A celebration of the talent and legacy of animation.
Filmmaker and animation specialist Mark Osborne has led a remarkable career. From co-directing the Oscar-nominated Kung Fu Panda to his work as the live-action director on Spongebob Squarepants to giving us his beautiful version of The Little Prince, Mark has been at the forefront of the animation industry.
Mark’s other, most well-known work to date, is the award-winning stop-motion animated short More, which came out in 1998 and subsequently screened at over 150 film festivals worldwide. It was the first IMAX animated film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award and would go on to garner the Special Jury Prize for Short Films at the Sundance Film Festival (1999), The SXSW Best Animated Short (1999), the ResFest Grand Prize (1999), the Critics Week selection for Cannes (1999), among many others.
In this interview, we look back at the making of the first-ever IMAX short More, with Mark Osbourne.
Image Credit: More © 1999 Mark Osborne. All Rights Reserved.
SPEAKER
Mark Osborne
Director // Independent
(The Little Prince, Coldplay: Hurts Like Heaven, SpongeBob SquarePants, Kung Fu Panda)
Mark Osborne is a two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient of the Chevalier of l’Order des Arts et Letters for his artistic work on behalf of the country of France. He directed the first-ever animated feature film adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved classic, The Little Prince. Mixing stop-motion animation and CGI, the film premiered Out of Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It grossed over 100 million dollars at the global box office while garnering worldwide acclaim.
Osborne’s breakout was DreamWorks’ critically acclaimed animated blockbuster, Kung Fu Panda, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. Osborne’s other credits include the stop-motion animation short film More, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film in 1999. Osborne has also worked in live-action, directing sequences for the first SpongeBob Squarepants Movie, as well as live-action sequences in the first three seasons of the popular TV series.
Mark graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a degree in Experimental Animation. Previous to that, he attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He is writing and developing new projects while seeking additional funding for two in-progress animated feature films.
MODERATOR
Keith Blackmore
Sr. Lecturer // Vancouver Film School
As an animation historian, Keith Blackmore has been a passionate cheerleader and a voice for all-things animated in the Vancouver area for almost 30 years. As one of the producers of the SPARK ANIMATION Festival and an active member of the local SIGGRAPH chapter, Keith has presented, interviewed and moderated at many festivals, local and national.
Since 1995, Blackmore has educated, entertained and inspired students in the history of animation and media studies at the Vancouver Film School. When he’s not reading, teaching or talking about animation, he’s watching it.
A celebration of the talent and legacy of animation.
Filmmaker and animation specialist Mark Osborne has led a remarkable career. From co-directing the Oscar-nominated Kung Fu Panda to his work as the live-action director on Spongebob Squarepants to giving us his beautiful version of The Little Prince, Mark has been at the forefront of the animation industry.
Mark’s other, most well-known work to date, is the award-winning stop-motion animated short More, which came out in 1998 and subsequently screened at over 150 film festivals worldwide. It was the first IMAX animated film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award and would go on to garner the Special Jury Prize for Short Films at the Sundance Film Festival (1999), The SXSW Best Animated Short (1999), the ResFest Grand Prize (1999), the Critics Week selection for Cannes (1999), among many others.
In this interview, we look back at the making of the first-ever IMAX short More, with Mark Osbourne.
Image Credit: More © 1999 Mark Osborne. All Rights Reserved.
SPEAKER
Mark Osborne
Director // Independent
(The Little Prince, Coldplay: Hurts Like Heaven, SpongeBob SquarePants, Kung Fu Panda)
Mark Osborne is a two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient of the Chevalier of l’Order des Arts et Letters for his artistic work on behalf of the country of France. He directed the first-ever animated feature film adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved classic, The Little Prince. Mixing stop-motion animation and CGI, the film premiered Out of Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It grossed over 100 million dollars at the global box office while garnering worldwide acclaim.
Osborne’s breakout was DreamWorks’ critically acclaimed animated blockbuster, Kung Fu Panda, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. Osborne’s other credits include the stop-motion animation short film More, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film in 1999. Osborne has also worked in live-action, directing sequences for the first SpongeBob Squarepants Movie, as well as live-action sequences in the first three seasons of the popular TV series.
Mark graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a degree in Experimental Animation. Previous to that, he attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He is writing and developing new projects while seeking additional funding for two in-progress animated feature films.
MODERATOR
Keith Blackmore
Sr. Lecturer // Vancouver Film School
As an animation historian, Keith Blackmore has been a passionate cheerleader and a voice for all-things animated in the Vancouver area for almost 30 years. As one of the producers of the SPARK ANIMATION Festival and an active member of the local SIGGRAPH chapter, Keith has presented, interviewed and moderated at many festivals, local and national.
Since 1995, Blackmore has educated, entertained and inspired students in the history of animation and media studies at the Vancouver Film School. When he’s not reading, teaching or talking about animation, he’s watching it.
