DBP IN ANIMATION MAGAZINE: “Dream Balloon heads to ‘Snowyville’”

By Ryan Ball (Aug 6, 2007)

Dream Balloon Ent. co-founder Michael Attardi, creator and director of the award-winning, CG-animated short film Once Upon A Christmas Village, tells us he is pushing forward with Snowyville, a feature-length version of the story. Since announcing his intentions to do so in April, he says he has major financing and key team members in place, and is currently in negotiations with a distributor. Actors Jim Belushi and Tim Curry are also in talks to reprise their voice roles.

Once Upon a Christmas Village tells the story of a decorative miniature town that comes to life when Santa’s magic watch accidentally falls under a Christmas tree. The animation was created by animators from Digital Animation and Visual Effects Studio (D.A.V.E.) at Universal Studios-Orlando, Fla. D.A.V.E. School’s Jeff Sheetz will serve as animation producer on the feature and a number of his graduates will likely be employed on the production as well.

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“Once Upon A Christmas Village” Wins “Best Animation Film” at The 2007 Las Vegas International Film Festival.

Dream Balloon Production’s Animated Movie “Once Upon A Christmas Village” Wins tenth Grand Jury Prize in a row and 25th Award for “Best Animation Film” at The 2007 Las Vegas International Film Festival.

Dream Balloon Productions Executive Producer, John Hadity, has announced that Multi-Award Winning Director, Michael Attardi’s Once Upon a Christmas Village featuring the voices of Jim Belushi and Tim Curry won the Grand Jury Award for “Best Animation” at the Las Vegas International Film Festival. This is the 25th win for the film and tenth in a row on the film festival circuit.

Dream Balloon Productions is in development to produce a full-length animation feature film, “Snowyville” based on the award-winning animated short “Once Upon a Christmas Village” which is slated to go into production no later than September 2007.

OUACV wins at The 2007 Swansea Bay International Film Festival in Wales, United Kingdom

Dream Balloon Production’s Animated Movie “Once Upon A Christmas Village” Wins Grand Jury Prize for “Best CGI-Animation Film” at The 2007 Swansea Bay International Film Festival in Wales, United Kingdom.

Dream Balloon Productions has announced that Multi-Award Winning Director, Michael Attardi’s Once Upon A Christmas Village featuring the voices of Jim Belushi and Tim Curry won the Grand Jury Prize for “Best CGI-Animation Film.” This is the first win for the film in the United Kingdom as Director; Michael Attardi was presented the prestigious “Tinny Award” by the Lord Mayor of Swansea in Wales, United Kingdom. The festival had over 2,300 submissions from all over the world as only 225 films were accepted into competition. Making Swansea Bay Film Festival the fourth largest film festivals in Europe next to Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

Dream Balloon Productions is in development to produce a full-length feature film, “Snowyville” based on the award-winning animated short which is slated to go into production no later than September 2007.

SWANSEA BEST FOR INDEPENDENT FILM

BY GARETH DAVIES for the SWANSEA EVENING POST (view the original article)

A Prize-winning American director who was at the Swansea Bay Film Festival reckons it is better for independent film- makers than Cannes.Michael Attardi won the category for Best CGI (computer-generated imagery) movie at the festival awards last Friday.

The animated film is called Once Upon a Christmas Village and stars the voices of Tim Curry and Jim Belushi.

The film is not yet on general release, but it has been shown in Swansea as part of the festival after already gathering a mantelpiece worth of awards at other festivals.

The film was also shown at the Cannes Film Festival just last month, where it was runner-up out of 4,000 films entered in its category.

But the 40-year-old father-of-two preferred the Swansea experience to the French star-studded hotspot.

He took his wife Colleen, four-year-old Mikey and 11-month-old Nathaniel along for the visit to our city as well as his 25-year-old god-daughter Noelle.

And after spending a few days in London following the festival, they are coming back to Swansea for a spell because they liked it so much.

Michael said: “The thing I like about Swansea is you are really made to feel welcome here.

“Cannes has got a lot of history, but I think it is more concerned with American movie stars.

“What I love about the Swansea Bay Film Festival is that it embraces the American film-makers.

“I prefer it to Cannes – you get a personal touch here that could never happen there because it is such a big event.”

Dream Balloon Production’s Animated Movie “Once Upon A Christmas Village” Is A Finalist at the Rhode Island International Film Festival

Dream Balloon’s Award Winning Director Michael Attardi’s Once Upon A Christmas Village featuring the voices of Jim Belushi and Tim Curry will be a finalist for “Best Animation” at the 11th Annual Rhode Island International Film Festival August 7-12, 2007. RIIFF is ranked as one of the top 12 festivals in the United States. A win at RIIFF will qualify “Once Upon A Christmas Village” for submission for an Academy Award nomination.Dream Balloon Productions is in development to produce a full-length feature film, “Snowyville” based on the award-winning animated short which is slated to go into production no later than September 2007 for a November 2009 release.

Once Upon A Christmas Village and the 60th edition of the Cannes Film Festival

No Melt-Down for Once Upon A Christmas Village in the heat of southern France during the 60th edition of the Cannes Film Festival

Award Winning Director Michael Attardi’s Once Upon A Christmas Village featuring the voices of Jim Belushi and Tim Curry, was the 1st Runner-up winner of the Moving Picture Magazine Award in the Short Corner during the 60th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Screened on May 20th to a packed house Once Upon A Christmas Village received rave reviews from an audience consisting of film goers, writers, directors and producers.

Dream Balloon Productions is in development to produce a full-length feature film, “Snowyville” based on the award-winning animated short which is slated to go into production no later than September 2007.

Once Upon A Christmas Village is a winner with Moving Picture Magazine

Dream Balloon Production’s Animated Movie “Once Upon A Christmas Village” Is A Winner With Moving Picture Magazine. Award Winning Director Michael Attardi’s Once Upon A Christmas Village featuring the voices of Jim Belushi and Tim Curry ” is 1st Runner-up in animation and 9th over all out of 4,000 submissions in the Moving Picture Magazine Short Film Contest. As1st runner up, Once Upon A Christmas Village will be screened by Moving Picture Magazine on Sunday, May 20, 2007 during the Canne Film Festival’s Short Film Corner. Moving Pictures Magazine features the stories behind movie making.

Congratulatory Letter to Michael Attardi from Worldfest Team

Dear Michael Attardi…On behalf of the Board of Directors and Executive Staff of the 40th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival…Our sincere congratulations! Out of more than 4,500 international category entries in the 10 major Remi Award Competitions, you are a Remi Winner! This is a special group email to all Remi Winners, so you may have attended the remarkable Remi Awards Gala Dinner and already know what you have won, but many of our winners were not able to make it, so this is your first report.

More than 500 international filmmakers attended the 10-day Cinema Celebration that is WorldFest – 58 great new feature films, 68 international short films! The Remi Awards Gala Dinner was wonderful, with great gourmet food and wine, fantastic entertainment and wonderful networking! The Festival Club in The Renaissance Hotel Lobby Bar was crowded every night with filmmakers from all over the world. China, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Nigeria, England, Mexico, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, Iraq and Iran, Canada, India, Pakistan, Italy, Taiwan, Israel, Japan, Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovania, Bermuda, Viet Nam, Serbia, Slovania, Poland, Greece, England, Poland, and even the good old USA!!!