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09-02-2005, 09:53 PM
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<h1 style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">Former Disney animator makes film about Disney animation</font></h1>
<em></em><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/arts/credit.html" target="_blank"></a>
</div>
<p>
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. - A one-time employee of the Walt Disney Co.'s animation department has made a film about Disney animation. </p>
<p>Called <i>Dream On Silly Dreamer</i>,
it is being screened in Minneapolis on Thursday, one day before the
company's shareholders gather in that city for their annual meeting.</p>
<p>The film's director, Dan Lund, worked for Disney for 15 years before
the company decided to shut down its hand-drawn animation studio. </p>
<p>He documented the layoffs that marked the end of an era in American filmmaking by interviewing his co-workers. </p>
<p>"It's not just an attack on management," Lund told the Associated Press. "I didn't make the movie just to tick them off." </p>
<p>The publicity poster for the 40-minute-long movie shows a foot dressed in a business shoe squashing Mickey Mouse. </p>
<p>Long a giant in the animation field, Disney was responsible in the 1990s for such hits as <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, <i>The Little Mermaid</i> and <i>The Lion King</i>. </p>
<p>But following flops like <i>Atlantis: The Lost Empire</i> and <i>Treasure Planet</i>, the firm laid off its hand animators in 2002 to focus on computer-animated features. </p>
<p>One person who is giving the film a rave review is Roy Disney, the
nephew of the company's founder, Walt Disney, and a former member of
its board. </p>
<p>"It should be seen by everyone who still believes in the magic of
Disney," he said in an article posted on the SaveDisney.com website,
adding that <i>Dream On Silly Dreamer</i> puts a human face on an "institutional tragedy." </p>
<p>Roy Disney has campaigned to return the company to its roots as a maker of hand-drawn films. </p>
<p>Lund says that Roy Disney "saw the film and is 100 per cent behind it, emotionally and creatively." </p>
<p>The film, which is partly animated, will have five screenings on Thursday in Minneapolis that are free to the public. </p>
<p>Lund says he hopes that, after seeing the film, shareholders feel "a
sense of loss" and tell management that "maybe that division means more
than just a financial thing."</p>
<h1 style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="3">Former Disney animator makes film about Disney animation</font></h1>
<em></em><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/arts/credit.html" target="_blank"></a>
</div>
<p>
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. - A one-time employee of the Walt Disney Co.'s animation department has made a film about Disney animation. </p>
<p>Called <i>Dream On Silly Dreamer</i>,
it is being screened in Minneapolis on Thursday, one day before the
company's shareholders gather in that city for their annual meeting.</p>
<p>The film's director, Dan Lund, worked for Disney for 15 years before
the company decided to shut down its hand-drawn animation studio. </p>
<p>He documented the layoffs that marked the end of an era in American filmmaking by interviewing his co-workers. </p>
<p>"It's not just an attack on management," Lund told the Associated Press. "I didn't make the movie just to tick them off." </p>
<p>The publicity poster for the 40-minute-long movie shows a foot dressed in a business shoe squashing Mickey Mouse. </p>
<p>Long a giant in the animation field, Disney was responsible in the 1990s for such hits as <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, <i>The Little Mermaid</i> and <i>The Lion King</i>. </p>
<p>But following flops like <i>Atlantis: The Lost Empire</i> and <i>Treasure Planet</i>, the firm laid off its hand animators in 2002 to focus on computer-animated features. </p>
<p>One person who is giving the film a rave review is Roy Disney, the
nephew of the company's founder, Walt Disney, and a former member of
its board. </p>
<p>"It should be seen by everyone who still believes in the magic of
Disney," he said in an article posted on the SaveDisney.com website,
adding that <i>Dream On Silly Dreamer</i> puts a human face on an "institutional tragedy." </p>
<p>Roy Disney has campaigned to return the company to its roots as a maker of hand-drawn films. </p>
<p>Lund says that Roy Disney "saw the film and is 100 per cent behind it, emotionally and creatively." </p>
<p>The film, which is partly animated, will have five screenings on Thursday in Minneapolis that are free to the public. </p>
<p>Lund says he hopes that, after seeing the film, shareholders feel "a
sense of loss" and tell management that "maybe that division means more
than just a financial thing."</p>