Spark CG Society will present the 2015 edition of the Spark Animation Festival, Conference and Job Fair in Vancouver, BC from October 21-25 (sparkfx.ca). This year, festival screenings are being run as fundraisers for the Breakfast Club of Canada (10/21-24) and the Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Care Fund (10/25). Conference highlights will tackle The Peanuts Movie, Pixar short Sanjay’s Super Team and the remastering of The Iron Giant. Plus, 2015 marks a new symposium presented in partnership with Women in Animation.
The festival will kick off with the Spark Animation Celebration, presenting this year’s winning shorts. New programs include a collection of animated music videos (Musical Interlude), a kid-friendly shorts block (Not Just for Kids) and a sci-fi/fantasy assemblage (Genre Mash). Returning are the female artist celebration Mothers of a Medium and Late Night Snacks for mature audiences.
On the features side, Spark will present The Iron Giant: Signature Edition, the Edgar Allan Poe anthology film Extraordinary Tales, and a celebration of Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda with the Western Canadian premiere of The Boy and the Beast and a retrospective screening of Summer Wars.
On October 23, Spark and WIA present “Make It Your Business! A symposium on the art and industry of animation.” The symposium will consider the role of women in the animation industry today and provide insight from top global industry players and creatives on how to take your project from concept and pitch, to financing, through to monetization. The line-up of over 20 guest speakers includes Brandon Oldenburg (Moonbot Studios), Daisuke “Zen” Miyake (Tonko House), Delna Bhesania (Bardel Ent.), Jenna Boyd (former VP Animation Development for Nickelodeon), Kirsten Newlands (DHX Media) and Warren Franklin (Comic Animations).
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