Here at ColdHardFlash, we’re picky about the facts. We led the charge to clean up the Wikipedia entry on “Flash animation,” and helped confirm which Flash animated project was the first to play on TV (WhirlGirl – 1999). So with that in mind, we turn our attention to a recent press release about Jai Vigneshwar, a Flash-animated feature film produced in India. While we’re thrilled that yet another feature film has been produced in Flash, we don’t agree with their claim of creating “the world’s first 2D Flash animation movie.” That title appears to be Bryon E. Carson’s – for his feature film The Golden Blaze. Congrats to the team at Mayajaal Entertainment Limited, but we recommend a little fact checking next time you make an announcement.

This morning Cartoonbrew.com featured a clip from an upcoming Flash-animated featured titled Alice’s Birthday (Russian website). It’s being directed by Sergey Seryogin and produced by Master Film, the same company behind Smeshariki, a Flash TV series recently picked up by 4Kids. Here’s the latest trailer.

Los Campeones De La Lucha Libre (“The Champions of Wrestling”) has officially hit the theaters in Mexico. This Flash-animated feature film is an homage to lucha libre wrestling created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin – the creators of ¡Mucha Lucha!. The voice cast includes two of my pals Eric Bauza and Matt Danner. Check out the brief interview and behind the scenes clips we featured here back in 2007, and then watch the full trailer below:

Three cheers for Nina Paley and her Flash-animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues, which took home the top feature prize at the 32nd Annecy International Animated Film Festival. As you may have spotted at CartoonBrew.com, Paley received an Annecy Cristal trophy after the jury, which included Matt Groening, voted in her favor. Bravo, Nina!

Ari Folman’s animated documentary Waltz With Bashir premiered yesterday in France and is generating a good deal of positive buzz at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The story deals with the Israeli Army’s mission in the 1982 Lebanon War, intercut with animated interviews with those who took part. The UK Guardian called the film, which cost approximately 2 million to produce, “extraordinary” and the film’s website reveals that it took about 4 years to produce. The film’s art director, David Polonsky, completed 80% of the movie’s 2,000 illustrations, which were based on video footage shot prior to production. These illustrations were then brought to life in a combination of Flash animation, traditional animation and CGI. The director of animation, Yoni Goodman, created the animation process that was instituted on the film, and he eventually revved up his team to where they were outputting an average of 1.5 seconds of footage a day. Goodman was supported by lead animators Tal Gadon and Gali Edelbaum. Waltz With Bashir is one of 22 films in contention for the Palm d’Or, or “Best Picture” at Canne. Here is the trailer, subtitled in English.