CAN at CIFF (Part 2)
The outlets for screening and celebrating animation in this country are few and far between. With television schedules refusing to screen innovative animated short films and features a plucky handful of festivals and screenings is all that stands in the way of animation being a non entity on our cultural landscape. So thank goodness that the Cardiff Independent Film Festival has taken the initiative to welcome the team from Cardiff Animation Nights into their programme.
After being dazzled by Joanna Quinn’s journey through her work and process, the festival presented Aardman Animation co-founder Peter Lord to take the audience through a whistle stop tour of some of Aardman’s greatest hits. Followed by an in depth Q&A where Lord answered the questions candidly. Though the talk was presented with a family audience in mind it was still great to see some favourites such as Shaun the Sheep and Creature Comforts alongside the lesser spotted Fly, Angry Kid and Pythagasaurus (censored!) all topped off with a screening of the guaranteed to please Aardman staple The Wrong Trousers. One young audience member yelled “that was amazing!” After one of the screenings, to the delight of the auditorium, who I’m sure wholeheartedly agreed.
There followed the second of the competition screenings featuring both the winning film Snowfall and the commended MANOMAN. Filmakers Thomas Lucas and Rhiannon Evans took part in a Q&A, filling the audience in on their films Death in Space, Lucas’s colourful, curtailed, killing-spree and Fulfilament, Evan’s NFTS graduation film, which is still lighting up the lives of all those who watch it. Other stand out films from the programme included Rory Waudby Tolley’s Mister Madilla which enjoyed a warm response from the audience and lesser seen films Gilles-Alexandre Deschaud’s Chase Me, a 3D printed music video, created using 2,500 replacements and I dare say rather a catchy song and Pengpeng Du’s eye catching Cage – a bizarre story with skilfully executed animation.
The highlight of Sunday arrived in the shape of Ben Bocquolet, the creator of The Amazing World of Gumball who shared his behind the scenes secrets with another sold out crowd. Inspiring from start to finish Bocquolet charmed the audience by demonstrating a making of process of an episode of the show and then by showing an unseen Anime episode where we learn how Nicole gained her ninja-mum skills, a treat that had the auditorium bursting with laughter.
Cardiff Animation Nights proved a great addition to the live action Cardiff International Film Festival, who presented the C.A.N team with a fantastic friendly setting for animation to thrive. With a programme of three superstar guests and sold out screenings of animated short films curated with a true animation enthusiasts eye ensured that there was an audience for animation festivals such as this, and the satisfied crowd proved there is a market. With 2015 being a bit of a barren wasteland for animation in festivals, with only a few dedicated animation festivals and the likes of Edinburgh and Encounters keeping the fire burning, it is fantastic to see Cardiff join the ranks and present animation at this level. The whole Skwigly team is excited to see what animated treats come out of Cardiff next.
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