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In recent years, it has become a tradition for animated adaptations of beloved children’s books to grace our screens during the festive season. While this trend arguably began in the 1980s with Dianne Jackson’s adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, more recent years have brought us several Julia Donaldson classics, as well as older favourites like Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea, both directed by Robin Shaw. This year, Shaw returned to the director’s chair for another Kerr festive adaptation, with the Lupus Films produced Mog’s Christmas, which has earned a nomination for this year’s Best British Short Animation award at the BAFTAs. Curious about the process of bringing cherished books to life, we sat down with Shaw to discuss the art of creating family-friendly films, the challenge of staying true to the original story,...

The Palm Springs International ShortFest has announced the juried and audience award winners for its 2024 edition, which took place June 18-24. Over $25,000 in cash prizes and five Academy Award-qualifying honors were presented to the winning films, which included Esteban Pedraza’s “Bogotá Story” and Jadwiga Kowalska’s animated film “The Car That Came Back from the Sea.”

See a full list of winners below.

Oscar Qualifying Awards:

Best of the Festival Award –

• Winner: “Bogotá Story” (Colombia/USA), Directed by Esteban Pedraza

Best Animated Short –

• Winner: “The Car That Came Back from the Sea” (Switzerland), Directed by Jadwiga Kowalska

Best Documentary Short –

• Winner:” Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr” (USA), Directed by Kimberly Reed

Best Live-Action Short Over 15 Minutes presented by V Channels Corp –

• Winner: “Oyu” (France/Japan), Directed by Atsushi Hirai

Best Live-Action Short 15 Minutes and Under –

• Winner: “Complications” (Norway), Directed by Ivar Aase

Student Short Awards:

Best Student Animated Short –

• Winner:...

Francesca Orsi Wins Series Mania Award

HBO programing boss Francesca Orsi is to be awarded Series Mania’s Woman In Series Award and will take the stage with Bad Wolf CEO Jane Tranter at the Lille confab later this month. Orsi, whose slate has included the likes of The Last of Us, The White Lotus and Euphoria, along with Bad Wolf-made shows such as Industry, will speak about her career and the industry during the Tranter chat. She is one of the biggest draws for the Lille event, which takes place in two weeks and is featuring the likes of Patricia Arquette and Narcos showrunner Chris Brancato. “Awarding Francesca Orsi with this award for 2024 was an easy decision and an obvious choice for us,” said Laurence Herszberg, Series Mania founder. “Francesca is a true leader and I am incredibly honored to be presenting her with our award this year.” Last...

Finalists have been announced for the 2024 British Animation Awards, which will take place on March 7 at London’s BFI Southbank.

Contending for best feature film are “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “A Cat Called Dom,” “Kensuke’s Kingdom,” “Puffin Rock and The New Friends” and “The Amazing Maurice.”

“Christopher at Sea,” “The Debutante” and “All Gucci My Broski” are nominated in the short film category.

Adjoa Andoh, Benedict Cumberbatch, Emilia Clarke, Idris Elba, Claire Foy, Tom Hollander and Hugh Laurie are among the ensemble cast members nominated for best voice performance for “Mog’s Christmas” “The Amazing Maurice” and “The Boy, the Mole, The Fox and the Horse.”

Baa also acknowledges achievement in television, with “Tweedy & Fluff,” “The Sound Collector – Harp Strings,” “The Rubbish World of Dave Spud – Moonbreaker” and “Lloyd of the Flies” nominated for best children’s series.

For best original music, composer David Arnold is nominated for “Mog’s Christmas...

Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy are set to play a married couple in an animated adaptation of beloved British children’s book “Mog’s Christmas.”

Cumberbatch and Foy will lend their voices to the Channel 4 adaptation of Judith Kerr’s book, playing Mog’s owners Mr and Mrs Thomas.

Joining them are “Bridgerton’s” Adjoa Andoh as the narrator, Miriam Margolyes (“Harry Potter”) and Maggie Steed (“Paddington 2”) as the Aunts, Zawe Ashton (“Fresh Meat”) as Mog’s neighbor Mrs Gaynor, Charlie Higson (“The Fast Show”) as the Jolly Uncle, comedian Gareth Berliner (“Dr Who”) as the Chestnut Seller and newcomers Amelie Law (age 11) and Teddy Skelton (age 9) as The Thomas’s children Debbie and Nicky.

Mog’s miaows and purrs will be provided by Kerr’s daughter Tacy Kneale.

The “Mog” books were based on Kerr’s own family cat and the first in the series was published...