Ka-Lung (aka. Mr. Cartoon) and some dwarves made an appearance at one of the many events at China International Cartoon and Digital Arts Festival. Unless otherwise noted, photo credit: Shani Gur. Photo credit (right): Denis Chernov.

Under the Sign of Ka-Lung
There is nothing more magical, than watching new life coming to the world, a day breaking, a star lightening the sky. It is no less enchanting to witness a birth of a new festival in the history of animation and watch its first steps with trembling anticipation.

CICDAF — China International Cartoon and Digital Arts Festival is only two years old, but is growing to gigantic dimensions. Its “parents” from the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, made a lot of effort to help it to change the face of the Chinese animation industry, ancient city Changzhou and its lucky citizens in the closest future.

Changzhou city in Jiangsu Province is located not far from Shanghai. It has existed for about 2,000 years and is famous for its lakes and rivers. In the ancient times, temples for dragons were built in the lands, which, like Changzhou, were blessed with water. Dragons — the divine mythical creatures were considered to be the water patrons.

Attendees pack the forum on cartoon products.

The Dragon drives evil spirits away; protects all the beholders of its image and brings luck. Not for nothing, lung (a dragon) or Ka-Lung (Mr. Cartoon) is chosen to be a symbol of the animation festival. He met us, the guests of the festival, with a happy smile, everywhere: on a thin leg of a street lamp, on the round sides of city buses, on the huge square of the Animation Exhibition Centre, near the Forum’s lecturing building, at the entrance of our hotel, on the flags at the dinner table…

“Cartoon”
“Cartoon is a medium for people to communicate worldwide without barriers,” claims the text of Bo Weihai, from CICDAF’s photo album. From Sept. 28, to Oct. 5, 2005, about 135 shorts and seven full length animation films were screened from all four corners of the Earth: U.S., Israel, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Hungry, Germany, Korea and others. The important events of the festival became: the China International Animation Competition and Awards ceremony; screenings of Chinese and international animation films; The Forum on cartoon products and Cartoon Art, the China International Cartoon Product Market.

Every day, a special bus picked us up near the hotel and brought us to an “Asia Film and Television town.” We directors, animators, producers and lecturers — all marked with a “distinguished guests” card on a red ribbon —were taken into a small theater screening room, where we watched the animation films for hours. Some of us even started to doubt if we are not the only ones who’ve been watching them, until one day, everyone sighed with a relief that a real audience was entering the dark cinema hall.