Huffington Post — Annecy attendees will be the first to feast their eyes on “Feast,” Walt Disney Animation Studios’ newest short

Jim Hill

11 years ago

It's become one of the real high points of the animation
industry's annual calendar: The world premiere of Walt Disney Animation Studios'
latest short at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival & Conference.

This practice actually began back in the summer of 2003 right
after work on "Destino" had wrapped. Given that this surreal animated
short — which had originally begun production back in the 1940s as a
collaboration between Salvador Dali & Disney Legend John Hench — had
finally been completed by artists & animators working at Disney Paris
Studios … Well, Mouse House marketers thought that there was no better place
for "Destino" to debut than at this French film festival.

Then — starting in 2011 — Walt Disney Animation Studios
started making a regular thing of world premiering its new shorts at Annecy.
Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton's "The Ballad of Nessie" made
a big splash when it was shown that summer at the fest's Screening on the Lake
series. Likewise John Kahrs' "Paperman" sent many hearts (and paper
airplanes) soaring when it held its world premiere at the 2012 edition of Annecy.
And few who attended last year's debut of "Get A Horse!" will forget
the elaborate prank that WDAS played on Annecy
attendees. Which was when director Lauren MacMullan & master animator Eric
Goldberg pretended that this skillful mix of CG & hand-drawn animation was
a lost Mickey Mouse short.

Eric Goldberg onstage at the 2013 edition of the Annecy International Animation Film
Festival & Conference as he sets the scene for "Get A Horse!" world premiere.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

Now — for the 2014 edition of the Annecy International
Animation & Conference — the artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios have
literally prepared a "Feast." Which is the title of a brand-new short
from first-time director Patrick Osborne.

Osborne first came to John Kahrs' attention after he created
an experimental animation test at WDAS. Consequently John then recruited
Patrick to come be the head of animation on that Oscar-winning short.

Mind you, another key member of the "Feast" production team is Jeff
Turley. Jeff was the production designer on "Paperman." And he &
Osborne are reteaming on this new Walt Disney Animation Studios short.

"And what is 'Feast' about?," you ask. Well,
according to the blurb that Mouse House marketers released earlier today, this
new animated short is " … the story of one man's love life (as) seen through
the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite-by-bite through
the meals they share."

"Feast" will shown this Fall in front of WDAS' new action-packed,
big-screen adventure "Big Hero 6" (which hits theaters on Nov. 7, 2014). But if you'd like to
be among the first to feast your eyes on "Feast" … Well, now would
be a very good time to start pricing plane tickets to France.