Arna Selznick is a Canadian animator, best known for directing

Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

'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. It was the second feature film from the Canadian animation studio Nelvana after the 1983 film ''Rock & Rule,'' in ...

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

Career

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 ...

'' and Director on '' Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name''. There, she met future husband John van Bruggen. She moved on to direct ''

'', released in 1985 by

the Samuel Goldwyn Company The Samuel Goldwyn Company, later known as Samuel Goldwyn Entertainment, Goldwyn Entertainment Company, Goldwyn Films, and G2 Films, was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Cinema of the Unit ...

in the United States, and Astral Films 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 oldest surviving feature-length a ...

of 1927's '' The Adventures of Prince Achmed'', and Joy Batchelor 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/screenwriter 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 referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's ''

Return to Never Land ''Return to Never Land'' (also known as ''Peter Pan in Return to Never Land'', ''Peter Pan: Return to Never Land'', or simply ''Peter Pan II'') is a 2002 American animated adventure fantasy film produced by Disney MovieToons and Walt Disney Tel ...

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

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand 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 (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

sci-fi saga ''

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

'';

Treehouse TV Treehouse TV (commonly known as Treehouse) is a Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel that was launched in 1997. Its name comes from sister network YTV (Canadian TV channel), YTV's former programming b ...

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

Beetlejuice ''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American Gothic film, gothic dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Michael McDowell (author), Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren based on a story by McDowell and Larry Wilson (sc ...

'', '' Doug'', '' Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids,

Bob and Margaret ''Bob and Margaret'' is an adult animated sitcom created by David Fine and Alison Snowden and co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Channel 4 as a collaboration, both financial and artistic. The last two seasons were co-produced without Channel 4 ...

'' among others... While the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, 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''. ...

'''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." 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. 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 John van Bruggen. 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. 2019–2020: Story Artist on the feature animated film: ''Paw Patrol: The Movie'' 2020–2021: Development Director for an independent animated short.

Notes

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Selznick, Arna Year of birth missing (living people) Artists from Toronto Living people Canadian storyboard artists Canadian women film directors Canadian women screenwriters Canadian animated film directors Women animated film directors Film directors from Toronto Canadian women animators Screenwriters from Toronto 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Oceanside International Film Festival award winners