Public service announcement by Red Rocket Indonesia. Courtesy of the Singapore Animation Fiesta.

Martin McNamara, producer for Colossal Pictures, Saga City Media, Nickelodeon and other companies, discussed the use of computer animation techniques by Bay Area animation studios in a talk called "Behind the Scenes." Through the presentation of element footage, Marty documented the stages of production of advertisements, music videos, title sequences, etc., which employ art media ranging from traditional cel and miniatures to computer-generated imagery. This fascinating survey unfortunately was cut short by lack of time.

Red Rocket, Animata, etc.
A segment on Animation and Advertising featuring examples of work by Southeast Asian producers and agencies, such as Inside Design, IDimaging, Garman Animation Studios, Red Rocket Indonesia, Animata, O & M, VHQ, Dentsu, Young Rubicam, and Cowboy Water Design was presented by Brian Harrison, Managing Director of Dentsu, Young and Rubicam, Jonathan Ang, an animator at VHQ Singapore, and James Speck, owner of Cowboy Water Design. Then came my turn at bat. In a discussion of Animation and Satire, I had to grapple with the problem of making the Canadian obsession with hockey, as seen in Sheldon Cohen's The Sweater, intelligible to an audience from the tropics. Films by Norman McLaren (Neighbours and A Chairy Tale) and John Weldon (Special Delivery, Real Inside and The Lump) seemed somewhat more easily appreciated by those attending.

The Fiesta ended with a sneak Singapore preview of James and the Giant Peach, followed by an MTV showreel featuring various MTV logos, Aeon Flux, Stick Figure Theater, and the inevitable Beavis and Butt-Head, whose charms were relatively new to a Singapore audience. This was followed by final retreat of invited guests to the Long Bar for a final goodbye get-together.

In a Hainan steamboat restaurant between screenings; Front row, left to right: Sayoko Kinoshita, Lilian Soon; back row left to right: Roger Noake, Pansy Cham (National Counsil of Singapore), Gigi Hu. Courtesy of Mark Langer.

The atmosphere at the Animation Fiesta was relaxed and casual with uncommonly good attention being paid to invited guests. Being a noncompetitive and relatively unknown festival, the aisles of the theater weren't haunted by exhausted jurors, overstressed competitors, or recruitment agents from major studios and their prey. The scale of the event was intimate enough for everyone to get to know one another. Sessions were interspersed with frequent breaks in Raffles' Empire Room for schmoozing by guests and locals over tea accompanied by cucumber sandwiches and incendiary curries. Late nights were spent roistering over Tiger beer, steamboats and nasi padang. Expeditions to local open-air markets resulted in memorable sights and experiences, among which was my first (and final) taste of durian--a local fruit that looks like an armored cocoanut from the planet Klingon, with a subtle flavor but an overpowering odor reminiscent of decaying road kill. As a fringe benefit of Singapore's location near Malaysia and Indonesia, several guests of the festival took trips to Bali, or, as I did, to Malacca. It was with a real sense of regret that I packed my bags for home. The Animation Fiesta promises to be the first of a series of biennial events. I'm starting to save my pennies for travel to the next one.

Mark Langer teaches film at Carleton University in Ottawa Canada. He is a frequent contributor to scholarly journals and a programmer of animation retrospectives.