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Trade and public drawn together at festival
By Xu Wenwen |
May 3, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN delegate Laurent Duvault came to Hangzhou for the China International Cartoon and Animation Festival (CICAF), he found the festival bigger, more colorful and more international than he'd expected.
The six-day event, which ended on Wednesday, was held at Baima Lake Cartoon and Animation Square, over a 30,000-square-meter area, as well as at 11 parallel locations.
The expo featured 472 exhibitors from home and abroad and attracted 1.23 million visitors.
Highlights included a cosplay competition, voice dubbing events, screenings of animations at local cinemas and on TV, forums, parades and a talent fair.
"CICAF has found a perfect mix between trade business and public events," said Frenchman Duvault, international business director of Media Participations, a European leader in comics and animation, with some brands 75 years old.
The festival, which has been running for nine years, focused particularly on industry promotion and internationality this year.
"It's both an economic and cultural event," said Chen Weiqiang, deputy secretary general of the Communist Party of China Hangzhou Committee and director of the festival's organizing committee.
CICAF aims to promote the cartoon and animation industry in host city Hangzhou and further afield.
In its first year in 2005, the festival generated turnover for 800 million yuan (US$130 million). Last year the figure was 14.6 billion yuan.
"I've been to many cartoon and animation festivals in the country, and the one in Hangzhou pays more attention to the market, which is right," said Cai Zhijun, a jury member of Golden Monkey King Awards, and general secretary of China Animation Association.
"Being market-oriented boosts the whole industry," added Cai.
One example of commercial success at the festival is Hangzhou Xuanji Science and Technology Corp, which produces "Qin's Moon," a 3D martial art animation series. Having attended the festival for several years, last year it secured a major deal.
Dream Square Corp, a computer game company based in Shanghai, noticed how popular the "Qin's Moon" stand was with festival goers.
This prompted Dream Square Corp to conduct some research and buy the rights for producing a computer game of the cartoon for more than 10 million yuan.
Last Sunday, a beta version of "Qin's Moon" game was launched online.
Figures also show that the festival is getting more international: More than 400 domestic and foreign animation companies from 68 countries and regions, including US, Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy and South Korea, have attended the festival.
An annual highlight, the cosplay super show has 16 registration points in the country, plus others in Japan, Denmark and Thailand. More than 1,000 teams entered.
Meanwhile, more than 36,000 cartoons from 39 countries and regions, created by under-18s, were submitted to the China International Youth's Caricature Competition.
And in the prestigious Golden Monkey King Awards, winners included entries from animation artists from France, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Iran.
For the first time, the Czech Republic was represented by puppetry displays, a traditional art in the country.
New Zealand-based Briton Martin Baynton, children's writer, illustrator, producer, director, script editor, said in a speech that "the organization and scale of the festival is as good as any international event."
Other attendees also praised the strides the festival has made.
"Ten years ago, the city did not have the experience of holding such a festival," said Zhong Luming, publisher and general manager of "Animation and Comic Weekly" magazine, based in Guangzhou in China's southern Guangdong Province.
"But the festival has improved every year, bringing money to the city and its cartoon and animation industry," he said at the forum.
However, industry figures also acknowledged weaknesses in China's cartoon and animation industry.
Cai Zhijun said during his speech at the Golden Money King Awards, that while Chinese animators' software skills have reached international level, creativity has not.
"To be more creative, people should learn from each other. We feel a sense that people here are quite protective of their ideas, but in Europe people like to share," said Tereza Stehlikova, an artist, filmmaker, writer and associate lecturer in animation at the Royal College of Art in London.
Other attendees called for more work aimed at adults.
"Many works don't appear to attempt to communicate deeply," said Joan Ashworth, head of programs at the Royal College of Art animation school.
"One of the things that strike me is the emphasis on making works for children," added Ashworth. "People should diversify and make work for adults, so they are not just for entertainment, but more about an individual's internal world."
The six-day event, which ended on Wednesday, was held at Baima Lake Cartoon and Animation Square, over a 30,000-square-meter area, as well as at 11 parallel locations.
The expo featured 472 exhibitors from home and abroad and attracted 1.23 million visitors.
Highlights included a cosplay competition, voice dubbing events, screenings of animations at local cinemas and on TV, forums, parades and a talent fair.
"CICAF has found a perfect mix between trade business and public events," said Frenchman Duvault, international business director of Media Participations, a European leader in comics and animation, with some brands 75 years old.
The festival, which has been running for nine years, focused particularly on industry promotion and internationality this year.
"It's both an economic and cultural event," said Chen Weiqiang, deputy secretary general of the Communist Party of China Hangzhou Committee and director of the festival's organizing committee.
CICAF aims to promote the cartoon and animation industry in host city Hangzhou and further afield.
In its first year in 2005, the festival generated turnover for 800 million yuan (US$130 million). Last year the figure was 14.6 billion yuan.
"I've been to many cartoon and animation festivals in the country, and the one in Hangzhou pays more attention to the market, which is right," said Cai Zhijun, a jury member of Golden Monkey King Awards, and general secretary of China Animation Association.
"Being market-oriented boosts the whole industry," added Cai.
One example of commercial success at the festival is Hangzhou Xuanji Science and Technology Corp, which produces "Qin's Moon," a 3D martial art animation series. Having attended the festival for several years, last year it secured a major deal.
Dream Square Corp, a computer game company based in Shanghai, noticed how popular the "Qin's Moon" stand was with festival goers.
This prompted Dream Square Corp to conduct some research and buy the rights for producing a computer game of the cartoon for more than 10 million yuan.
Last Sunday, a beta version of "Qin's Moon" game was launched online.
Figures also show that the festival is getting more international: More than 400 domestic and foreign animation companies from 68 countries and regions, including US, Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy and South Korea, have attended the festival.
An annual highlight, the cosplay super show has 16 registration points in the country, plus others in Japan, Denmark and Thailand. More than 1,000 teams entered.
Meanwhile, more than 36,000 cartoons from 39 countries and regions, created by under-18s, were submitted to the China International Youth's Caricature Competition.
And in the prestigious Golden Monkey King Awards, winners included entries from animation artists from France, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Iran.
For the first time, the Czech Republic was represented by puppetry displays, a traditional art in the country.
New Zealand-based Briton Martin Baynton, children's writer, illustrator, producer, director, script editor, said in a speech that "the organization and scale of the festival is as good as any international event."
Other attendees also praised the strides the festival has made.
"Ten years ago, the city did not have the experience of holding such a festival," said Zhong Luming, publisher and general manager of "Animation and Comic Weekly" magazine, based in Guangzhou in China's southern Guangdong Province.
"But the festival has improved every year, bringing money to the city and its cartoon and animation industry," he said at the forum.
However, industry figures also acknowledged weaknesses in China's cartoon and animation industry.
Cai Zhijun said during his speech at the Golden Money King Awards, that while Chinese animators' software skills have reached international level, creativity has not.
"To be more creative, people should learn from each other. We feel a sense that people here are quite protective of their ideas, but in Europe people like to share," said Tereza Stehlikova, an artist, filmmaker, writer and associate lecturer in animation at the Royal College of Art in London.
Other attendees called for more work aimed at adults.
"Many works don't appear to attempt to communicate deeply," said Joan Ashworth, head of programs at the Royal College of Art animation school.
"One of the things that strike me is the emphasis on making works for children," added Ashworth. "People should diversify and make work for adults, so they are not just for entertainment, but more about an individual's internal world."
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