We were so disappointed to have to postpone the festival back in March, but running online events has really re-energised us, and made it possible to bring our audiences together and keep people entertained while everyone’s been more isolated. We’re so excited to finally be able to bring our Cardiff Animation Festival 2020 events to adults, families, animators, and animation fans online for the rest of this year.

-Lauren Orme, Festival Director of Cardiff Animation Festival

Cardiff Animation Festival will be bringing their full shorts programmes online from Saturday 24th October to Sunday 1st November. 118 world-class animated short films in competition will screen across seven themed programmes for adult audiences and two for children. The selection features unique voices and a diverse range of stories told by animated filmmakers from different backgrounds around the world, all eligible for the Cardiff Animation Festival Awards, which will be presented online on Sunday 1st November. The festival will showcase some of the best new Welsh animated shorts in their Welsh Work programme, a collaboration with Chapter Moviemaker.

Simon Chong’s Bob’s Burgers/Archer crossover animation

Welsh animator Simon Chong will join the festival live from LA on Saturday 24th October, where he now lives and works as a Director on Fox’s Bob’s Burgers after his fan-made Bob’s Burgers and Archer crossover animation got him noticed by show creator Loren Bouchard and landed him a job on one of the most-loved animated series on television around the world. Simon will give insight into his unconventional career path, and join Creative Mornings Cardiff’s Melin Edomwonyi for a live Q+A on what it’s really like to work on your favourite show.

The festival will invite audiences into the magical Moominvalley, with Episode Director Avgousta Zoureldi giving audiences of all ages a chance to learn more about the making of Gutsy Animations’ beautiful TV adaptation of writer-illustrator Tove Jansson’s classic stories about the Moomins. Viewers will be able to step into the Heart of Darkness, the world’s first sand-animated feature film, currently being made in Cardiff, with Director Gerald Conn taking audiences behind the scenes of the upcoming film adapted from Joseph Conrad’s classic novel.

Evgenia Golubeva

Industry panels will include Storytelling for Animation, chaired by award-winning animation writer and director Evgenia Golubeva, with a panel of creatives across animation discussing what makes a great animated story. The festival will nurture and platform neurodiverse animation talent, with a workshop programme for new and aspiring neurodiverse animators run in collaboration with Biggerhouse Film, inviting audiences to see brand new work and take part in a discussion on neurodiversity in animation on Friday 30th October. Animators will have a chance to gain professional feedback on their work-in-progress at a special online edition of Animation Grill, reignited by Gareth Cavanagh for Cardiff Animation Festival 2020 online.

Opening the online shorts programmes will be a festival edition of Cardiff Animation Nights, the festival team’s free monthly independent animation screenings, on Friday 23rd October. Usually held in Cardiff’s Kongs bar, the festival has taken Cardiff Animation Nights online since April, with a total of over 1000 viewers from Cardiff and around the world tuning in to watch independent animated short films together apart and share their viewing experience through live chat and clapping hand emojis.

The festival team have been running events online since April 2020, made possible by funding from the Arts Council of Wales’s National Lottery Fund, Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), and the National Lottery and FilmFeelsConnected, a UK-wide cinema season, supported by the National Lottery and BFI FAN.The Cardiff Animation Festival Climate Assembly in April supported by Clwstwr brought industry delegates from around the world together to ask ‘how can we make the animation industry greener?’ The festival partnered up with ScreenSkills for an industry masterclass In conversation with Lorraine Lordan giving insight into a career in animation direction, and an Inclusion in Animation panel discussion on how we can work towards a fairer and more diverse animation industry. Workshops facilitating creativity over the internet have included a Welsh-language introduction to modelmaking and animation with animator Laura Tofarides, and drawing workshops with Welsh artist Kyle Legall in partnership with Cinema Golau. Monthly online Cardiff Animation Nights have brought independent animated short films to existing and new audiences, bringing over 300 new subscribers to the Cardiff Animation YouTube channel, while new Cardiff Animation Kids screenings on Saturday mornings have introduced children to independent animation.

Cardiff Animation Festival is funded by Arts Council Wales, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), BFI NETWORK Wales, and Ymddiried through the Owen Edwards Scholarship Fund, and sponsored by Cloth Cat Animation, Picl Animation, Creative Europe Desk UK – Wales, the University of South Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Jammy Custard Animation, the British Animation Awards, S4C and by the ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund with contributions from UK animation productions.

To keep up to date, follow Cardiff Animation Festival on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and sign up to their mailing list for more updates and announcements as they are released. 

The post Cardiff Animation Festival 2020 goes global! appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

L-R: Stephen Enticott, Jane Davies, Ben Halliwell, Ben Mitchell

This past Saturday marked the first Animation Super Grill in Cardiff, a spin off of Animation Grill, a regular meet-up for animation students and professionals to show and review personal animation work. The Super Grill, however, is a day’s worth of presentations and talks, set up by local animator Gareth Cavanagh who has taken it upon himself to arrange these gatherings at KIN+ILK in the Welsh capital to bring together the newest, the biggest and the best that both Wales and further afield have to offer.

