Now available in stores and online in both DVD and VHS!
For more than two decades John Canemaker has created films that charm, enlighten and touch audiences. His "toons" (which have been featured in everything from "The World According to Garp" to "Pee-wee's Playhouse") are often daring, frequently hilarious and always compassionate. Showcasing Canemaker's wide-ranging talent and emotional resonance, "Marching to a Different Toon" includes his animation classics: the whimsical "Confessions of a Stardreamer", the astonishingly lovely "Bottom's Dream", the clever and witty "Confessions of a Stand-Up", the enchanting "The Wizard's Son", and the wondrously beautiful "Bridgehampton".
As a bonus, this collector's edition also features selections from Canemaker's collaborative work, including "Behind the Scene, The DNA Concerto", early TV spots for Gay Men's Health Crisis, and excerpts from the award-winning documentaries "What Do Children Think of When They Think of the Bomb" and "Break the Silence: Kids Against Child Abuse". These magical and moving films are enduring treasures of animation that will delight viewers for generations to come.
"This [DVD] retrospective [JOHN CANEMAKER: MARCHING TO A DIFFERENT TOON] offers a refreshing look at an artist whose feeling for the medium of animation has often been overlooked in favor of his scholarship." DVDVerdict.com
Distributed by MILESTONE film & video.
phone: 800.603.1104
email: MileFilms@aol.com
www.milestonefilms.com
Reviews of JOHN CANEMAKER: MARCHING TO A DIFFERENT TOON distributed on DVD
"Mr. Canemaker's quirky, highly transformative figures go well with humorous riffs by actors and comedians, and they are effective in shorts and in longer films about child abuse, AIDS and other serious subjects." New York Times (11/23/01) Home Video by Peter M. Nichols
"Canemaker is a historian, champion of the art form and marvelous practitioner, as proven by this collection. It gathers six of his best, including the stunning BRIDGEHAMPTON and the witty CONFESSIONS OF A STARDREAMER."
NY Post (12/3/02) DVDs This Week by Michael Giltz
"Ultimately this DVD [JOHN CANEMAKER: MARCHING TO A DIFFERENT TOON] only scratches the surface of Canemaker's work . . . Nevertheless, this DVD is a treasure for everyone who sees animation as more than Saturday morning fare."
http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/MovieNews/index/0,,21203,00.html
"The visual diversity of these striking personal films reflects John Canemaker's encyclopedic knowledge of animation history . . . in "Bridgehampton," an evocation of the changing seasons, is a genuine rarity--an independent film the viewer wishes was longer. Canemaker is best known for adapting the look of children's artwork, which he uses to heartbreaking effect in two moving clips from the special "Break the Silence: Kids Against Child Abuse. Amazon.com (Fall 2002) Review by Charles Solomon
"Everyone knows animator John Canemaker, they just don't "know" that they know John Canemaker. One of the most admired animators in the business, Canemaker's animation tends to show up in the unlikeliest of places -- rarely drawing the focus, but always enhancing the final product. Most famously, his work has appeared in "The World According to Garp", "Pee-wee's Playhouse," TV spots for Gay Men's Health Crisis and more . . . Canemaker's anonymity has often been his strength as an animator -- but those who watch this splendid DVD will surely never again miss spotting the unique and unmistakable mark of Canemaker whenever it appears."
http://www.boxoff.com/scripts/fiw.dll?GetDVDReview?&where=ID&terms=3641
"The release of a collection of the short movies of John Canemaker, Marching to a Different Toon, is something of a major event in animation circles, and Milestone are much to be congratulated for it. . . . None of these shorts is exactly Saturday-morning tv fare, yet you shouldn't get the impression that this is artsy-fartsy animation of the studiously inaccessible variety. It'll probably do great damage to Milestone's sales of the collection to say that children would love this tape, but it is the fact; at the same time, any adult with an appreciation of the visual should love it as well. In short, this is mature animation, delighting in the opportunities for play that the medium affords while at the same time exploiting the medium for whatever it is uniquely qualified to express. It has often been said that animation permits the moviemaker to put magic on the screen, yet all too often in commercial moviemaking all that this is used for is to supply extra tricks and an extra wackiness to scenarios that very visibly owe their existence to a mental live-action cinema. Not so here. Canemaker uses animation fully for the purpose of putting magic on our screens." Review by John Grant.
http://www.entertainment-geekly.com/web/general/jun2002/difftoon
"This collection of short animated films, which range from 30 seconds to nine minutes, perfectly captures the essence of Canemaker, a maverick toonsmith whose emotionally resonant, sometimes provocative work has redefined the form's boundaries . . . DIFFERENT TOON is absolutely must-have material for serious animation fans, but it also has sufficient avant-garde cachet to attract arthouse customers." Cahner's Video Business (2/11/02). Review by Ed Hulse
"Canemaker['s] sly humor, as well as his sincere belief that the medium can be used to express understanding and compassion in a way live action filmmaking cannot, has made him one of the best regarded figures in contemporary animation." Barnes & Noble: All Movie Guide. Review by Mark Deming
"While 'Mr. Animation' might seem a little high on the accolade scale, I know of no other working animator more knowledgeable and dedicated to the art than John Canemaker , . . Definitely Recommended. Video Librarian (March/April 2002) : Review by R. Pittman
"Canemaker's animation is gloriously fluid and wholly unpredictable . . .well-deserving of a larger audience." The Onion A.V. Club. Review by Tasha Robinson
"Emotional, thoughtful, amusing, and always knowledgeable, this collection boasts and appeal that is by no means limited to animation fans." Video Watchdog (Sept. 2002). Review by Shane M. Dallmann.
"John Canemaker is a filmmaker as well as a writer (and a professor at New York University),and an hour's worth of his short films, made between 1978 and 1998, have been collected on a DVD, John Canemaker: Marching to a Different Toon (Image Entertainment, $26.99). The DVD includes Canemaker's valuable documentary, Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat, as well as such highly personal animated films as Bottom's Dream and Confessions of a Stardreamer. Canemaker's influences - Fantasia, the Hubleys' collaborations-are sometimes unmistakable, but it is always clear that he is speaking in the language of films he loves, and that makes all the difference. How much more rewarding it is to spend an hour in the company of these lovely, gentle films than to watch almost any recent animated feature." Review by Michael Barrier.
http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Commentary/Mary_Blair/Mary_Blair.htm
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