Cardiff Animation Festival and Cape Town International Animation Festival are collaborating on a virtual event that features a week of curated screenings, workshops, and Q+As; programs will feature Welsh and African animated shorts previously screened at the respective festivals over the past 5 years.
Cardiff Animation Festival (CAF) and Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF) have announced a collaboration celebrating animation in both Wales and South Africa with a week-long online festival including curated shorts screenings, workshops, and live Q+As, supported by the British Council Digital Collaboration Fund. Animator and illustrator Becky Peel has created the festival’s poster for the joint event.
“We’re excited to collaborate with Cardiff Animation Festival and share the creativity of our talented delegates from both countries,” commented CTIAF festival director Dianne Makings. “Animation is an increasingly global and competitive industry and you never know where your next collaborator may come from. Wales has a long history of creating original IP animation content, whereas South Africa has only just transitioned from a service industry to creating our own IP. The collaboration of festivals is an opportunity for studios and independent filmmakers to exchange ideas around business and art.”
The collaborative festival will showcase Welsh and African animated shorts, previously screened at CAF & CTIAF events across the past 5 years, in two curated screenings. The screenings will be available to watch anytime during the festival from April 12-18. The programs can also be screened in live watch parties where audiences can watch together. In South Africa, local audiences will have an opportunity to view the shorts screening at the Go Drive-In Cinema in Salt River, giving audiences in Cape Town a chance to watch the shorts on the big screen outdoors.
Special programs:
- The festival will host Welsh-based director and animator Joanna Quinn and screenwriter and producer Les Mills in conversation with producer Helen Brunsdon, as they take audiences behind-the-scenes of their brand new award-winning short film Affairs of the Art. They will discuss independent filmmaking in Wales, look back at their journey in animation and answer audience questions in a live Q+A.
- Filmmaker Lesego Vorster will discuss the challenges of creating African specific stories while remaining accessible to global audiences. In conversation with producer Dianne Makings, they will share several personal projects that they hope will achieve that.
- Independent filmmaking is equal parts rewarding and challenging - from South Africa, award-winning independent filmmaker Naomi van Niekerk and storyboard artist Kay Carmichael who is currently in production with her first short film Troll Girl. The two will discuss the highs and lows of projects, what their inspiration and motivation is to continue to making art, all in a live discussion and Q+A.
Family-friendly events will run throughout the festival, including two animation workshops:
- African stop-motion artist Dina A. Amin will be teaching families how to animate together at home using everyday household items.
- Welsh filmmaker Efa Blosse-Mason will explore 2D paper cut out techniques and how to create a short animation.
- The CAF and CTIAF teams have worked together to curate an hour-long screening of animated shorts suitable for the whole family - showcasing some of the best family-friendly films from both nations.
The Cardiff Animation Festival and Cape Town International Animation Festival collaboration is supported by the British Council Digital Collaboration Fund, which supports UK and overseas cultural partnerships to develop digitally innovative ways of collaborating.
The festival will run online April 12-18. Individual tickets for each event and screening are on sale here.
Tickets for the Go Drive-In Cinema will be on sale on the Webtickets platform.
Source: Cardiff Animation Festival
