Animation festival

Little Vampire will be screened at the Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF).

The ninth Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF) takes place from Friday October 1 to Sunday October 3 online and in-person at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock.

Presented by Animation SA, the festival will include a hybrid programme of talks, workshops, screenings, producer meetings and business-to-business sessions.

This year CTIAF will also be presented with the Comic Con Cape Town Pop-up event, in partnership with the City of Cape Town. On Saturday October 2, visitors can enjoy activities such as cosplay competitions, the comic art drink and draw and sketch-off competitions and pop culture quiz sessions.

CTIAF and the Comic Con Cape Town Pop-up will be compliant with all government and Covid-19 regulations.

“We’ve searched the globe to bring you the best of the animation industry and are proud to present the best of Africa to the world,” says CTIAF festival director, Dianne Makings.

“CTIAF showcases Africa’s animation talent under one roof and understands the challenges, needs and opportunities of the African animation industry. We also want to help explore how we bring undiscovered African stories alive through colourful narratives.”

Visitors can watch screenings such as the Annency award winner Petit Vampire, directed by Joann Sfar, a story of friendship between a 10-year-old never-aging vampire and an orphan schoolboy, and a selection of short films and the Best of Annecy. Screenings will take place at GoDrivein in Salt River and tickets can be bought through Webtickets.

The speaker line-up includes Anna Berthold from United Talent Agents and Aoife Lennon Ritchie, owner of Lennon-Ritchie Agency (LRA) and co-owner of Torchwood, a literary agency representing screenwriters, directors, and producers worldwide. They will host an in-depth Q&A session on representation, studios and how to stand out in the global animation industry.

Producer and founder of Reel Stories, Esther Pearl and Yasaman Ford, a program coordinator and instructor at Reel Stories, will discuss why representation matters both behind the scenes and on the screen.

Ford will be also presenting a session on Script-writing and story structure – how to take an idea from ideation to screenplay, while Pearl will take part in a second event about the ins and outs of starting a studio with South African cultural activist and writer, director and producer at Na Aap Productions, Deidre Jantijies as well as Emmy Award-winner Kia Simon.

Mary Glasser interviews Mounia Aram about upcoming distribution opportunities for African animation on the continent and across the world.

Ariane Suveg of WARNERMEDIA will share her experience on the Cartoon Network Creative Lab, the next steps and the ambitions they have for African animation.

Annemarie March, Loyiso Kwize, Jaco Smit and Clyde Beech are The Kwezi Team who were winners of CTIAF’s Road to Annecy Pitching Competition. They will talk about their experiences in bringing the comic to screen.

Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal join Emmy Award-winner Kent Osborne to talk about the career journeys that have led to the series production for their new Disney Channel show, Kiff.

Brian Nitzkin, senior vice-president, business affairs for Myriad Pictures and Photon Films will be giving a workshop on how to package your idea and will also be joining Pete O’Donoghue, Nick Cloete and Rob van Vuuren, to talk about Electric Juju: the start of making a one man stage play an animated feature film.

Cape Town International Animation Festival’s Women Transforming Animation Programme is a series of lectures, discussions, master classes, and networking events all aimed at helping women connect and create new networks with industry veterans and leaders.

The festival passes are R350 for a student pass, R600 for a general pass, R750 for a virtual pass and R900 for a professional pass. Bookings can be made on Howler.

Visit www.ctiaf.com for the full programme details.