Venice Film Festival awards John Lasseter and Disney*Pixar Golden Lion for Lifetime Achiement

La Biennale di Venezia /

66th Venice International Film Festival

The 2009 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to be awarded to

John Lasseter and the directors of Disney•Pixar

The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 66th Venice International Film Festival (2nd-12th September 2009) is to be awarded to the American director and producer, John Lasseter – one of the protagonists of the innovation in contemporary animated cinema – and to the directors of Disney*Pixar. Exceptionally in the history of the Venice Film Festival, the award celebrates not only a single filmmaker, but also the contribution of all the directors of this visionary studio.

The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement – assigned by the Board of Directors of the Venice Biennale, chaired by Paolo Baratta, following the proposal from the Festival Director, Marco Müller – will be presented to John Lasseter at a special ceremony in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema at Venice Lido, during the 66th Venice International Film Festival (2009), in the presence of some of his oldest and closest Disney•Pixar colleagues, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich.

“John Lasseter is the protagonist of ‘Western’ contemporary animation cinema,” declared Marco Müller. “Always on the lookout for that point at which the avant-garde (whether artistic, technological or formal) meets the blockbuster and the director of magnificent films – such as Toy Story (1995), A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Cars (2006), Lasseter has not only contributed in a fundamental manner to bringing animation cinema to new heights as one of the great expressive forces of the new millennium, but has also become one of the symbols of the most precious, vital and inventive tradition of the great Hollywood cinema.”

“We are particularly pleased to award this Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to one of the great innovators and experimenters of Hollywood,” declared the President of the Venice Biennale, Paolo Baratta. “We believe that the presence of John Lasseter in Venice, with his fellow Disney•Pixar directors, will represent an extraordinary opportunity for them to meet young Italian and European animation filmmakers as part of a workshop organised with the Biennale.”

John Lasseter – Biographical Notes

John Lasseter is chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering.  He is a two-time Academy Award®-winning director (Toy Story, 1995; Tin Toy, 1988) and oversees all Pixar and Disney films and associated projects. Lasseter directed the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed films Toy Story (1995), A Bug’s Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999).  Additionally, he executive produced Monsters, Inc. (2001, Pete Docter), Finding Nemo (2003, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich), The Incredibles (2004, Brad Bird), Ratatouille (2007, Brad Bird) and WALL-E (2008, Andrew Stanton). Lasseter returned to the director’s chair in 2006 with the release of Disney/Pixar film, Cars.

In 2004, Lasseter was honored by the Art Directors Guild with its prestigious “Outstanding Contribution To Cinematic Imagery” award, and received an honorary degree from the American Film Institute.

Under Lasseter’s supervision, Pixar’s animated feature and short films have received a multitude of critical accolades and film industry honors.  He received a Special Achievement Oscar® in 1995 for his inspired leadership of the Toy Story team.  His work on Toy Story also resulted in an Academy Award®-nomination for “Best Original Screenplay,” the first time an animated feature had been recognized in that category.  Finding Nemo, released spring 2003, became the highest grossing animated feature of all time, and won the Oscar® for “Best Animated Feature Film.”

As creative director of Pixar, Lasseter enjoyed the critical acclaim and box office success of The Incredibles in 2004.  The film was recognized with a record-breaking 16 Annie Award nominations and several “Best Of” awards by The Wall Street Journal, American Film Institute, National Board of Review and many others.

Lasseter also has written, directed and animated a number of highly renowned short films and television commercials for Pixar, including Luxo Jr. (1986 Academy Award® nominee); Red’s Dream (1987); Tin Toy (1988 Academy Award® winner); and Knickknack (1989), which was produced as a 3D stereoscopic film.  Pixar’s Tin Toy became the first computer animated film to win an Oscar® when it received the 1988 Academy Award® for Best Animated Short Film.

Prior to the formation of Pixar in 1986, Lasseter was a member of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm Ltd., where he designed and animated the computer-generated Stained Glass Knight character in the 1985 Steven Spielberg-produced film Young Sherlock Holmes.

