Oscar nod for animated 'Morris Lessmore' could be just the start for ...

Sit back, settle in and pour yourself a cuppa, assuming you're the cuppa sort. Author and newly minted Oscar nominee William Joyce and his cohorts at Shreveport's fledgling Moonbot Studios have a story to tell.

And given that storytelling is their stock in trade, it only feels fitting that it all starts with a "once upon a time," so here goes:

Once upon a time, celebrated children's author and illustrator Bill Joyce got an idea for a story. It was a simple story, but a heartfelt one, about the powers of the written word.

One history-making hurricane later -- not to mention the founding of a shiny, new animation studio in Shreveport -- and the 15-minute animated charmer "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" was born, "inspired in equal measures by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, 'The Wizard of Oz,' and a love for books."

Last week, "Morris Lessmore" was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated short film. And just like that, it became apparent that Moonbot's moonshot had paid off.

In describing his reaction to the nomination, "Morris Lessmore" co-director Joyce -- though a man of letters -- admitted to being at something of a loss for words. "The only quote that would work here is 'insert primal scream of joy,'" he said.

It was a mutual feeling at the 35-employee strong studio, as a raucous celebration erupted on nomination morning at Moonbot mission control in Shreveport. (See embedded video below.)?There were shouts and shrieks. There were hugs and high-fives. There was champagne and Mason jars of moonshine.

But before all that, there was that story.

The New Orleans influence in "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" is evident from the film's very first frames, as its title character -- a dead ringer for silent-film icon Keaton -- reads peacefully on a French Quarter balcony.

Then the wind blows. And it blows and blows and blows -- until almost everything is gone.

Except for Morris.

And his book.

OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS

What: Three programs of short films -- one animated, one live-action, one documentary -- that have been nominated for 2012 Oscars, including the Shreveport-made 'The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.'

Where: Prytania Theatre, 5339 Prytania St., 891.2787.

When: Animated shorts: noon, 4 and 8 p.m. daily, Friday to Feb. 16; live-action shorts: 2, 6 and 10 p.m .daily, Friday to Feb. 16; documentary shorts:?9 p.m.?Thurs, and 8 p.m. Feb. 16.

Tickets: Available at box office or online at www.theprytania.com.

Over the next 15 dialog-free minutes of screen time, Morris learns that a good book can be a wonderful salve for aching wounds.

The first germ of the story took root in the brain of Joyce -- creator of "Rolie Polie Olie," "George Shrinks" and other fixtures in the kid's-book universe -- when he was flying to visit an ailing publishing mentor of his, and a fellow book-lover, named Bill Morris, around 2003.

But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, it all started to take a slightly different shape. For starters, the storm chased former New Orleanian Lampton Enochs -- who would go on to co-produce the film with New Orleans resident Alissa Kantrow -- to Shreveport.

And he was by no means alone.

"The main thing I guess," Joyce said, "was going into the shelters and seeing the displaced people and seeing the kids in these, usually a sports arena, with no privacy or any of the stuff they knew as home. But they had been given books -- there were different organizations to make sure kids had books to read while they were in the shelter. Seeing these kids reading these books and being able to shut out all the sadness and the uncertainty and lose themselves in a book ...

"And then Lampton ... is from New Orleans, and we got this whole perspective of how displacing all that was, and sad it was, and how the city looked like it was black and white for a long time after that.

"But once you get people telling their stories of what happened to them, it helped ground them a bit again, so it all started curling into the story of our own experiences and the experiences of Bill Morris. It's just that books matter. We were worried about that -- that they seem endangered."

With all of those influences at work, Enochs said "Morris Lessmore" seemed like the perfect story to build the studio's inaugural film around.

"We founded the studio with the initial desire to create a short film first, to be able to use it as our calling card and express not only the quality of craftsmanship of everything we create," he said. "But it seemed like the right story to tell first as well. Since our company is rooted in storytelling, we should tell a story about the joy of story and the curative power of it."

Even without the moonshine, Moonbot isn't your ordinary animation studio.

Long before the announcement of last month's Oscar nomination, the company was being toasted in various national publications for its beautiful "Morris Lessmore" iPad app. It's also recently signed a multi-book publishing deal, through which "Morris Lessmore" and the studio's future projects will be made into books.

So what is Moonbot? An animation house that makes apps? A bookmaker that makes animated films? An app-maker that does everything?

"We're story ninja warriors, and we use all existing media to meet our goal of telling fun stories," said Joyce, who has long dipped his pen in both the publishing and animation worlds. (Among his animation credits: conceptual artist on Pixar's game-changing "Toy Story," and writer and executive producer of Disney's "Meet the Robinsons.")

According to "Morris Lessmore" co-director Brandon Oldenburg, that's just a fun way to say that they are, above all, 21st-century storytellers.

"The medium is really not as important to us," Oldenburg said. "It's all about the right story and the right fit. And that's all we work on, is the stories. Because, you know, apps are really cool, right, and they'll hopefully be cool for a long time, but there's more out there and there will be other new things, and we like to innovate storytelling."

That appreciation for story above all else is why those who see the film -- which can be viewed for free online at the official Moonbot site, as well as at the Prytania Theatre starting Friday (Feb. 10) as part of the 2012 Oscar Nominated Shorts program -- will notice that the film is dedicated to celebrated local storyteller Coleen Salley, as well as Joyce mentor Morris.

They'll also notice another note in the film's closing credits, and one that Joyce and Oldenburg are particularly proud of: "This film was created entirely in the state of Louisiana."

That's because in addition to using the film as a calling card for the emerging studio, they wanted to send a message that there's nothing special in the water in New York or California. Top-shelf animation can be made here too.

"It wasn't like we had to get Sherpa guides and trek across tundra and dangerous, death-defying terrain," Joyce said. "I mean, it was like, you get a room full of people and you get some computers and you do what you do. It's not magic. The only magic is the people in the room. You don't have to go to Oz to make this happen."

The Oscar nomination for "Morris Lessmore" is, of course, an enormous feather in the cap of Moonbot. Other, larger studios have already reached out about bringing Joyce and company in to help on other projects, a step toward Moonbot's ultimate goal of making a feature-length film.

But it's also a success for Louisiana film industry, which -- thanks to the state's filmmaking tax incentives -- has already proved to everyone that it can handle productions of all sorts. Now, though, it appears to be poised to get down to the business of filling its collective trophy case.

So what are the chances that this little Shreveport-set once-upon-a-time will end with a happy ending? Well, that chapter hasn't been written yet. The Academy Awards will be handed out Feb. 26.

But Joyce said he feels good about, shortly before leading Enochs and Oldenburg in a practiced, Namath-like pre-Oscar promise:

Joyce: "LSU lost to Bama ..."

Enochs: "... the Saints lost to the 49ers ..."

Oldenburg "... but Moonboot Studios is going to bring home the gold for the state of Louisiana."

And that's definitely not The end. Not by a long shot.

Oscar Nomination Announcements - Moonbot Studios from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

Source: http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2012/02/fantastic_flying_books_of_mr_m.html

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