Ah-Ha Rancho Santa Fe News, February 8, 2011

38th Annie Awards for Animation was Dominated by DreamWorks
by Perry's Previews
(Excerpt)

10-year-old award-winning film critic and budding animator Perry Chen said he had a "Perrific!" time at the 38th Annie Awards for Animation in Hollywood, Feb 5, 2011. He attended the festivities with his mom Dr. Zhu Shen as VIP guests of Toon Boom Animation, a leading animation software company that is a corporate sponsor to his first animation film "Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest," a short about a young Holocaust survivor based on the true story of actress Ingrid Pitt's childhood. Toon Boom is also a sponsor of Annie Awards.

Perry and Zhu enjoyed meeting Toon Boom's CEO Joan Vogelesang at the Annie Awards, who has been to China 20 times in the past few years and continued to see strong demand for Toon Boom's 2-D animation products in China. Perry loved being a "lady's man," getting a kiss from Joan after giving her a beautiful Chinese silk scarf with Chinese calligraphy as a gift.

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The Guardian UK, November 25, 2010

Ingrid Pitt made film about concentration camp childhood
by Ben Child
(Excerpts)

As an icon of early 70s horror, she remained a source of fascination for fans more than 40 years after her gruesome heyday. But Ingrid Pitt, who died earlier this week at the age of 73, had experienced real-life youthful terrors which may yet see her making one last turn.

It is well documented that Pitt, the daughter of a Polish Jewish mother and German father, survived the Stutthof concentration camp during the second world war. Now a US film-making team has revealed that prior to her death, the Hammer horror favourite collaborated on an animated short film about her experiences.

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Rue Morgue Magazine

Letter to the editor
by Kevin Sean Michaels

Like millions of fans, I am mourning the lost of British horror star and great human being, Ingrid Pitt, who was profiled so beautifully in Rue Morgue issue #100. She died too suddenly and too young. To me, the lost was personal as she was my friend. We were collaborating on an animated short film called "Ingrid Pitt: Beyond The Forest" and a full-length documentary was to follow. The short film focuses on her true experience in the Holocaust escaping the Nazi terror. We had been working on the project for over five years.

I am no stranger to making documentary films (see coverage of my two other movies, Vampira: The Movie [RM #77] and The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels [RM #103]). Ingrid's story intrigues me because it demonstrates that if one sees real horror, one is able to channel that horror, purge it and bring it to the silver screen. That's what Ingrid Pitt did so wonderfully and that's what made her performances so genuine.

What your readers may find unusual and unique about the approach to making this upcoming animated short biopic is that it is being drawn and animated by a widely recognized 10 year old child artist and prodigy, Perry Chen, under the guidance of two-time Academy Award nominated filmmaker Bill Plympton, known around the world for his work on MTV and new gothic feature film Idiots and Angels, which made the Oscar nomination "shortlist" this year.

Ingrid was more than a just an amazing actress-- she had a kind heart and was a true free spirit.

Best regards,
Kevin