February 2011
JOHN PORCELLINO (THE NEXT DAY) ANNOUNCED AS TCAF GUEST OF HONOUR
The Toronto Comic Arts
Festival issued a public announcement welcoming acclaimed
small-press and alternative comics master, John Porcellino, as a
Featured Guest of the 2011 Festival the first week of May 2011.
Porcellino will be in Toronto to support the release of The Next
Day. Additional events will be announced shortly.
January 2011
DOCSHIFT WIN FOR STAGE 2 INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC NOVEL PROTOTYPE
Pop Sandbox is excited to announce that they have been selected to
participate in the
docSHIFT incubator program. The program was established to
facilitate new creative partnerships and help develop innovative
interactive documentary projects. Pop Sandbox was selected to develop
a stage 2 interactive graphic novel prototype surrounding KENK.
January 2011
NEW PROJECT TO ANNOUNCE SHORTLY...
Pop Sandbox has agreed to broad terms and entered pre-production on a
new release for Fall 2011. Look for more details shortly…
December 2010
ACCLAIMED CARTOONIST JOHN PORCELLINO TO ILLUSTRATE THE NEXT DAY
Pop Sandbox is excited to announce that acclaimed small-press and
alternative comics master, John
Porcellino, will be illustrating The Next Day. Porcellino
has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and
graphic novels in America for over twenty-five years. He is best known
for his self-published, predominantly autobiographical minicomics
series, King-Cat Comics, which he began as a teenager in 1989
and continues to produce today. Porcellino’s poetic representations of
the everyday, his masterful storytelling, and his minimalist drawing
style have won him critical acclaim and influenced a generation of
alternative comics creators. According to cartoonist Chris Ware, "John
Porcellino's comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the
feeling of simply being alive," while Time Magazine has
proclaimed that "Porcellino creates some of the most thoughtful,
intelligent and beautiful comix in America."
November 2010
KENK SPECIAL PRESENTATION AT WORLD'S LARGEST DOCUMENTARY
FESTIVAL
The 23rd annual International
Documentary Festival of Amsterdam invited Pop Sandbox to make a
special presentation on the KENK graphic novel and forthcoming
animated film at the DocLab showcase of new forms of documentary
storytelling, digital technology and media art.
November 2010
CANBPA PRESENTATION ON FUTURE OF PUBLISHING
Pop Sandbox Publisher, Alex Jansen, was invited to speak alongside
representatives from CBC’s Canada Reads and Kobo on the future of
publishing at the Canadian Book Professionals' Association winter
meeting.
October 2010
POP SANDBOX REPRESENTED AT THE FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR
Pop Sandbox Publisher, Alex Jansen, attended the world’s largest
publishing industry event in Frankfurt Germany and met with more than
50 publishers over 5 days. Exciting new partnerships to be announced
in coming months.
October 2010
KENK SPECIAL PRESENTATION AT THE OTTAWA ANIMATION FESTIVAL
North America’s largest animation festival partnered with the Ottawa
Writers Festival for a special presentation on KENK, which
included the entire creative team and an early sneak peak at the
latest developments on the animated film by Director
Craig Small.
September 2010
POP SANDBOX TEAM-UP WITH KOYAMA PRESS AT WORD ON THE STREET
Pop Sandbox shared a table with acclaimed publisher
Koyama Press at the 20th
annual Word on the Street Festival in Toronto.
August 2010
US & INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING/DISTRIBUTION PLANS
Pop Sandbox will be in New York this month to continue locking US
publishing and distribution plans, and will be exploring international
opportunities at the Frankfurt Book Fair this October.
August 2010
THE NEXT DAY SLATED FOR SPRING 2011 RELEASE
The Next Day has been confirmed for May 2011 release, while
Sparrow Song (the Residential School Graphic Memoir) is
scheduled for 2012. Two additional 2011 graphic novel releases
should be ready for announcement by year end.
July 2010
KENK CANADIAN RELEASE EXPANDED
KENK continues to build momentum with upcoming summer/fall events at FanExpo Canada, Word on the Street, the Kingston WritersFest, the Ottawa Writers Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, and others. Follow the latest news at www.kenk.ca.
July 2010
THE NEXT DAY IN FULL PRODUCTION
The Next Day is now in full production under the direction of new Creative Director Jason Gilmore and Technical Lead Brendan Hennessy for the NFB-TVO
interactive documentary. Meanwhile, writer Paul Peterson is at
work on the graphic novel manuscript and a big announcement
surrounding art plans will be made shortly.
June 2010
KENK ENTERS SECOND EDITION & SUPPORTED WITH
CROSS-COUNTRY EVENTS
One month into release, KENK is now in second edition and midway to becoming a national best seller. Over the past month the KENK team have traveled across the country with events in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and the Northwest Territories. The team is now heading to New York to open the 10th annual Bicycle Film Festival and beginning to explore international distribution plans. Follow the latest news at www.kenk.ca.
May 2010
OFFICIAL RELEASE OF KENK
KENK was officially released in Toronto, Canada on May 6, 2010, at a packed event that attracted nearly 500 people during the Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival and Toronto Comic Arts Festival. It was the first graphic novel ever excerpted nationally by the Globe & Mail and the first graphic novel ever featured on the cover of NOW Magazine, Canada's biggest weekly newspaper. KENK's release was covered prominently by more than 50 media outlets across the country, including lead features on CBC Television's The National and CBC Radio's
Q with Jian Ghomeshi. Follow the latest news at www.kenk.ca.
April 2010
ADVANCE PUBLICITY FOR KENK
Advance publicity for KENK has begun and the May release is being prominently covered cross-country by the Globe & Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, and many others. Follow the latest news at www.kenk.ca.
March 2010
KENK WEB SITE NOW LIVE
Temporary site now live. Full web site coming April 1st. Visit: www.kenk.ca.
February 2010
NFB-TVO CALLING CARD WIN
The Next Day won the National Film Board & TVO's first ever Digital Calling Card and will receive $45,000 towards production (see National Post Article).
February 2010
MAY RELEASE FOR KENK
Pop Sandbox has announced a May cross-Canada release for its first graphic novel,
KENK.
January 2010
RAINCOAST BOOK PARTNERSHIP
Pop Sandbox has signed a graphic novel distribution deal with Raincoast Books, Canadian
distributor for Drawn & Quarterly.
January 2010
DIAMOND DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
Diamond Distribution will further distribute Pop Sandbox graphic novels to comic book specialty stores across North America.
October 2009
CANADIAN FILM CENTRE PARTNERSHIP
CFC Media Lab
to participate in development of stage 1 interactive graphic
novella prototype around KENK.
August 2009
CANADA COUNCIL SUPPORT
Nadia McLaren receives word that The Canada Council for the Arts
will support creation of Sparrow Song.
July 2009
THE NEXT DAY ANNOUNCED
Pop Sandbox announces development of The Next Day, a
cross-platform documentary built from interviews with participants
who have attempted suicide and survived.
June 2009
THE JUGGERNAUT PARTNERSHIP
Top post-production, design and animation studio, The Juggernaut, to work with Pop Sandbox on animation for
KENK.
May 2009
OFFICIAL LAUNCH EVENT
Pop Sandbox hosts a packed reception at the Pilot Tavern in Yorkville during Hot Docs & The Toronto Comic Arts Festival.
April 2009
LOGO & WEB SITE LAUNCH
Pop Sandbox unveils its original logo by top Canadian cartoonist, Seth, developed from initial concepts by Jason Gilmore. |
