Animation festival journalist (how many of those exist...), Nancy Denney-Phelps, does long detailed reports about the state of animation creativity, as showcased at prominent European festivals like Annecy. She's been doing it a long time. You can find some of her reports on Animation World Network or in the newsletters for ASIFA (international animator's association).
She got a special invite to see a major festival of Chinese animation. The report was devastatingly bad. I can't find it online, since I think it went out in the printed ASIFA newsletter only. But she said the awards ceremony made no sense- animators were represented by stand-ins who had nothing to do with the films, and it went on and on. So did the screenings- things that showed technical proficiency but were devoid of creativity, with the same style of work and stories over and over. It sounded like a comment on artistic expression with restrictive culture and government.
She did a later report on "THE 5TH XIAMEN CYBER SOUSA ANIMATION FESTIVAL, OCT. 26 -- 29, 2012, XIAMEN, CHINA" that was better. Bottom of newsletter here.
"The Cos-Play crowd was elaborately costumed. There were exhibition booths that sold a vast array of Cos-Play accessories from horns and wigs to clothes and swords. The Cos-Play participants and authors seemed to be the stars of the show with long lines of attendees waiting to have their books signed and their pictures taken with them."
Animation festival journalist (how many of those exist...), Nancy Denney-Phelps, does long detailed reports about the state of animation creativity, as showcased at prominent European festivals like Annecy. She's been doing it a long time. You can find some of her reports on Animation World Network or in the newsletters for ASIFA (international animator's association).
She got a special invite to see a major festival of Chinese animation. The report was devastatingly bad. I can't find it online, since I think it went out in the printed ASIFA newsletter only. But she said the awards ceremony made no sense- animators were represented by stand-ins who had nothing to do with the films, and it went on and on. So did the screenings- things that showed technical proficiency but were devoid of creativity, with the same style of work and stories over and over. It sounded like a comment on artistic expression with restrictive culture and government.
She did a later report on "THE 5TH XIAMEN CYBER SOUSA ANIMATION FESTIVAL, OCT. 26 -- 29, 2012, XIAMEN, CHINA" that was better. Bottom of newsletter here.
"The Cos-Play crowd was elaborately costumed. There were exhibition booths that sold a vast array of Cos-Play accessories from horns and wigs to clothes and swords. The Cos-Play participants and authors seemed to be the stars of the show with long lines of attendees waiting to have their books signed and their pictures taken with them."
I wonder if it brought out chinese furries?