New Taipei gears up for KuanDu animation festival

2015/10/13

KuanDu International Animation Festival is to kick off Oct. 24 in New Taipei City, offering Taiwan talents the opportunity to cultivate broader industry perspectives while conducting exchanges with peers from abroad.

Organized by the Department of Animation at Taipei National University of the Arts, the nine-day on-campus event opens with “The Book of Life” by Mexican animator, director and painter Jorge R. Gutierrez.

The 95-minute film depicts a young man torn between fulfilling family expectations and following his heart as he embarks on a voyage of self-discovery. It was nominated for a Golden Globe and Annie Award in 2014.

Wrapping up the festival Nov. 1 is “My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill” by French graphic novelist and scriptwriter Jean Regnaud.

The 75-minute piece portrays a young boy coping with his mother’s death in a small French town in the 1970s. It won the Special Jury Prize at Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Best European Film honor from European Children’s Film Association in 2013.

According to TNUA, a highlight of the festival is the annual animation competition. A total of 1,201 submissions from 60 countries and territories are vying for top honors, among which 21 are shortlisted for Best International Animation Award and 39 for Best Student Animation Award.

The winners of the international and student categories will each receive a prestigious KuanDog Trophy Oct. 31, with the former collecting US$2,000 (US$64,735) in prize money and the latter US$1,500.

In addition, Best in Taiwan Award will see the country’s top animator honored with a trophy and US$1,500 in prize money. The field is made up of locally produced shorts from the two sections in the main competition.

All of the competition finalists will screen during the festival, and are to be supplemented by 13 films from Festival of Polish Animation and 45 more deemed artistically and creatively meritorious.

Other activities scheduled as part of the event include lectures, seminars and workshops staged by internationally renowned animators. Special screenings of productions by students of California Institute of the Arts and Animation and Digital Arts Institute of mainland China’s Communication University are also planned.

The festival, now in its fifth year, is considered an important industry event at home and abroad. It is also a valuable platform for sharing the latest editing, voiceover and post-production techniques, as well as walking participants through the animation production development process.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=237604&ctNode=2194&mp=9)