Lasseter attended the inaugural year of the Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts and received his B.F.A. in film there in 1979.  While attending California Institute of the Arts, Lasseter produced two animated films, both winners of the Student Academy Award® for Animation; Lady and the Lamp in 1979 and Nitemare in 1980.  His very first award came at the age of five when he won $15.00 from the Model Grocery Market in Whittier, California, for a crayon drawing of the Headless Horseman.

Pixar Animation Studios

Pixar Animation Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is an Academy Award®-winning film studio with world-renowned technical, creative and production capabilities in the art of computer animation.  Creator of some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time, including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, and most recently, WALL•E. The Northern California studio has won 21 Academy Awards® and its nine films have grossed more than $5 billion at the worldwide box office to date.  The next film release from Disney•Pixar is Up (May 29, 2009).

by: www.examiner.com

Pixar wins Golden Lion

Animation guru John Lasseter and his ‘brothers in creative film making’ at Disney/Pixar received a career Golden Lion at the Venice film festival on Sunday.

‘This is a tremendous honour,’ Lasseter said at the ceremony in the Sala Grande of the Lido’s Palazzo del Cinema, flanked by Disney/Pixar directors Brad Bird, Peter Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich.

‘Pixar is founded on true creative collaboration,’ he said after receiving the award from George Lucas, who sold off the embryonic Pixar – then Lucasfilm’s computer graphics division – in 1986 for 10 million dollars.

‘These are my best friends and my brothers in creative film making,’ Lasseter said. ‘Our dream is always simple: to entertain our audiences around the world, everybody.’

Lucas offered congratulations to ‘my little backroom operation that started in 1979′ and went on the create such films as ‘Finding Nemo,’ “Wall-E”, ‘The Incredibles”, and the ‘Toy Story’ series.

‘It was a company that was founded on talent, primarily the talent of John Lasseter, who showed his stuff, a rebel who wanted to do digital animation before there was such a thing,’ Lucas said.

The company went on ‘to make hit after hit, which means every one of them works, primarily by nurturing talent: That has rewarded him and Pixar tenfold.’

When festival director Marco Mueller told Lasseter that he and Pixar were selected for the award, he said: ‘I quickly went online and looked at the other Golden Lions, and said, ‘Wait a minute, a Golden Lion for a bunch of animation geeks from northern California’?’

Lasseter also noted that it was the first time a studio had been so recognised, which he said ‘is so appropriate for Pixar because we have 250 filmmakers working on every movie we do.’

The Mostra festival screened 3-D versions of ‘Toy Story 1′ and its sequel on Sunday, as well as five minutes of the unfinished ‘Toy Story 3′.

by: www.straitstimes.com

Description of ‘Toy Story 3′ Clip at Venice Film Festival

During its presentation at 2009 Venice Film Festival when it was honored with a Golden Lion, Pixar reveals a never-before-seen footage from the third installment of the ‘Toy Story’ movie.

First footage from “Toy Story 3″ has been presented in front of audience at 2009 Venice Film Festival on Sunday, September 6 when director/producer John Lasseter and the team of Pixar directors were awarded with Golden Lion’s Honorary Award. While the footage has yet to come out online, Slash Film has made available the written description of what has been shown during Pixar’s presentation.

The footage begins with a shot of the all-grown-up Andy. With him preparing to go to college, his mom tells him to sort his room to place in the attic or be thrown into trash. After he finds Buzz and Woody in a box, he decides to take Woody with him and put the others in a black plastic bag for the attic. When he opens the ladder to the attic, his sister shows up. Andy then leaves the plastic bag on the floor to help her.

But, as he does so, the ladder closes and his mother walks by. Seeing the plastic bag left on the floor, she picks it up and puts it outside near the trash. Soon after, the trash truck is seen coming. Witnessing that, Woody tries to help his friends but cuts open the wrong plastic bag. The footage then sees a garbage guy putting the bag with the toys on the truck, before it ends with Woody running in aid of his friends who are starting to be swallowed by the truck.

