World stars for the Animation Volda Festival
An Emmy Award winner and several other big names from the animation industry are guests who will share their knowledge during the Animation Volda Festival September 12th-15th.
On Thursday, September 12th, the traditionally rich and student-driven festival is set to start for the thirteenth year in a row. A rich program has been put together that will capture everyone, from children to the elderly. As in previous years, Samfunnshuset in Volda is the heart of the festival and where much of the program takes place.
See the program for the festival
From Europe and South America
The guest list includes names from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Argentina. Among other things, Emmy-nominated Staffan Linder comes from Goodbye Kansas Studios in Sweden and will give lectures in VFX visual effects. He has previously worked with well-known titles such as King Kong, The Walking Dead and Kon-Tiki.
Other guests to come are Tonje Skar Reiersen from Mikrofilm, who is a producer on several well-known short films and will talk about messages in films, and political and personal aspects of art in film. Furthermore, Heikki Kossi, Agustin Valacarenghi and Pablo Gostanian, Christian Bøving and Birk Von Brockdorf will give exciting lectures in various branches of the animation industry.
The guests themselves are a big part of the festival, but one of the main focuses is clearly the short films that are sent from all over the world, which will be shown at the festival. Of the entire 804 animated films submitted, there is only capacity to select a few for viewing at the festival, and this year 46 films will be on screen. This is a chance for students and others in the animation industry from around the world to show what they have to offer, which is great for the selected animators.
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The children's Day
For several years, the Animation Volda Festival has also focused heavily on making the festival exciting and fun for the children. The clear majority of children are fond of film and the organizers want to give them knowledge of the industry by feeding their engagement. Among other things, the festival collaborates with Øyra Children's School and holds a workshop with the children in good tradition. This year, all the kids will be making magical costumes and magical films out in the woods using the Pixilation technique with the help of animation students at Volda University College.
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This year, they also have a collaboration with the Hjørundfjord Film Theater, which will have an outdoor cinema with a screening of Ronja Røverdatter on Saturday, which they encourage the children to join as well. In addition, there will be some of those who will play trolls along the path in the forest before the film, a fun feature for both big and small. Sunday is Children's Day, and both adults and children come in for free. This day will be the screening of the films that Øyra Children's School was making on Saturday, and it will soon be a highlight for the children to see what they themselves have been producing in the cinema.
Internet generation
Astrid Ellensdatter Mork-Knutsen, head of the festival, believes these days are a unique opportunity for students across education to come together and address issues in the media industry.
When this year's theme is the "internet generation", it is a theme that concerns all of us in today's digitized world. Whether you use the Internet socially, professionally or creatively, it is also something that must be criticized.
- Every day we are bombarded with information from the media and social media, and we hope the festival can contribute to the nuanced use and consumption of the constant information, says Mork-Knutsen.
Furthermore, she believes that we need to be able to ask questions about what we perceive visually on digital and graphic platforms and adds that animation is not only an industry but also a medium. When you are critical of what you get served in social media, this also applies in the field of animation.
"Many people are used to animation being children's television, but we hope to open up to everyone finding something they think is exciting in animation," she says.