The Imperial Palace in Annecy, home to the MIFA.

It appears that after all these years MIFA is growing up; there is no doubt that the just completed market in Annecy was the best yet -- at least, in European terms. For the Americans, it was just another party-filled festival, and not one of the better ones. And therein lies a tale.

Over the past decade, the growth of MIFA, and the Annecy Festival, have been the meters to measure two trends in the world of animation: 1) the dilution of talent; and 2) the decline of the American television animation production industry. The former is a result of the law of unintentioned consequences, while the latter was the basic raison d'être of MIFA. Perhaps I should explain.

Where's the Talent Gone?
The dilution of talent was very apparent at the festival. While the overall level of production quality was high, there was a substantial lack of those personal films which always marked the festival in previous years. Why? Two factors are most important; Both are unintentional, one macrocosmic and the other microcosmic.

Macrocosmic - The disappearance of the Communist states caused the demise of the Eastern European versions of the National Film Board of Canada. While they may not have been the most efficient studios, they were most certainly the home of a great many individualistic animators, the auteurs of much that was good in the '70's and '80's. For many of these folks, the fall of the wall has lead to a much better life -- but not to working on their own films. Instead, they're in the Valley, or Phoenix, or Orlando, or someplace working for a very nice wage, but working on a film not of their own. Good for them financially, but bad for the festival.

An elaborately decorated booth for the post-Communist Czech studio Jiriho Trnky (Jiri Trnka) and distributor Kratky Film which exhibited several animated series produced for European countries.

Microscosmic - The original purpose of MIFA was the furtherance of the European animation industry. In conjunction with its animation unit CARTOON, Plan MEDIA, the entity of the European Union that funds production, was, and is, a very substantial sponsor of MIFA, and MEDIA does not throw around money for no reason. Its primary goal is the creation of Euro-jobs, lots of Euro-jobs. The same may be said for the CNC, the film financing entity of the French government; except, of course, its interest is Franco-jobs. Reading the introductions to the official MIFA guide is illustrative; on two pages, there are six mentions of government funding. Some of this funding supports premiere personal films, and the festival had a special showing of the CARTOON 14. But the overwhelming majority of the funding is for commercial projects. Once again, while this financing supports many jobs, the artists employed are not working on personal films.

The explosive growth of American feature animation production has only furthered the dilution of talent. Talent scouts for the major studios prowled the corridors of the Imperial, and the festival venues, pouncing on talent with golden handcuffs and visions of artistic riches beyond belief. The story of a starving animator, toiling away in a freezing garret for years to create a personal vision, has moved from reality to myth. There are far too many jobs around, and this is probably better for everyone involved - except for those who go to the festival to see the stunning product of artistic individuality.