Irish Animation Awards, Cartoon Saloon Trilogy, Demon Slayer and More

GKIDS Films are planning a deluxe boxset edition of Cartoon Saloon's Oscar-nominated "Celtic Triptych"- The Secret Of Kells. Song Of The Sea and Wolfwalkers. This comes from director/co-director Tomm Moore on twitter, who was asking fans if they had any suggestions for special features they would like to see included- which Moore suggests that there could be an entire disc's worth!  This is the only indication we've had that Wolfwalkers will get any sort of physical release- and the tweet suggests that this boxset would be the only way to get it. This seems a but unfair considering that big fans of the studio probably already own the first two (*cough*, raises hand) and this is probably going to be on the pricey side. Perhaps it's a rights thing.

Meanwhile, Cartoon Saloon has made a big splash at the Irish Animation Awards, which are set to return for their first virtual edition on May 21. Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart's Wolfwalkers has been nominated in all seven categories it's eligible for. Moore is actually up against himself in several categories as the Greenpeace short There's A Monster In My Kitchen, co-dircetd with Fabian Erlinghauser also scored multiple nominations- as does Cartoon Saloon's series Dorg Van Dango.

Best Animated Preschool Series

Claude - Twinkle Toes Terry (Sixteen South)

Pins and Nettie - Season 1(Daily Madness)
Pablo (Paper Owl Films)
Bug Diaries (Lighthouse Studios)
Hungry Bear Tales (Treehouse Republic)



Best Animated Kids Series 6+

Boy, Girl, Dog, Cat, Mouse, Cheese (Kavaleer)
Dorg Van Dango (Cartoon Saloon)
Sylvie Bloom - Corona Corona Corona (Dog Day Media)
Ballybraddan (Treehouse Republic)
Chico Bon Bon: Monkey With a Toolbelt - Gigantic Glue Ball (Brown Bag Films)



Best Animated Short Film

Brother Ezekiel (Boulder Media; Leon Elliott)
Her Song (Éabha Bortolozzo, Jack Kirwan)
The Voyage (JAM Media; Jessica Patterson)
The Dead Hands of Dublin (Pink Kong Studios; Leo Crowley)
Greenpeace- There's a Monster in my Kitchen (Cartoon Saloon; Tomm Moore, Fabian Erlinghauser)


Best International Short Film

Right Now  (Giant Ant) 
Santiago  (Andrey Koulev) 
War Game  (Blayne Fitzpatrick)
Broken Candle (Felix Kiner)
Something Borrowed (Micky Wozny)


Best Writer for Preschool Animation

Pablo (Paper Owl Films; Andrew Brenner)
Jessy and Nessy (JAM Media; Shane Langan, Amy Stephenson)
Mya Go - Slimey Zoo (Piranha Bar; PJ Moloney & Robert Carr)
Vampirina - Vampire Chaperone (Brown Bag Films; Chelsea Beyl, Mia Resella, Jeffrey King)
Doc McStuffins - Bedazzled (Brown Bag Films; Randi Barnes, Chris Nee, Michael Stern)



Best Writer for an Animated Series

Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese - Neighbourhood Watchdog (Kavaleer; Baljeet Rai, Henry Gifford)
Dorg Van Dango - Dorg Needs a Shot (Cartoon Saloon; Nick Murphy)
Ballybradden - Affection & Rejection (Treehouse Republic; Noel McGee, Nora King)
Fantasy Ireland (Igloo Animations; Ciarán Morrison, Mick O'Hara)
Dorg Van Dango - Dorg Has a Pimple (Cartoon Saloon; Shane Langan, Amy Stephenson)

Best Animation for Apps, Games and Interactive

TOT COP; (Mooshku)
Empire Of Sin (Romero Games)
Lego, Duplo, World (Touch Press)

Best Art Direction and Design

Sunburn (Studio Meala)
Chico Bon Bon: Monkey With a Toolbelt - Gigantic Glue Ball (Brown Bag Films)
Zog & the Flying Doctors (Magic Light Pictures/ Giant Animation )
GreenPeace - There's a Monster in the Kitchen (Cartoon Saloon)
Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon)

