Animator Biography: MARV NEWLAND

I'm not sure if this was a good idea or not, but Kurtis has given me access to his blog. He's too busy to post every day, so I get to help on the days he can't do it.

For now I'm going to start a series of animator biographies. There are some great indie animators that go fairly unnoticed. Since moving to Canada from the States I've noticed there's a much better awareness of independent animation up here, mostly thanks to the NFB. I'm just starting to be exposed to these animators through my school and I figured I'd share all the cool stuff I've seen.

First on the list is Marv Newland. He got his start in LA and broke into the animation scene with his short Bambi Meets Godzilla in 1969. He did a lot of television commercial work, including animated advertisements for Sesame Street.

He founded the animation company International Rocketship Limited here in Vancouver in 1975. One of their notable clients was Danny Antonucci (director of Lupo the Butcher).

Today Marv continues to work at International Rocketship and also teaches in the classical animation department at the Vancouver Film School. I've posted the short Bambi Meets Godzilla for your viewing enjoyment. This was the first of his animation I was exposed to. As you can guess from the title it's by no means a drama. I love his sense of humor, it reminds me of Monty Python.