The 13th annual edition of Animae Caribe, the Caribbean's largest animation and new media festival, opens tomorrow and runs until November 2.Focusing on local and international animation, the festival pays special attention this year to gaming and alternative digital platforms for Caribbean and global content. Two T&T animators, Shiva Deonarine and Caiphus Moore, are among the highlights of the festival programming this year. They will speak on a games expert panel on October 31 at Napa.
Deonarine has worked on the Call of Duty series, High Moon's Transformers (Fall of Cybertron) and Marvel franchises at Activision. Moore, who is also a fine artist, has worked on Electronic Arts' The Sims 4."These two Trinis are leading the way and are a phenomenal inspiration to young games enthusiasts and designers here in T&T," the festival said in a press release. "It is the basis for which Animae Caribe has created a new element in the annual festival with focus on the fantastic games industry. For the first time in the festival's 13 years, games will be in focus for an entire day of the festival. "With a global worth of US $70 billion in 2013, games development is currently one of the most lucrative careers outdoing the film industry immensely."
The festival will as usual offer screenings of animated films, panel discussions, workshops and other attractions.Giving the keynote speeches tomorrow at the festival at the UTT John D Creativity Campus will be US Emmy-nominated writer Richard Pursel and international Emmy-award winning UK writer, animator and producer Ben Bocquelet. Pursel is a writer on Spongebob Squarepants and has also written on The Ren and Stimpy Show, and Cow and Chicken; he was nominated for Emmys for the latter two shows. Bocquelet created and writes The Amazing World of Gumball.Other speakers in the festival include Bruce Smith (creator of Disney's The Proud Family), Jamaal Bradley (supervising animator at DreamWorks Animation), and Shilpa Ranade (children's animated film director and book illustrator).
Thirteen is a lucky number for Animae Caribe and to celebrate the milestone, the festival has planned Animation Under the Stars–"a fantastic screening of international animations" at Pigeon Point Beach. Scheduled to take place November 1, the event will feature animated films submitted from countries like Russia, China, Taiwan, UK, Iran and T&T."Among the other exciting events for the Tobago edition, guests from Disney, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon will be addressing Tobago youths on the fun of animation as a career," the festival's organisers said in a release. The talks are planned to take place at Mason Hall Secondary School on November 1 from 9 am. "This new collaboration occurs during the Speyside High School Art Appreciation Week in Speyside and culminates in a closing ceremony at the Tobago Magdalena Grande, with awards being handed out to Tobago participants who excelled in the workshops and weekend events."