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‘Lion King’ director to visit for Las Cruces film fest

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Rob Minkoff, director of the original “Lion King” Disney film, has had a long and varied career in his field.

He began at the California Institute of the Arts in an animation program founded by Walt Disney and learned from Disney artists from the golden age of animation, Minkoff said. By the end of his second year with the program, he was invited to do an internship at Disney.

Honored to work with one of “Disney’s Nine Old Men,” Eric Larson, he learned the Disney approach to animation. Then Minkoff was hired by the company and became not only an animator but also worked as a story artist, co-wrote a song and worked up to being a director.

While he left Disney in 1995, Minkoff has not slowed down completing numerous works ever since in many different capacities.

Films he has worked on include “The Great Mouse Detective,” “The Brave Little Toaster,” “Oliver & Co,” “The Little Mermaid,” two Roger Rabbit shorts “Tummy Trouble” and “Roller Coaster Rabbit,” “The Haunted Mansion,” “The Forbidden Kingdom,” “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” and both Stuart Little movies.

“I don’t know what I love the most,” he said. “It’s been exciting to be able to do a lot of different things, work with so many different artists, exploring new avenues. I enjoy doing new things I haven’t done before – climbing new mountains.”

On March 4 the Las Cruces International Film Festival honors Minkoff with its “Outstanding Achievement in Directing” award. Minkoff will be on hand with his wife, Crystal Minkoff, and will screen his box-office smash, the highest grossing 2D animated film of all time “The Lion King” at the Allen Theatres Cineport at 7 p.m. He also hosts a question-and-answer session with the audience following the film. Earlier, at 3:30 p.m., he will speak at the Cineport about career. 

Minkoff’s newest project, “Blazing Samuri,” which comes out later this year, takes some inspiration from the classic Mel Brooks film “Blazing Saddles.”

“The thing about this new movie – it’s very different,” Minkoff said. “Our movie is a general audience comedy for everybody. It’s a story about tolerance – about a dog who becomes a samurai in a world of cats.”

The seventh Las Cruces International Film Festival takes place March 2-6 and will be live and in-person at the Allen Theatres Cineport. Tickets are available at www.lascrucesfilmfest.com.


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