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Tuesday, 8 February 2005 | Levent OZLER
Philippine Animation Sector To Receive Boost
Philippine Animation Sector To Receive Boost From Conference
The Philippines is beginning to be recognized internationally for its inroads into the world of animation, with its large pool of people involved in the computer and animation field.
According to Marlyn Montano, president of the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI), the country has been a leading worldwide provider of animation services for two decades and has a track record for consistent quality work and quick turn-around production.
Some of the famous cartoons and animations made by Filipinos for foreign firms are Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, Addams Family, The Mask, The Jetsons, Dragon Ball Z and Captain Planet.
And to further help the Philippines' animation industry, ACPI, together with the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the French Embassy Manila and the Japan Foundation-Manila, holds this year's annual "Animation Fiesta 2005."
Animation Fiesta 2005 will kick off from February 12 to 20 with animation mini-market and conference, film screenings and workshops.
"We are putting up the conference together as a means to generate more interest, enhance awareness and solicit support for locally-made animation," Montano explained.
ACPI is an organization of animation companies in the Philippines that specializes in 2D and 3D animation.
The event will include free screenings of animated film features from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Canada at Shangri-la Plaza Cinema (17-20 February) and "Animexplosion: The Return," an animation workshop and networking sessions for anime enthusiasts at SM Megatrade Hall 2 (18-20 February).
Animexplosion will feature workshop sessions by directors of popular Japanese anime on how to draw manga and animated shorts.
A Gundam model kit contest, costume play competition and an anime character designing contest will also be held.
Montano said that this year's event is a take-off from the success of last year's animation festival which attracted hundreds of local and international artists and animators, industry stakeholders, investors, proponents and enthusiasts.
"The stakeholders leveraged our opportunity to achieve broad buy-in for the need to work together to enhance the local industry's capabilities and awareness of these capabilities towards becoming globally competitive," she noted.
ACPI is likewise assisting CITEM this year in organizing a special animation track in e-Services Philippines 2005, the country's largest ITES exhibit and conference (17-18 February) at the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel.
The animation track will focus on the creative and financial aspects of the animation business.
The e-Services conference will also feature regional and international speakers to provide attendees an industry and global market overview, reveal what global network giants look for in animation content and cover the latest techniques and technologies used by today's most successful animation studios.
Speakers on animation include Laura A. Davie of the British Columbia Institute of Technology; Yoshiya Ayugai, Cartoon Network Japan producer; Betty Tsui, ANIMAX/AXN vice president of programming and acquisition and Garry Sinclair, Nickelodeon director for creative development.
Already, the Philippines is fast emerging as an important destination for outsourcing assignments from global animation studios such as Walt Disney Pictures, Hanna Barbera, Dreamworks and Cartoon Network.
(PNA)
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