AmeCon 2006

Katamari Damacy. The winners of 'Best in Show'

AmeCon is a convention dedicated to the celebration of Japanese animation and comics. This year it took place between the 11th and 13th of August at Leicester University. Attended by over 1000 anime and manga fans it is one of the largest anime conventions in England, drawing fans from all over the British Isles and from abroad. I was fortunate to attend in the company of Manga Entertainment (distributors of such revered anime titles as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Ninja Scroll) as well as the popular Manga TeamGo! girls. For 3 days the world of Japanese animation was explored through film screenings, industry panels, themed parties, karaoke and best of all (in my opinion) the Cosplay Masquerade. For those of you who don't know, 'cosplay' is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime and videogames.

new directors

We're excited to have TWO new animation directors joining TANDEM this month - Tony Mines and Jonathan Wood.

Tony Mines, with his company Spite Your Face Productions, is web-famous for his LEGO films, particularly Spider-Man: The Peril of Doc Ock which was funded by Sony/Marvel and LEGO to coincide with the release of Spider-Man 2. We've always loved these deceptively simple stop-frame films because of Tony's ability to combine lo-fi ingenuity with high production values - and we hadn't realised he was based just round the corner from us in Islington! We're delighted to be representing him for the first time as a commercials director. You can see the LEGO films at www.spiteyourface.co.uk/legofilms.php

Jonathan Wood is a new director who is best known for his graduation film Hurry Home, a rich and incredibly well-observed tribute to the print technique travel posters of the 40s - a real labour of love made entriely in CGI. We haven't before seen such a convincing film using this genre as reference. It's both authentic and very contemporary - and it's made even more impressive when you discover that Jonathan designed, animated and even composed the score himself. You can see the film at www.johnnywood.com/hurryhome

BBC music shorts competition

Only 3 days left to submit proposals for the BBC Music Shorts Competition There are six music tracks to choose from; the successful applicants get to make a short film in six weeks for a small budget! I've just mailed-in my form, does anyone else fancy having a go at this?

Evo gets another plugging ...

The London International Animation Festival schedule has been announced. The short film Evo will be screened in the 'British Panorama' event (a varied programme of recent UK shorts) at London's Curzon Cinema on Saturday August 26th at 9:00pm.

"will she no come back again?"

Best wishes to Sharon Colman, who did TANDEM proud this year gaining an Oscar nomination for her short Badgered, as she heads to LA and into the arms of another, namely Dreamworks Animation. Remember though Sharon, as the old Scottish proverb says, "Ane may like a haggis weel enough that wouldna like the bag bladded on his chafts". Or something like that.

Short-film 'Evo' gets plugged here ...

The recently-completed short film 'Evo' is to get several screenings this week at various venues around London as part of the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival. There are still a couple of days left of the festival, and screening details of the 'Animation Programme' which includes Evo can be found at The Rushes Soho Shorts Festival 2006

Evo is shortlisted in-competition for the Vue Cinemas Animation Award.

This film is now online at BBC Film Network