Chapter is proud to be hosting Cardiff Animation Festival (CAF) for its second year. Over four days, from 2–5 April 2020, CAF will showcase some of the best animation from all over the world for adults, families and filmmakers.
In addition to the broad selection of animated short films, the festival also features masterclasses, workshops, filmmaker Q+As, retrospectives, an education program, behind-the-scenes screenings, industry events, panels, networking events and parties.
Held at Chapter, CAF is focal point for Cardiff’s thriving animation community and a meeting place for industry, independent animators and enthusiasts from the wider animation world. CAF provides a platform in Wales for the best of British and international animation and welcomes independent filmmakers, exciting new talent and established industry greats to Europe’s youngest capital city.
Lauren Orme, Festival Director of Cardiff Animation Festival commented: “We’re delighted to be back and bringing another jam-packed line-up of animation to Cardiff this April. Animation is an artform that doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves, and we’re really proud to celebrate it.”
“We had so many amazing animated short films to choose from this year that we decided to add an extra programme. We’ve got a brilliant and diverse selection of shorts that we’re really excited to share”.
“There’s a huge audience for animation in Cardiff and beyond. The inaugural Cardiff Animation Festival in 2018 was really well received with sell-out audiences and a huge buzz. We can’t wait to do it all again this year.”
Animated shorts
Diverse animated short film programs are at the heart of Cardiff Animation Festival. Themed shorts screenings for adult audiences will include: ‘Truth’, showcasing animated documentaries, ‘Dare’ a late night screening of dark and strange shorts, and ‘Speechless’, films without dialogue. Films about the environment and our place in the world are brought together in a program called ‘Cynefin’, a Welsh word with no direct translation to English, but which roughly translates as ‘habitat’. Other themes include ‘Heart’, ‘Body’ and ‘Mind’, films whose stories explore neurodiversity and mental health. Chapter will explore Mental Health & Wellbeing across its wider artistic programme in Spring 2020.
Masterclasses and Q&A’s
CAF invites some of the world’s most prolific animators and filmmakers to Cardiff in a series of masterclasses and Q&A’s.Audiences will get a chance to step into the many worlds of His Dark Materials (produced in Cardiff) as they’re shown how traditional puppetry, cutting-edge VFX and a sprinkling of Dust combined to bring daemons and armoured bears to life. Welsh animator Simon Chong will join the festival for a talk via video link from LA, where he now lives and works as a Director on Fox’s Bob’s Burgers. Festival-goers will also have the rare chance to see episodes of the magical Moominvalley starring Matt Berry and Rosamund Pike on the big screen. A Q&A with Episode Director Avgousta Zoureldi will give audiences of all ages an opportunity to learn more about the making of Gutsy Animations’ beautiful TV adaptation of writer-illustrator Tove Jansson’s classic stories about the Moomins.
Industry events
CAF will present an exciting range of talks, panels and networking events for those in the animation industry or hoping to break in. Following her recent Skwigly article responding to new statistics on inclusion and diversity in the UK’s VFX and animation sectors, animation art director and illustrator Tanya J Scott will chair a discussion on inclusion in the animation industry, with a panel of animation and VFX creatives discussing how we work towards a fairer and more diverse workplace. Events in partnership with ScreenSkills will give new and emerging talent a chance to network and learn from established professionals across the animation industry.
Families and young people
Young audiences will get to meet and learn from animators and sound designers with a schools programme in partnership with Into Film. Cardiff’s long-running Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival will bring a selection of some of their favourite Iris Prize-nominated animated shorts.
Treats for family audiences includes a behind-the-scenes tour of the new Paddington series by Blue Zoo Animation for StudioCanal & Nickelodeon, and Illuminated Films’ hit CITV and S4C comedy The Rubbish World of Dave Spud with creator Ed Foster. As well as chances to meet the talent behind animated family favourites, Cardiff Animation Festival’s Family program will include animated shorts screenings for children of different ages, and chances to try animation for the first time, with workshops in English and Welsh.
CAF has also announced that there will be a screening of Netflix’s Oscar-nominated feature film I Lost My Body (dir. Jérémy Clapin) – a story about class, coming-of-age and a search for connection in the darker side of early 90s Paris.
Cardiff Animation Festival 2020 will run from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th April at Chapter. For more information and tickets please visit chapter.org or contact the box office on 029 2030 4400.
