ANOTHER round of quality animation arrives at ACMI with the 2016 edition of the Melbourne International Animation Festival. Yulia Sotnikova has the details of this film festival.
With more than 480 films of varying lengths, Melbourne International Animation Festival 2016 — this year taking place from June 19 – 26 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) — looks set to celebrate the enormous wealth of talent working in animation both in Australia and abroad.
Featuring works both unique and appealing, the festival’s global showcase of animation will not only include a wide program of shorts and features to watch but also plenty of industry events for students wishing to gain an understanding of where the animation world is heading.
To get a sense of what you can expect from this year’s MIAF, we’ve selected some events that students might get a kick out of.
Classic Disney
One of this year’s highlights of the festival will be an exclusive look at classic Disney shorts restored to their full and original glory. Showcasing shorts from the famous animation house that originate from the 1930s and 1940s, beloved Disney characters that we’ve all grown up with including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and many more can be seen on the big screen.
Apart from the short films, there will be two Disney features screened: “Saludos Amigos” and “The Three Cabelleros”, two very special films made in the 1940s that stand as examples to one of the first major projects Disney team embarked on during their creative term in South America.
Anijamin’
Don’t know what an anijam is? So, here is what this it: a bunch of animators come together and individually animate a section of a film without knowing what the previous one has done. Each animator passes on only the last frame of their sequence and the next filmmaker has to start working from it. Sometimes there’s a theme, sometimes not.
Organisers say that the number of quality anijam submissions this year warranted its own program and lo and behold, what the Anijamin’ portion of the festival shows off are some really fun and sometimes clash of style, energy and ideas!
Animated Melbourne Made
This year Melbourne International Animation Festival introduces the Animated Melbourne Made program for the first time.
The program will be dedicated to celebrating the development and history of Melbourne’s world-class animators who have emerged from the Victorian College of the Arts. Drawing from a collection of the VCA’s animated films, Animated Melbourne Made will also include a retrospective program featuring Dirk de Bruyn, one of Australia’s most acclaimed abstract animators.
Dirk de Bruyn is a Melbourne based artist who has made many experimental, documentary and animation films and videos over the last 35 years. If you want to pursue a career in animation, he is definitely your guy.
Late Night Bizarre
Late Night Bizarre is coming back with a bang this year with strange, quirky films emanating from countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, USA, Russia, Estonia, Netherlands, France and so much more.
If you are looking for something that’s original, freaky and creative then this is definitely an event for you.
Some films promise to be quite gory, so, if you decide to go, make sure you do so on an empty stomach! Also other weird things like sadism, psychedelia and inappropriate touching: you know, the normal stuff.
The 2016 Melbourne International Animation Festival kicks off on June 19 and will run through until June 26 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Tickets are on sale now. For more information about this event, visit the official website.