Crowds lined up in front of the Pasadena Civic, where most of the festival took place. Photo courtesy of Guillaume Calop

Attending the World Animation Celebration in March was something like running a six-day marathon, as one sprinted between festival screenings, a business conference, a technology exhibit (and accompanying classes) and a job expo (with panel discussions), taking time out to participate in the making of a feature film, while refreshing oneself with a slew of late night parties. Thus, when the planned Sunday morning screening of the best of the festival was canceled at the last minute, it seemed a huge sigh of relief was heard all around Pasadena. The marathon aspects were punctuated by a number of top-notch events and plentiful opportunities to schmooze and network, but were also besmirched by an often confusing scheduling and other teething pains.

The Celebration itself was wrapped around a revival of the Los Angeles International Animation Celebration (1985-91), a festival run by Terry Thoren on behalf of Expanded Entertainment, distributor of the International Tournée of Animation. Thoren eventually bought Expanded and Animation Magazine (which organized this year's event); and now, in addition to these enterprises, Thoren functions primarily as CEO of Klasky Csupo (Rugrats, Duckman, etc.). The old Celebrations were mostly held in the Nuart Theater, a comfortably run down revival house in West Los Angeles, which lacked the luxurious ambiance of such festivals as Cardiff and Ottawa. This time around, though, the Celebration was ensconced in the elegant and spacious Pasadena Civic Center, which houses a 3,000 seat concert hall, along with two exhibition spaces; Animation Magazine's International Business Conference for Television Animation was held in the nearby Doubletree Hotel, and the Academy Theater was drafted for additional screenings (including a mini-anime festival).

L#-R: Richard Condie, Corky Quackenbush, Terry Thoren and Ron Diamond. Photo courtesy of Guillaume Calop.

World's Largest What?
Touted as the "world's largest animation event," it may seem ironic that the sheer magnitude of the event was cause of its weaknesses. It was obvious that many of the problems were associated with trying to do too much, especially given the fact that each of components were handled by separate organizations. There was the schedule of screenings, World Animation Celebration, then there was the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Opportunities Expo, Miller Freeman's New Animation Technology Expo (NATE, sounding suspiciously like NATPE,) The International Business Conference of Television Animation (IBCTVA,) the Women in Animation Seminars, The Animation 2000, and many other small events scattered throughout. People complained of having five different schedules, and it was sometimes only after the fact that you realized what you had missed. The only sensible way to stay on top of it all, perhaps, would have been to have a full-time personal planner, or to clone yourself.

To compare WAC to established international fests like Annecy, Ottawa or Hiroshima seems unfair. WAC is not a festival, it is a "celebration," and in that identity it is most confident as a large networking, professional and educational event. Focusing on those strengths, there were several aspects of the Celebration that went off seamlessly.