From Michael Attardi: “This is an article that was written about our project and it comes out of Wales, United Kingdom. SwanseaLife is the largest magazine in Wales and I met the Publisher while I was in Swansea for the film festival back in June. He really loved our movie and decided to do a feature story for his holiday issue.
Swansea is a very special place to me and my family and it brings us much joy to have great friends who live over the other side of the pond.
Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving and I wish everyone the best of health and love.”
ONCE UPON A RECORD BREAKER
by Dai Blatchford in SwanseaLife Magazine
It was at last year’s Swansea Bay International Film Festival that Attardi won the category of ‘Best CGI animated movie’, receiving the prestigious ‘Tinny Award’ from the Lord Mayor of Swansea. The festival had over 2,000 submissions from all over the world lifting this relatively new festival to fourth largest in the world.
‘Once Upon a Christmas Village’ is a 15 minute animated film that has been described as, “a timeless tale of love, a leap of faith and transformation featuring characters that embody the archetypes of good and evil battling over what force will control their village and save the magic of Christmas.” Exactly the sort of heart warming fare that all kids, especially the big ones, love to enjoy when the north wind is rattling the windows and Jack Frost is Fred Astaireing his way along the ridge tiles. Good, evil, Santa Claus and a magic watch this film has the lot which may go a long way towards explaining its massive success. It is Santa himself who kickstarts the action by losing his watch after a close encounter with Air Force One; well we’ve all done it. Of course, being Santa this is a magical watch rather than a cheap one from the market, and when it lands under the Christmas tree it brings to life the plastic villagers living in a stained glass village. Two of them are lovers; Troy and Noelle, and soon Troy is in trouble on the dark side of the tree. Eventually he defeats the evil villain whose dastardly plot is to melt down the villagers to make soldiers, and receives his reward; a kiss from Noelle. Love prevails and the spirit of Christmas aka ‘good’ walks abroad. Old Clumsy Claus even gets his watch back.
Directed by, written by and starring Michael Attardi the film features the considerable voice talents of Jim Belushi and Tim Curry. And the Swansea festival was one among a number of highly rated film festivals to have recognised something special in Attardi’s film that has continued to gather accolades as though they were rosebuds.
Michael Attardi has won so many awards that it would take a good part of this magazine to even begin to list them all. But with ‘Once Upon a Christmas Village’ he has mined a rich vein that never goes out of fashion rooted as it is in the timeless myths of the battle between good and evil. And he is aware of it as he plans to extend the story into a feature length version to be called ‘Snowyville’. he film is already in production and both Belushi and Curry are in talks to discuss reprising their roles.
As well as being an immensely talented man Michael Attardi is also extremely generous in his praise or others. He is quoted as saying: “I really believe that my animation team, run by Jeff Sheetz and my musical composer, Dani Donadi had everything to do with our success. Having professionals like them, joined with amazing talents like Belushi and Curry, creates a recipe for greatness. The support I have had from my friends from Long Branch, Orlando, Hollywood and New York has been incredible. I was able to put together a team, lead by two really great friends Gary Mason (Millstone Twp) and David iambrone (Rumson) who not only believed in my dreams but their own dreams as well. That is what made his film magical. It was never about me, it was always about the story.”
