therapy, the new comedy from 88 Productions and Citronella Stories, powered by Epic MegaGrants, will make its world premiere at the Austin Film Festival in Texas this month. The film debuts on Sunday 24 October at 16:30 pm. with an encore on October 25 at 20pm, both followed by questions and answers from the cast and crew. Directed by Jason Reisig (Smallfoot) and written by Emmy nominees Tonight Show Writer Michael Jann and Michele Jourdan, this lighthearted look at mental health features the voices of Dr. Phil, Meghan Trainor, Jay Leno, Sterling K. Brown, Tom Green, Emily Goglia and Reisig.

Animation Is Film (AIF) has announced the jury members and special events to be held at the 4th annual edition (22-24 October), along with the hugely popular program curated by Annecy International and Women In Animation. Furthermore, LAIKA, will host a showcase of all five award-winning animation studios feature films featured in a curated exhibition in the TCL lobby, characters include: Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. The Festival takes place in person and returns home to the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters in Hollywood.

• This year's jury includes Myke chilian (Animator; Creator, Tig 'n Seek), Deborah Cook (Stop-motion costume designer), Peter Debruge (Chief Film Critic, Variety / President of the jury), Sandra Equihua (creative consultant, Maya and the Three Warriors), Dan Krall (Artist, Producer, Dexter's laboratory), Kristin Lowe (CCO of Features for DreamWorks Animation), Eric Oh (Oscar nominee for Opera), Ray Pride (Movie critic), Ray Rodriguez , Charles Solomon (Critic and historian) e Ramin Zahed.

• The best of Annecy: spotlight on female directors will include No leader please (Joan Gratz, United States), Business of Art (Joann Quinn, UK / Canada), It is raining (Carolina Corral Paredes & Magali Rocha Donnadieu, Mexico), Like being at home (Andrea Dorfman, Canada), What resonates in the silence (Marine Blin, France) e The Awakening of Insects (Stephanie Lansaque, France).

The Czech Center has announced that the 25th Made in Prague Festival (November 7 - December 10; London, UK) will feature a screening of animated feature films My Sunny Maad, in the presence of the Oscar-nominated director Michaela Pavlatova. Based on the novel freshta by Petra Procházková, the film centers on a Czech student who falls in love with an Afghan man and moves to Kabul to live with her extended and welcoming family. My Sunny Maad will play as part of the “Contemporary Czech Cinema” program at The Gate, Notting Hill.

ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the world's largest presenter of indigenous screen content, offers in-person and virtual events from Toronto from October 19-14. Among the selection of over 145 works by artists representing 51 indigenous nations and 26 indigenous languages ​​are a good number of high-profile animated shorts screened in various programs: Ajjigiingiluktaaqtugut (We are all different) by Lindsay McIntyre, Angakusajaujuq - The Shaman Apprentice by Zaccaria Kunuk, Maple Sugar Moon by Jay Havens and Spy Dénommé-Welch, Meneath: the hidden island of ethics by Terril Calder, New Rico by Kristian Mercado, Premonition: on the eve of the signing of the Treaty 6 by Barry Bilinksy, The train station by Lyana Patrick, brawl by Christopher Grant e Will the flowers be? by Kay Chan.

• The world inside - Sandrine Stoïanov, Jean-Charles Finck
• Under the skin, the bark - Franck Dion
• Is it really good? - Marc Faye
• My friend who shines at night - Jawed Boudaoud, Simon Cadilhac, Grégoire de Bernouis, Hélène Ledevin
• Precious - Paul Mas
• Absence - Marc Héricher
• Sweet madness, hard madness - Marine Laclotte
• Asmahan the Diva - Chloé Mazlo

The Italian TV Festival (ITTV) returns to Los Angeles from October 30 to November 2, starting with a free first night for families at San Pedro's Little Italy. The public screening event features a theme called “The Young TV”, coinciding with this year's Festival focus on writing for TV series, animation and LBE. The opening night, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles, ENIT, the Italian National Tourist Board and the Little Italy Association of Los Angeles. is dedicated to animated short films and television series for children and families:

• Pinocchio and Friends (US Premiere feature) - created by Studio Rainbow and Rai Ragazzi
• puffins - a three-episode series with the voice of Johnny Depp
• Arctic Friends - a two-episode series of ILBE Group Productions
• mila - a CG animated short film about a girl who survived the bombings during the Second World War in Trento, Italy, in 1943, by Cinzia Angelini
• 44 cats - created by Iginio Straffi
• Winx Club - created by Iginio Straffi

Open the Portal hosts the world premiere of its first original pilot, Psycho Psalms, Saturday, October 23 at the Cinelounge Outdoor Theater in Los Angeles. The event is hosted by Mauricio Alvarado and Jerry Beck and will include a question and answer session / meet and greet with the all-star animators who worked on the project, including veterans of The nightmare before Christmas, chewy e Coraline - plus adult drinks, truck food, gourmet popcorn, merch from RockinPins.com, and original artwork from pilot artists. The premiere will be held in conjunction with the screening of ghostly retro cartoons Betty Boop's Halloween party.

Five compelling titles from around the world have been nominated for the Best animated film category of the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The November 11 awards ceremony will launch the Third screen Asia Pacific forum; both presented by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy with the support of the Griffith Film School. The nominees are:

• Beauty Water (South Korea) - dir. Kyung-hun Cho, prod. Byung-jin Jeon
• Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (Japan) - dir. Ayumu Watanabe, prod. Sanma Akashiya, Eiko Tanaka, Shu Kamigaso, Mitsugu Yamada
• The Knight and the Princess (Saudi Arabia / Egypt) - dir. Bashir el Deek, Ibrahim Mousa; prod. Alabba bin Alabba
• The Nose or The Conspiracy of Mavericks (Russia) - dir./prod. Andrey Khrzhanovsky
• Where Is Anne Frank (Belgium) - dir. Ari Folman, prod. Jani Thiltges, Yves Kugelmann, Ari Folman, Alexander Rodnyansky

In 2022, FMX - Film & Media Exchange will return to its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, after being hosted online in 2021. From 3 to 5 May, FMX will open its doors with a first-class program on site at Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart. On May 6, FMX will switch to virtual mode, offering an exclusive online program that will be available worldwide. The conference will be inspired by the central theme Change the game, with director and producer Hasraf 'HaZ' Dulull (The Beyond, 2036 Unknown origin, Fast Layne) by joining FMX as the first ever Program Chair.