Australian International Animation Festival comes to town

The Australian International Animation Festival returns to Lismore bigger and better than ever on Friday and Saturday, September 14 and 15, at Southern Cross University.

Multimedia lecturer Sean O’Shannessy said the Festival will be a ‘feast of animation’ with 17 sessions held over the two days, including a special schools program on Friday, workshops, master classes and an animators’ forum.

On show will be a selection of the best international, Australian and local films from over 2000 submitted this year.

Saturday’s master class ‘The anima in animation – improving the illusion’ will be run by Tim Adlide, one of Australia’s most accomplished animator/directors, whose work in children’s TV is seen regularly around the world.

“Tim will demonstrate and discuss in detail the important elements that support the illusion and give an animation life. This will be of lifelong value to anyone creating animation of any kind – from motion graphics, flash cartoons, stop motion or 3-D CGI,” Sean said.

“Films in the AIAF line-up represent a range of styles, genres and techniques that are testament to the vibrancy and relevance of current creative animation, and organisers have worked hard to try and reflect that outstanding diversity.

“With a mission to celebrate some of the world’s best animated independent shorts with Australian audiences, Director Malcolm Turner has travelled to festivals in Canada, Europe, USA and Asia to ensure the AIAF is truly representative of the international ‘indie’ animation festival circuit.

“Whether side-splittingly hilarious, documentary-style, abstract, gothic or stop-motion animation, these films range from the beautifully hand drawn to Flash gems and high-end computer wizardry.”

An encounter between an angry monkey and an alien with a zap camera, an absurdist little tale about the widow of a man who wanted to make defibrillators, and a poem set in a pub about the probability or not of there being a God, are all part of the Festival’s offerings.

A special highlight of the Festival will be the screening of ‘Fraught’ the film which won the ‘Best Australian Animation’ at the Melbourne International Animation Festival 2007.

“This documentary-style animation is all about those gut-wrenching, embarrassing moments most of us experience at some stage in our lives,” Sean said.

The Festival, being supported by teaching staff in the University’s Bachelor of Media degree, is being held in the Whitebrook Theatre at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus, Military Rd, Lismore.

It opens at 5.30pm on Friday, September 14 with the launch of the Australian and international programs. The last session, Late Night Bizarre, screens at 8.20pm on Saturday night. Festival pass and session tickets are available over the counter at The Plaza Shop, in Goodman Plaza at the University, or by phone (credit card only) on 6622 2311 or at the door on the day.

Schools can get information about the Friday high school program by emailing lynne.deweaver@scu.edu.au, or phoning 6620 3084. For information about the Saturday master class with Tim Adlide email sean.oshannessy@scu.edu or call him on 6620 3608. Full program details are available on www.aiaf.com.au.

Photo: ‘Doll Face’ – an image from the upcoming AIAF, from a film by US animator Andy Huang featuring the haunting deconstruction of a digital/human/robotic face; winner of the Jury vote in the Digital Panorama at the Melbourne International Animation Festival.