Cardiff Animation Festival and Cape Town International Animation Festival announce an exciting 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.
Dianne Makings, Festival Director of Cape Town International Animation Festival commented:
“We’re excited to collaborate with Cardiff Animation Festival and share the creativity of our talented delegates from both countries. 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 two festivals are brought together through brand new poster artwork created by animator and illustrator Becky Peel - the delightful and colourful characters of her CAF 2020 poster are connected through a magical portal bringing them excitedly through to behold the natural beauty of South Africa’s Table Mountain.
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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. Expect unique art, heartwarming stories, experimental animation and a variety of disciplines in this collection. The screenings will be available to watch anytime during the festival from Monday 12th - Sunday 18th of April, and will also be screened in live watch parties where audiences can watch together, give a round of applause and socialise in the live chat.
In South Africa, there will also be 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.
Joining the festival from Wales will be 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’, discuss independent filmmaking in Wales, look back at their journey in animation and answer audience questions in a live Q+A.
There is massive global interest in African stories, audiences are hungry for content which celebrates individual cultures, set against the backdrop of the universal ties that bind us.
Filmmaker Lesego Vorster discusses the challenges of creating African specific stories while remaining accessible to global audiences. In conversation with producer Dianne Makings, they’ll share several personal projects that they hope will achieve that.
Independent filmmaking is equal parts rewarding and challenging, from South Africa, Naomi van Niekerk an award-winning experienced independent filmmaker and Kay Carmichael an established and sought after storyboard artist, currently in production with her first short film; ‘Troll Girl’, will discuss the highs and lows of projects, what personally motivates them to continue to make art and what inspires them, in a live discussion and Q+A.
A range of 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, and Welsh filmmaker Efa Blosse-Mason will be exploring 2D paper-cut out techniques and how to create a short animation.
The CAF and CTIAF teams have also worked together to curate an exciting 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 from Monday 12th April to Sunday 18th April. Individual tickets for each event and screening are on sale now. Visit https://watch.eventive.org/cafandctiaf for tickets. Tickets for the Go Drive-In Cinema will be on sale on the Webtickets platform.
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