The first of yesterday’s talks was brought to us by Skwigly’s very own Managing Director Ben Mitchell. As an animator, independent filmmaker and writer Ben brought a unique flavour to the day’s proceedings, focusing on the freelancing and independent route, something that most of us will experience in our careers. He talked at length about his current book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films which is the culmination of  years of work combining both his personal efforts as an internationally-distributed filmmaker and his work here at Skwigly. As well as this he was able to give clear insights into ways that new graduates can keep themselves productive and motivated through the less interesting ebbs of freelance work.

The second contributor was Jane Davies, a well known animator and director who has worked in Cardiff, Bristol and further afield. Jane is a friend and mentor to many as well as being an amazing artist and animator in her own right. She has often offered young animators advice and given them their first step in their animation career. After working as a director at various studios over the years, Jane let us into some of the exciting projects she has worked on, both in-house and, in more recent years, as freelancer. As always Jane’s talk was littered with helpful tidbits for both students and professionals about working with clients, studios and one another and how treating people as we would like to be treated, with kindness and respect, is often the best policy.

Next up was Ben Halliwell, currently Line Producer at Wales-based Trampires Ltd (Animortal) working on the upcoming feature film Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires. However it was Halliwell’s years as a stop-motion animator and director that was the focus of the presentation, working for some of the biggest names and on some of the most well-known and distinctive projects of recent years including Tim Burtons Frankenweenie and Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Ben was able to take us on a detailed run-though of the production pipeline using his directorial debut on the preschool show Igam Ogam, going right through from funding, scripting, pitching, production, model making, animating and onwards with helpful hints and invaluable advice gleaned during his career.

The final presentation was from Stephen Enticott, Head of Animation at London VFX studio Double Negative, whose impressive career working on some of Hollywood’s biggest films – including Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Watchmen and I Am Legend to name just a few – made up the focus of the presentation, along with just what it takes to cut it at one of the worlds leading VFX companies. Although the presentation was obviously aimed at CGI animators, the insight into the process as well as an assortment of witty anecdotes ensured there was plenty to take from it from those working in every aspect of animation production, regardless of discipline or role.

The day concluded with an industry panel where the audience were encouraged to ask questions and seek advice form these four top-notch professionals. The day was a roaring success with a full to capacity turnout and a palpable feeling that everyone left the event enriched by the experience. What Gareth has managed to set up here is truly impressive and caters well to all people working – or seeking work – in an often turbulent industry. It was clear to see that, although difficult at times, this industry is enjoying a rather impressive array of projects – and I daresay a renaissance, centered around funding, intuitive ideas and forward thinkers of which I hope at least some of whom were in that room yesterday.
We are expecting the next edition of the Animation Super Grill soon, but in the meantime get yourself along to the next regular Animation Grill for top-notch feedback and advice on your current projects. To find out when and where these events are taking place check out the Animation Grill Facebook page, follow along on twitter @AnimGril or check out the website.

The post Animation Super Grill – Review appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Animation Grill is a gathering of animation professionals, students and hobbyists, who all have one thing in common; a passion for constantly improving their animation skills through constructive criticism.

The inaugural Animation Super Grill features presentations from the following industry talent:

• Ben Halliwell – Stop Motion Animator & Director, (Calon, Dinamo, Animortal Studios),
• Stephen Enticott – Head of Animation at Double Negative (London), (Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks),
• Jane E. Davies – Freelance Animator & Director, (Aardman, A Productions, Rumpus Animation),
• Ben Mitchell – Freelance Animator, Film-maker & Author. (Rumpus Animations, Plymptoons, Slurpy Studios, Channel 4.)

There will also be an industry-focused roundtable discussion with the presenters, chaired by Animator and Film-maker, Dani Abram (Aardman, A Productions, Animortal Studios), as well as the opportunity for attendees to network and have their personal animation work “grilled” by their peers in a friendly, creative environment.

Tickets for the event are currently on sale at a special early bird rate, enabling keen grillers to snap them up with a third taken off the normal price, after then tickets retail at £15.82. You can purchase tickets at www.picatic.com/animationsupergrill

Animation Grill Founder and Event organiser, Gareth Cavanagh said:

It’s not often that you get the opportunity to learn from experienced animators and quiz them on their personal workflows and creative processes. My intention with Super Grill, is to regularly gather together a bunch of funky animators from various disciplines and place them in a cool, creative environment with a bunch of their peers who are eager to learn from them.
The animation scene in South Wales is getting stronger every year and events like Animation Super Grill and Cardiff Animation Nights are a vitally important means of bringing the community together and celebrating their diverse range of skills and talents.”

For further information on speakers and to keep up to date with event news, you can:

• Visit the Animation Grill blog at animationgrill.wordpress.com
• Join the Facebook group
• Follow us on Twitter @animgrill
• Purchase your tickets at picatic.com/animationsupergrill

The post Animation Grill launches weekend SUPER Grill! appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.