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Masterclasses, Workshops, Panels, Discussions and one massive exhibition hall which packs Cintiq Demo’s, exhibitors dazzling us with their awsomeness and some epic artwork.

The Cape Town International Animation Festival is happening again and it is from 3-5 March at the Observatory River Club. This year, they’ve had to go and up the ante by adding a grand exhibition hall.

 

This year, CTIAF is bigger, better and more packed with awesome happenings and epic adventures!

Recently we caught up with Dianne Makings, the legendary director of CTIAF, and we asked her a few questions to provide us with an exclusive sneak peek into what we can expect from this year’s festival.

 

Firstly, please tell us how you manage to balance everything from dealing with all the emails and calls to delegating and coordinating everyone?

I highly recommend surrounding yourself with a great group of people.  The Animation SA volunteers always pour so much heart into this event and all bring their expertise to the table to pull this off.

Honestly none of this would happen without Stacey Pearson, Shani Campbell, Neal Strydom, Caryn Steele-Boe and the ASA Board and marketing committee.

Also, have you seen Tulips and Chimneys’ beautiful theme?  They donated all their time to craft our theme this year.  I love the artwork this year and can’t wait for you to see the trailer they’ve cut!

 

This year, the theme is focused a lot around producing. Please tell us what made this the focus point for 2017’s festival.

Producing and Storyboarding are definitely the focus this year simply because that’s the current gap in the industry.  We’re all desperate for more producers to get involved in the industry – but while we wait let’s upskill ourselves and get the work out there!

In terms of storyboarding – again a shortage of storyboarders in SA.  So if you’re wondering where to next and you’re a creative – do some research and maybe pick up a storyboarding course or two.

 

What has been your preferred drink to keep you going? Coffee, beer, tea, wine or a steady supply of Red Bull?

I’m a fan of strong coffee – have you been to St James in Obz?  Heaven.

 

Who are some of the guests we can expect to see at this year’s festival?

Don’t miss out on Hugo Guerra an award winning director and VFX supervisor, Shuzo John Shiota President of Polygon Pictures and Veronique Encrenaz from MIFA with Ivan Rouveure of Les Armatures- they have great insights on how to stand out at Annecy Pitches.

There’s also Farnaz Enshaari-Chamatz from Nickelodeon and creator of Shimmer and Shine -an expert at creating Pre-school TV series.

There’s also Firdous Kharas who’s won a Peabody award for his work in public service announcements – he’s so inspiring and really shows the power of the artform

 

What are some of the workshops we can expect to see happen?

There are also lots of gaming and digital product building workshops which are going to be very interesting to those keen on exploring the gaming industry.

Stop Motion Worskhops for the kids and storyboarding workshops with Marc Moynihan a storyboarder who’s worked with studios like Aardman

 

There are a couple of masterclasses and one of them is a storyboarding masterclass – please tell us more about this.

ToonBoom are hosting a masterclass during the festival for advanced users.  It’s going to focus on advanced rigging concepts to create efficient and high quality assets

 

Please tell us about the exhibition hall and some of the goodies in this room?

I love this room!  There’s going to be so many fun things – from live demo drawings with artists, to a green screen photo booth.  Plus a good chance to have a cup of coffee and chat to other exhibitors.  Don’t forget the quiz every lunch time!

 

How are you able to still be standing after all this and still pack more goodnes sinto this event for us all to come enjoy?!

I have a very supportive life partner.

 

Please tell us more about the VR, Games and Apps discussion

Everyone wants to make games and build digital products.  But the process is different than

creating an animation.  Polymorph systems and Sozo Labs will talk about building digital and VR products and the importance of animation in realising these products.

 

Please tell us more about the Project Pitch with Vanessa Sinden.

Creatives can spend years in creating an incredible story and a unique look for their project – but you have to know how to sell it!  In a crowded market, selling and closing the deal has never been more important! Vanessa has been working for years in the industry and has a lot to share on how to build your pitch bible

 

There are a couple of movie screenings, well, more than a couple of movie screenings. Please tell us more about these.

We’ve got two Academy Award nominees from our partners at IFAS: The Red Turtle and My Life as a Courgette.

There’s also the exquisite Miss Hokusai – a really stand out piece of anime that win numerous awards on the festival circuit.
I’m looking forward to taking my family to Revolting Rhymes

I’m a huge fan of Short Films and the Animation SA Collection of Best of CTIAF is really cool this year.  More than 200 films were submitted in 2017!

Plus of course the Filmverse2 collection and the Best of Japan Media

 

For those who are late to everything, like myself, you can purchase tickets here: http://www.ctiaf.com/buy-tickets/

 

And for all your other info about the festival – read more here: http://www.ctiaf.com/

 

Note from our side here at Pixelsmithstudios:

We really think that the CTIAF is going to be amazing. Dianne, thank you for all your hard work, your efforts and your late nights that you put into this event for the community. We think that you should take a 6 month holiday, twice a year to all over the world and then come back and tell us all about it.

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