Arna Selznick is a Canadian animator, best known for directing

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

's 1985 animated film ''

The Care Bears Movie ''The Care Bears Movie'' is a 1985 animated musical fantasy film directed by Arna Selznick from a screenplay by Peter Sauder. This was the second feature film from the Canadian animation studio Nelvana (after the 1983 film '' Rock & Rule''), ...

''. Arna owns and operates a studio called Dancingmonkeys with her husband/partner

John van Bruggen John van Bruggen (born March 6, 1957) is a Canadian animator and writer. His wife, Arna Selznick, was the director of 1985's ''The Care Bears Movie''. He and Selznick were layout supervisors on its 1986 sequel. They are partners in the creative se ...

Career

2020-2021: Development Director for an independent animated short. 2019-2020: Story Artist on the feature animated film: ''Paw Patrol: The Movie'' 2017-2018: Director of award winning ''The Most Magnificent Thing'' for Corus's

based on the popular children's book by Ashley Spires, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, screenplay by

. A young girl receives a tool kit as a gift and decides to make something magnificent for her faithful dog companion but the creative process proves more challenging than expected. Selznick completed two years, 2014- 2016 as a key member of the story team of the CG animated feature film, The Nut Job 2, produced in Toronto by

Toonbox Entertainment ToonBox Entertainment is a Canadian animation studio, founded in June 2008, and is best known for its 2014 animated feature and its first film, ''The Nut Job ''The Nut Job'' is a 2014 computer-animated heist comedy film directed by Peter L ...

. Selznick began her career at Toronto's

studio, participating in several efforts such as '' Layout Artist on Rock & Rule'', Story Supervisor on 64 half hours for ''

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series ''Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated s ...

'' and Director on ''

Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name ''Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name'' is an 1984 American animated television special that first premiered on March 24, 1984, in New York City and on March 30 in Los Angeles, California. This is the second Strawberry Shortcake televi ...

''. There, she met future husband

. She moved on to direct ''

'', released in 1985 by

the Samuel Goldwyn Company The Samuel Goldwyn Company was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1978. Background The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films from ...

in the United States, and

Astral Films Astral may refer to: Concepts of the non-physical * Astral body, a subtle body posited by many religious philosophers * Astral journey (or ''astral trip''), the same as having an ''out-of-body experience'' * Astral plane (AKA astral world), a ...

and Criterion Pictures Corporation in Canada. The film won Canada's Golden Reel Award for highest-grossing local production in 1985, with the Canadian gross of $22,934,622.00. Quite remarkable, since children's admission at the time was about $3.50 or less. At the time of that film's release, Arna was probably only the third woman to direct an animated feature (after

Lotte Reiniger Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger (2 June 1899 – 19 June 1981) was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her best known films are ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'', from 1926, the first feature-length animated fil ...

of 1927's ''

The Adventures of Prince Achmed ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'' (known as ''Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed'' in German language, German) is a 1926 German Animation, animated Fairy tale, fairytale film by Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film; ...

'', and

Joy Batchelor Joy Ethel Batchelor (12 May 1914 – 14 May 1991) was an English animator, director, screenwriter, and producer. She married John Halas in 1940 and subsequently co-established Halas and Batchelor cartoons, whose best known production is the anim ...

of 1954's ''Animal Farm''). Selznick was part of the layout unit on the next two Care Bears films, ''A New Generation'' (1986) and ''Adventure in Wonderland'' (1987), and was also a story artist on ''Wonderland''. In 1986, Selznick launched the dancingmonkeys studio in Toronto, partnering with director/screen writer John van Bruggen. In 2005, she and van Bruggen created ''Coolman!'', part of the FunPak series on Canada's YTV network. Selznick has been on story teams for several other children's films and television series, among them Nelvana's ''Clone High'';

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''

Return to Never Land ''Return to Never Land'' (also known as ''Peter Pan in: Return to Never Land'' and later retitled ''Peter Pan II: Return to Never Land'' on current home video release) is a 2002 American animated adventure fantasy film produced by Disney MovieToo ...

''; the British animated feature '' The King's Beard''; the

Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...

sci-fi saga ''

Skyland ''Skyland'' (full French title: "Skyland, Le Nouveau Monde", or "Skyland, The New World"), is a CGI animated series developed in France in partnership with Canada and Luxembourg for television channels France 2 in France, Teletoon in Canada, Nic ...

'';

Treehouse TV Treehouse TV is a Canadian English-language specialty channel for preschoolers aged 2 to 5 that was launched in 1997. Its name comes from YTV's former preschool block, " The Treehouse". The channel is owned by YTV Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of ...

's '' Toot & Puddle''; and many other productions. See ''

Beetlejuice ''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren, produced by The Geffen Company, distributed by Warner Bros., and starring Alec Baldwin, ...

'', '' Doug'', ''

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids'' is a 2003 Canadian computer-animated television special produced by Nelvana. It serves as the pilot for the show ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends''. It aired on Teletoon in Canada and Nick Jr. in the U.S. on M ...

Bob and Margaret ''Bob and Margaret'' is an adult animated television series created by David Fine and Alison Snowden and produced by Nelvana. The series was based on the Academy Award-winning short film ''Bob's Birthday'', featuring the same main characters, wh ...

'' among others... While the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'''s Stephen Hunter gave a mixed response to the animation of ''The Care Bears Movie'', he pointed out that director Selznick "has a nice feel for the dynamics of action animation; several of the set-pieces zing along nicely."

Notes

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Selznick, Arna Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from Toronto Living people Canadian animators Canadian storyboard artists Canadian women film directors Canadian screenwriters Canadian animated film directors Film directors from Toronto Canadian women animators Writers from Toronto