With 12 competition programs, workshops, retrospectives, and daily chats with the directors, there is plenty of film activity.  It is an opportunity to watch films from countries that are not represented at most other festivals.  This year films from Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Equatorial Guinea were among the 37 countries represented along with a wide selection of Ukrainian and Russian animation.

The festival got off to a great start with the opening ceremony and screening of the first competition program at Dom Kino in Kiev.  The Kino has a beautiful theatre and is also where the Ukrainian arm of KROK has its offices.  The ceremony and screening was followed by a delicious celebration dinner on the boat.

The Films

One of my favorite films at the festival was Papercutting by Belarus animator Mikhail Tumelya.  Based on a traditional fairy tale about a young man looking for a wife, the film was created using beautiful three dimensional paper cut designs created by the famous Belarus paper artist Vyacheslav Dubinka.  Mikhail combined his animation with Vyacheslav’s intricate vytsinankas.  Vytsinanka is the Western Belarus, Ukrainian and Polish word for both the process of cutting  paper lace art and the handmade patterns themselves.   In Eastern Belarus the word is vyrazanka.

I received this e-mail from MONSTRA Festival in Lisbon and want to encourage all of you to submit your films.

The Festival is very well run, treats animators and their films respectfully and is in beautiful Lisbon just when all of us in colder parts need to see some sun.

Dear Friends,

following the request of several, directors, producers and schools we decided to extended the deadline until 15 November, 2011.

We would like to thank all of you that have already sent their films. Those who didn't please do it by the 15th of November.

See you soon with more news!

Fernando Galrito

Artistic Director MONSTRA Animation Festival - Lisbon, Portugal

If you have ever watched an animated film and wondered “How did they do that?” then Tobias Wengert’s  ANIMATORS how did they do that? is the book for you.  Wengert has transcribed in print his conversations with twelve diverse members of the Stuttgart, Germany animation community who reveal the secret techniques behind the magical images they create.

Jakob Schuh and Max Lang of Studio Soi reveal how they took The Gruffalo, a well known children’s book, which takes five minutes for a parent to read to their child and turned it into a 27 minute film.  The creators of the picture book, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, gave tips to the directors on hidden elements in the book that could be expanded into additional plot lines.  The book illustrations include references to the squirrel family, so Jacob and Max expanded a story line from those visual references.

Estonian animation director and educator Ulo Pikkov has accomplished a remarkable feat in producing a most readable book on animation theory.  For those who do not know about the technical side of animation Animasophy – Theoretical Writings On The Animated Film is a great place to start.  Readers who are already well versed in animation techniques will be reminded about what they already know but don’t always think about.

The first three chapters define animation, outline its history from its beginnings to the present, and analyze the role animation continues to play in modern communication.  The next eight chapters go on to analyze structure, timing, storytelling, sound, characters, and realism as well as the use of space.  Each chapter includes a detailed case study of a specific film by an Estonian animator to illustrate the chapter’s topic.

I am a big fan of Estonian animation and the Animated Dreams Animation Festival in Tallinn.  Now the festival has launched a new project, AnimaCampus Tallinn, which sounds like it is going to be a wonderful opportunity for young animators.  Even if you can’t attend do take a minute to read about what they are planning for their first edition.

November 15-19, 2011 / Tallinn, Estonia

Deadline for application: August 1, 2011.

AnimaCampus Tallinn is a brand new networking platform and training event for up-and-coming young filmmakers working in the field of animation. The five-day creative summit takes place in parallel with the Animation Film Festival Animated Dreams, the sub-festival of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

This year the sun was shining down brightly on the Trickfilm Festival in Stuttgart in more than one way.  Outside, the sky was a beautiful blue and in the screening rooms the films were as brilliant as the sun.

While the competition programs were strong and the feature films in competition offered some interesting surprises, and the highlight of the festival for me this year was the large number of special presentation screenings.

Five programs of African animation covered everything from an overview of current African animation to Revolutionary Films from Egypt and the Middle East.    Revered Nigerian animation pioneer Moustapha Alassane introduced a retrospective of his work, which covers five decades.  Known as the father of African animation, Moustapha uses animation to make people aware of his continent’s culture and to address its problems in a satirical way.  F VVA:  Femme, Voiture, Villa, Agent, his first feature  (1972) is a satirical attack on Africa’s Nouveau Riche and their greed.  Mr. Alassane was also a juror for the International Competition.

Australian animator Darcy Prendergast’s 2009 music video for the All India Radio track Lucky was a true feast for the eyes.  The video used glow stick with long-exposure techniques to create the effect of moving neon.  The first time I saw Lucky I was amazed with the fluid motion and brilliant colors and obviously I wasn’t the only one because the You Tube/Guggenheim judges short listed it in their 2010 video competition.

After six months of work, Darcy has created Rippled for All India Radio’s new album.  For his new video Darcy takes the techniques he invented for his first music video and expands and refines them.  He captured the images in-camera and brought them to life with precise frame by frame attention to detail.

The second edition of Anifest ROZAFA in Shikodra, Albania will take place 12 – 18 September 2011.  The festival invites animators of all ages to submit films to this festival By Children and For Children.

Along with the International Competition, the festival conducts seminars and workshops. In the 2010 workshop group, the children made a two minute animation titled “To Face the Consequences”.

The festival has a hard and fast rule that any film that violates human rights, especially children’s, as defined by the Convention of Human Rights or Convention of Children’s Rights will not be accepted.

Films must have been completed after 1 January 2008 and be no longer than 30 minutes.

The debut edition of BE THERE!  CORFU ANIMATION FESTIVAL was the first animation festival to be held on this beautiful Greek Island.  A large audience from throughout the island enjoyed a wide array of programs and workshops as well as the opportunity to meet Greek and international artists from the world of animation.

The first two mornings were devoted to The Kids, Be There!  Special screenings and workshops were designed especially for school age children and their teachers.  Tomas Giovanis the Greek illustrator, animator, and comic book artist, better known as Tomek gave a special workshop designed specifically for young would be animators called Animation Is All Around Us.  He also designed the festival poster.