Nickelodeon will kick off the fifth annual Nicktoons Network Animation Festival with a two-day, invitation-only event to feature a Q & A session with Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the X-Men and other famous superheroes. Moderated by Brown Johnson, president of animation for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group, the chat will be part of ‘Creator Night,’ taking place at Animation Studio in Burbank, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. The shindig will be hosted by actor/comedian Chris Hardwick (Back at the Barnyard, House of 1,000 Corpses) and will feature a musical performance by Rooney.
Day two of the event, ‘Kids’ Day,’ is slated for Saturday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. Families will have the opportunity to celebrate animation with a variety of kid-themed activities including coloring stations, Rock Band 2 and screenings of festival shorts and the new Nicktoons Network series Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man: Armored Adventures, both coming to Nicktoons Network in 2009.
The on-air portion of the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival will feature a new short film entry each night throughout the month of October at 11 p.m. (ET) on Nicktoons Network. This year, the festival received more than 4,500 submissions from animators around the world, including South Korea, Turkey, Malaysia, Austria, Pakistan and South Africa. Entries will be evaluated by a grand jury of judges led by Nickelodeon’s Brown Johnson and Eric Rollman, Marvel Animation president Ken Katsumoto, Lionsgate Family Entertainment exec VP Miles Bullough and last year’s winner, Nicole Mitchell. They will collectively select the winner of the Grand Jury Award of $10,000.
The Grand Prize winner will be granted the Nickelodeon Development Award, which includes $30,000 towards the development of a show treatment, pilot script and storyboard. Other awards include the Student Award (a partnership with mtvU), Greater Creator Award and Producer’s Choice Award. Additionally, Nicktoons Network has partnered with AddictingGames for the ‘I Got Game’ contest and with the LEGO Group for the ‘Built By Me’ Movie contest. To watch the winning entries and all submissions, or read the festival blog, visit www.nicktoonsnetwork.com/NNAF.
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