On the day the footage shown, “Ratatouille” helmer Brad Bird, “Up” helmer Pete Docter , “Wall-E” helmer Andrew Stanton, “Toy Story 3″ helmer Lee Unkrich, and Lasseter were given the lifetime achievement award by Venice Film Festival. They were honored for their work in creating a new generation of childhood memories populated with Nemo, Woody and Sulley.

This marked the first time in the festival history that a Golden Lion is presented to not just one filmmaker but an entire studio. Talking to reporters, Lasseter said, “We really set out to deeply entertain an audience, not just children but adults as well. Filmmaking and animation is one of the most collaborative art forms there is in the world, and it is never more collaborative than it is at Pixar.”

“Toy Story 3″ will revolve around the toy crew as they are being dumped in a day-care center, forcing them to face yet another adventure. The animation movie will be done in 3-D and is set to be released in U.S. theaters on June 18, 2010. It will hear familiar voices from Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger and Jodi Benson.

by: www.aceshowbiz.com

Pixar wins lifetime award at Venice Film Festival

The Venice Film Festival’s red carpet was festooned with balloons on Sunday to mark the lifetime achievement award for director and producer John Lasseter and his crew of Pixar directors.

They were rewarded for their work creating a new generation of childhood memories populated with Nemo, Woody and Sulley. It is the first time in festival history that the award honors not just one filmmaker but an entire studio.

Pixar, founded in 1986 and based in northern California, pioneered digital computer animation and has made 10 feature films to date, four of which have won Oscars since the animation category was introduced in 2001.

“We really set out to deeply entertain an audience, not just children but adults as well,” Lasseter told reporters Sunday.

Lasseter said he was “tremendously honored” that the festival chose to give the award to the team of five Pixar directors, including Brad Bird (“Ratatouille” and “The Incredibles”), Pete Docter (“Up” and “Monsters Inc.”), Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E”), and Lee Unkrich (“Toy Story 3″). Lasseter directed the first two “Toy Story” movies and “Cars.”

“Filmmaking and animation is one of the most collaborative art forms there is in the world, and it is never more collaborative than it is at Pixar,” Lasseter said.

Lasseter posed with life-size Carl and Russell, the stars of Pixar’s latest runaway hit “Up” on a red carpet imprinted with the Italian logos for Pixar’s hits, “The Incredibles,” “Up,” “Finding Nemo” and the upcoming “Toy Story 3,” before receiving the Golden Lion from George Lucas, who helped launch Pixar.

“I think anybody else when they sell a company and the company goes on to be very successful, they would feel like they missed out,” Lasseter said. “George Lucas is so proud of us and we are so thankful to him. He is a true visionary.”

To mark the occasion, the festival premiered 3D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2,” which are set for theatrical release in the U.S. later in the fall. Children given a rare invite to the festival usually reserved for adults grabbed up free kites and posed next to a life-size model of Woody made out of Legos. Some came dressed as scouts, in homage to Russell.

Pixar merged with Disney three years ago, making Lasseter chief creative for both Pixar and Disney animation, where he is reintroducing hand-drawn animation.

“I felt like if there is a studio in the world who should be doing the highest quality hand-drawn animation, it is the studio that started it all, Disney,” Lasseter said.

A few minutes of the first project, “The Princess and the Frog,” was screening Sunday evening at Venice, marking the first time it will be seen outside of Pixar, Lasseter said.

An upcoming Pixar film breaks the studio mold of male characters as the central protagonist after its successful string of beloved male figures, from Nemo to Woody to Lightning McQueen. Lasseter said “The Bear and the Bow” is Pixar’s first fairy tale, a mother-daughter story set in Scotland and directed by filmmaker Brenda Chapman.

“We believe very strongly in having really strong female characters,” Lasseter said, then explaining why it hasn’t happened yet: “I mean you are looking at a bunch of guys up here.”

by: AP