Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

Michel Ocelot‘s animated feature, Azur & Asmar: The Princes’ Quest, has quietly opened in NYC at the IFC theater for a limited run. It plays daily at 5:20pm (and at 11 pm on Sat & Sun).

The too few reviews have been quite favorable. Read here:

the NYTimes says “…the movie has a terrific flair for arabesque patterning, a gemlike luminosity of surface and a handsome, classical cast of mind.”
Time Out NY says “…Azur & Asmar is absolutely gorgeous, as the director integrates visual elements and techniques drawn from medieval illuminations and Arabic art…”

The Weinstein Co. will release the dvd for this film on Nov. 11th.

Harvey Deneroff has an excellent piece on this film on his site.

- The following letter came from Jennifer Jeremich at CalArts re sending money to support Corny Cole, whose home was destroyed this week in the Marek fire:

Thank you for contacting CalArts about helping Corny Cole recover from the loss of his home in the Marek fire earlier this week. Your compassion is deeply appreciated not only by Corny and his wife, Linda, but also by all of us at CalArts who care about their well being.

For those of you who have asked for advice on how to get financial assistance to Corny, we have designated a primary point person who will collect funds for him. Any checks should be made payable to Cornelius Cole and sent to the following address:

California Institute of the Arts
ATT: Trish Patryla, Office of the Provost
24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355

On behalf of Corny and Linda, thank you so much for your concern and well wishes.

Jennifer Jeremich

This letter came by way of Roberta Levitow, and I thank her for sending it to me. Once again, let me post this Paypal link which I posted yesterday, in case you want to contribute that way: PayPal link.

- A week after the DVD release of Azur and Asmar, on November 18th, First Run Features is going to release the boxed set of my films on dvd. This is something I’m particularly proud of.

They’ve just sent me a press release to approve. It’s quite amazing that I allow people to say such wonderful things about me at this stage in my life. Here’s a small part of that two page release (that eliminates some of the overly positive hyperbole.)

First Run has long been a fan of Michael Sporn, and when made available we’ve eagerly released his beautifully crafted, socially aware films. Thus we’re proud to announce this new Collector’s Edition Box Set, which brings together in one package all twelve Sporn films that we’ve released over the years.

Based on stories from such acclaimed writers as William Steig (author of Shrek), Russell Hoban, Hans Christian Andersen and Lewis Carroll, the 12 films in the Box Set are considered among his best – and most personal – works, and feature a stunning cast of voices, including James Earl Jones, Ruby Dee, Tim Curry, Amanda Plummer, Danny Glover, Linda Lavin, Regis Philbin, Ossie Davis and F. Murray Abraham.

The six disc set also comes with copious bonus materials created by Sporn especially for these DVDs, including short films (In the Animation Studio, etc), animatics (storyboards), art galleries, and audio commentaries.

THE COLLECTOR’S EDITION BOX SET FEATURES THE AWARD WINNING FILMS
• Whitewash • The Talking Eggs • Champagne • The Hunting of the Snark •
The Marzipan Pig • Jazztime Tale • Abel’s Island • The Dancing Frog • The Red Shoes • The Little Match Girl • The Emperor’s New Clothes • Nightingale

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