Editor’s Note
You never fully appreciate things until they are taken away from you. Well, that’s how we all probably feel about our favorite live conferences, festivals, film screenings and confabs. This past March, as I anxiously boarded a plane which took me to the Cartoon Movie event in Bordeaux, I could not have predicted that event would be the last I’d experience for a long time. Yes, even then, COVID-19 had begun its reign of terror in China, Italy and many other territories around the world, so we used hand sanitizer constantly and avoided handshakes and hugs (tough at first, I must admit). But now, all of that is a distant memory.
As Stuttgart, Annecy and many other online editions have proven over the past few months, it is possible to host a version of these international animation events virtually. You can still take in the wisdom and experiences of animation and visual effects artists and visionaries via Zoom panels every week. As Annecy demonstrated beautifully, you can even enjoy many more events, talks, works-in-progress previews and sneak peeks virtually than you would be able to do in real life — for less than $18 a pop and without the headaches of international travel and finding overpriced accommodations.
This summer, we will be experiencing online versions of Comic-Con and SIGGRAPH, and several other popular toon events, and we hope that this current issue will help you find some of the highlights of these and other events. We know it doesn’t quite replace the thrill of seeing some of our favorite animation creators, stars and showrunners in person, but if these past five months have taught us anything, it is to be grateful for all the good things that come our way.
Although no major features are opening in theaters, we have plenty of hot new animated content coming our way at home. We had a lot of fun chatting with the folks behind our two cover stories, DreamWorks’ Wizards: Tales of Arcadia for
Netflix and Disney+’s Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe. Among the other animation highlights of this month are Mike McMahan’s Star Trek: Lower Decks (CBS All Access) and Myke Chilian’s Tig n’ Seek (HBO Max), both of which provide lots of clever laughs with offbeat characters and storylines. All of these fun new offerings should take the bite out of our existential misery and anxieties about the future (for a few hours, at least).
We also had the chance to catch up with French graphic novelist and animation writer-director Joann Sfar, who is back this year with his wonderful new feature Little Vampire (Petit Vampire). The film is slated to open in France in October and, hopefully, we will all get to experience this charming adventure on the big screen. Until then, kick back and enjoy what he has to say about his inspirations and adventures in animations. Take in all the cool online panels that have blossomed all over the internet, and stay inspired as we all look forward to better months ahead.