Pescara, May 31 / June 4, 2023
British film director and producer Peter Lord will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award of the ‘2023 Cartoons On The Bay – International Festival of Animation, Transmedia and Meta-Arts‘, an event promoted By Rai and organized by Rai Com that is reaching its 27th edition and returning to Pescara, following the prior year’s success, from May 31 to June 4, 2023. Peter Lord is the second 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award, following the one previously announced and conferred to Israeli film director and producer Ari Folman.
Peter Lord, a British film director and producer is the co-owner and creative director of Aardman Animations, which he co-founded with David Sproxton in 1972. The two refined the stop motion animation technique, often through the use of plasticine puppets which became Aardman’s trademark. Their creative work ranges from TV series such as Shaun the Sheep and Creature Comforts to television ads and music videos such as the one for the song Sledgehammer, by Peter Gabriel. Peter has filled the role of executive producer, producer and director in six films: Flushed Away, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-rabbit, Arthur Christmas, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, Shaun the Sheep and Early Man. Coauthor, co-producer and director in 2000 of the film Chicken Run, together with Nick Park, as director he received three nominations at the Oscars: for short films Adam in 1992 and Wat’s Pig in 1996 and for his feature film debut, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, in 2013. In November of 2018 Aardman became a company owned by employees, a way to ensure that the studio remain independent and to secure the company’s creative and cultural legacy for the future.
The topic of the year of Cartoons On The Bay will be “Real, Unreal, Virtual. Imagined and imaginary worlds. Between utopia, opportunity and alienation. The suspension of technological disbelief”. In June, the Festival, led by Roberto Genovesi, will confer three new Pulcinella Awards that look to the future and the capacity for the sector’s innovation(to the brand capable of leading viewers to various platforms thanks to its narrative abilities), Meta Award (to the brand capable of immersing the viewer in a fascinating, stimulating and safe digital environment). Cartoons is also the first festival in the world to introduce the recognition of the creative product and that amongst all others was better able to narrate to the target audience the complexity of the gender topic: the Arlecchino Award. Also new for the categories of the competition, with a registration deadline of March 31: Preschool TV Show (2-4 years old), Upper Preschool Show (4-6 years old), Kids TV Show (7-11 years old), Youth TV Show (11+ years old), Interactive Animation, Live Action And Hybrid Show, TV Pilot, Short Film and Animated Feature. In the last edition, the competition entries are three hundred and sixty, with over one thousand accredited industry professionals taking part in the Festival, over five thousand attendees at the plays in piazza Salotto, and thousands of students who attended the previews.