The go-to destination for the Egyptian animation community will feature four days of screenings, workshops, and discussions suitable for all audiences.
The first edition of Animatex, an animation expo and online portal, is happening in Cairo November 11-14. The event aims to be the go-to destination for animation in Egypt; it is also one of the selected projects of the open call of the "Euro-Egyptian Cultural Programme 2019-2020" (EECP) and is funded by the European Union Delegation to Egypt in cooperation with the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC).
Samaka Studio has partnered with Animatex founder, Youhana Nassif, as co-founder and official content partner. The studio will be responsible for curating the festival program, which will take place in multiple venues in Cairo including: the Institut Francais; The Italian Cultural Center; Goethe Institut, NVIC; Startup Haus Cairo; Moovart Studio; and Jesuit Animation School.
A 30-second animation challenge will be taking place one week before the festival at Nayzak Animation School. The challenge will last for 3 days with 7 teams of 2 with a theme to be announced on the first day of the challenge.
The festival will be packed with a rich program that caters to all audiences including professionals, students, graduates and even families. There will be competitions for best short, animated movie, best commissioned animated movie and best animated graduation movie from Egypt and the MENA region; Trophies and awards, provided by Wacom, will be given to the first-place winners.
The program will include a series of workshops for selected professionals covering topics including: Animation Principles, Character Design, Stop Motion, Coloring, Sound Design and Storyboarding, and Directing. Evenings will feature talks for general audience as well as discussions of industry related topics such as: how to make a portfolio; women in the animation industry; animation mediums; lighting and composition; background perspective; finding your unique artistic style; and many more.
Movie screenings will take place throughout the festival with highly acclaimed animated feature films like Calamity, The Knight and The Princess, and Mia and the Migoo, Shorts from Annecy FIlm Festival in France, and from Ars Electronica Animation Festival and Tricky Women Festival from Austria will also be screened.
The detailed program can be found on the event website.
Source: Animatex
