Arna Selznick

Arna Selznick is a Canadian Director and Artist, known for directing Nelvana's 1985 animated film The Care Bears Movie. She is one of only four women to have directed a full length animated feature. She owns and operates a studio called Dancingmonkeys with her husband/partner John van Bruggen.

Career

Selznick began her career at Toronto's Nelvana studio, participating in several efforts such as Rock & Rule, Inspector Gadget and Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name. There, she met future husband John van Bruggen. She moved on to direct The Care Bears Movie, released in 1985 by the Samuel Goldwyn Company in the United States, and Astral Films and Criterion Pictures Corporation in Canada. The film went on to win Canada's Golden Reel Award for highest-grossing local production in 1985, at C$1.845 million. At the time of that film's release, she was only the third woman to direct an animated feature (after Lotte Reiniger 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 storyboard artist on Wonderland.