With 66 Awards, Is Attardi the Next Walt Disney?
By Andy Van Roon
Michael Attardi, once a backup place-kicker for the fabled Los Angeles Raiders, looks like he’s on his way back to L.A. in a different arena — big screen animation fables. He’s already broken all records for the greatest number of awards won by a single indie animated film in one year — 66 — and still has 12 festivals to go in his circuit. Writer/director/producer/songwriter Attardi, is the imaginer behind the short, “Once Upon A Christmas Village,” (www.DreamBalloonProductions.com) an animation musical adventure starring Jim Belushi, Tim Curry and newcomer, Amanda Davis, designed to be a prototype for the full length feature version, “Snowyville,” currently in pre-production and set to shoot at Universal Studios in Orlando. The project has been so successful it has attracted Miramax financing vet John Hadity, who now steers the helm for the feature film project.
It has taken all of Attardi’s stamina learned as a former NFL player, as he and team members traveled from city to city on the path to winning at one venue after another. “Once Upon A Christmas Village” has won awards at Cannes (Moving Pictures Magazine Competition), Florence, Italy, WorldFest, Houston, New York, Boston International, Hollyshorts, Hollywood, Swansea Bay, South Africa, Action/Cut, DigiFestival, DC Independent, Delray Beach, Queen’s International, Las Vegas International, Garden State, Los Angeles Children’s Festival among many others, as well as 7 Aurora Awards (Best Director/Animation/Special Effects/Music/Writing/Lyrics/Producer), 7 Davey Awards,
4 Accolade’s for Award of Excellence, and a whopping 11 Telly Awards.
Attardi used a number of innovative techniques to establish his own animation admixture that includes CGI, miniatures, motion capture, and a rarely used Boris Scope Lens developed for George Lucas — all wrapped throughout a musical comedy package. The innovative animation strategy and record-breaking number of awards prompted one Pennsylvania indie film festival Director, Hayden Craddoph, to speculate on whether Attardi may be the next Walt Disney. Article at www.HaydenFilms.com.
“I’m obviously very humbled, and somewhat amazed, by the comparison,” said Attardi at a recent news conference where he won his latest award at the Queens Film Fest. “Humbled, because only a larger body of animated features could allow anyone to be talked about in the same breath with someone the stature of Walt Disney, but amazed, because Walt has actually been my greatest inspiration. It was Disney’s sheer ability to be both a groundbreaking innovator and commercially successful at the same time that made him such an icon of the motion picture industry, and an inspiration to me.”
What Attardi didn’t say is that he already has screenplays, soundtracks and packages for several more animated musical feature films completed, lining up for the kick-off. And on every one of them he’s working with the same award-winning team, including musical composer Dani Donaldi, artist/designer Paul Stolen, animation producer Jeff Sheetz, as well as writer/producer Andy van Roon. The projects all include Broadway-style show tunes within storylines dealing with pirates, Adventure, magic, and loveable creatures. Can you say: M-I-C-K-E-Y Attardi?