Best Director of an Animated Series

Dorg Van Dango (Cartoon Saloon; Fabian Erlinghauser, Matt Ferguson)
My Little Pony - Pony Life (Boulder Media; Adrian Ignat)
Bug Diaries (Lighthouse Studios; Gilly Fogg)
Pins & Nettie – Season 1 (Daily Madness; Lindsey Adams)
Pinkalicious & Peterific (Sixteen South ; Jamie Teehan)


Best Animation Sequence

Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon)
Greenpeace - There's a Monster in my Kitchen (Cartoon Saloon)
Sunburn (Studio Meala)
Zog and the Flying Doctors (Magic Light Pictures/ Giant Animation)
Dorg Van Dango (Cartoon Saloon)

Best Music

Dorg Van Dango (Cartoon Saloon)
Pins & Nettie - Season 1 (Daily Madness)
Claude - Twinkle Toes Terry (Sixteen South)
Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon)
Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese (Kavaleer)


Best Sound Design

Dead Hands of Dublin (Pink Kong Studios)
Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon)
Angela's Christmas Wish (Brown Bag Films/ Windmill Lane)
Dorg Van Dango (Cartoon Saloon/ Gorilla Post)
Dangermouse - The Last Giraffe Warrior (Boulder Media/ Windmill Lane)

Best Irish Feature or Special

Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon; Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart)
Angela’s Christmas Wish  (Brown Bag Films; Damien O' Connor)
Zog and the Flying Doctors (Magic Light Pictures/ Giant Animation; Sean Mullen)
The Christmas Letter (Dream Logic; Kealan O' Rourke)
Sol (Paper Owl Films; Gráinne Mc Guinness)

Best Storyboarding

Zog and the Flying Doctors (Magic Light Pictures/ Giant Animation)
Greenpeace - There's a Monster in my Kitchen (Cartoon Saloon)
Sunburn (Studio Meala)
Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (Boulder Media)
Wolfwalkers (Cartoon Saloon)


Best Editing

WolfWalkers (Cartoon Saloon)
Greenpeace - There’s a Monster in my Kitchen (Cartoon Saloon)
Dorg Van Dango (Cartoon Saloon)
Vampirina - Bora and the Banshee/ A tale of Two Hollows (Brown Bag Films)
Chico Bon Bon: Monkey With A Tool Belt - “Runaway Robot” (Brown Bag Films)


Best Student Film

HUSKY  (Darragh Scott)
Tuna  (Cliona Noonan) 
CTRL + ALT + Z  (Holly Keating)
Shergar  (Cora McKenna)
Tenant  (Sarah Benson) 

Best Irish IP

TOT Cops - The Cake Caper (Mooshku)
Pins and Nettie - Season 1 (Daily Madness)
Claude - Twinkle Toes Terry (Sixteen South)
Critters TV - Series 1 (Turnip & Duck)
Jessy and Nessy - Where Else Can We Find Echoes? (JAM Media)


Best Newcomer

Studio Meala
Alt Animation
Little Moon Animation
Taunt Studio
Turnip & Duck

Funimation is preparing to bring Japan's record-smashing Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba movie Mugen Train to audiences in the United States later this month. Ahead of the premiere, Funimation has added three television specials to their streaming catalogue in the US, UK, Canada and Ireland, and via Anime Lab in Australia and New Zealand.

The three special are titled Sibling's Bond, Mt Natagumo Arc and The Hashira Meeting Arc and recap the events of the original 26 episode TV series. Each special uses footage from the original series and some additional new animation, allowing you to get a recap of the major events of the story ahead of the movie.

Elsewhere in the anime world, the UK's boutique distributor Anime Limited is preparing for international expansion. The Scotland-based label founded by UK industry veteran Andrew Partridge is well known for producing extremely high-quality special editions and getting an impressive selection of anime features into UK cinemas. They already have established an operation in France and have begun distributing soundtracks on CD and vinyl in the United States

To head up the expansion, Anime Limited have hired Miles Thomas as their new global Chief Marketing Officer. Thomas is an anime industry veteran who until recently was Director Of Community Marketing for anime streaming specialist Crunchyroll, so has a lot of experience in reaching out to anime fans. Thomas will be a big part of helping Anime Limited expand into new territories and markets.

The company has also promoted General Manager Jessica Poce to Chief Operating Officer, and Kerry Kasim will move from Marketing VP to take over the position of General Manager, UK and Ireland.