The 2009 Kalamazoo Animation Festival International was the best Fest yet! With over 80 films from all over the world, and exceptional talent competing in the Cartoon Challenge, it was difficult to choose the “best.” It was a great weekend of moving art and philosophy, social commentary, humor — ideas! —all wrapped together. Stuff you think about for days – or longer. A stimulating weekend of entertainment! Animation is so much more than "cartoons!"
The short films ranged from hilarious, to disturbing, to beautiful moving art set to music. All of them were great. I felt changed somehow after a weekend of viewing the best animation from around the world. Suddenly, I was seeing my own environment very differently. All of them left me wanting to create stories through animation myself. And, I missed over 30 of them.
The Cartoon Challenge — where students from all over come together for 3 days of intense production of a 30 second PSA (they sleep on cots in the lab) — starts Thursday and their "movies" premier Sat. night. All the teams produced excellent entries this year! (Not true in years past.). I couldn’t choose a favorite. I have decided I will volunteer for the next KAFI. It’s an incredible thing to have in Kalamazoo every two years, and I’m determined to get the word out to more fans — and potential fans!
I do have some suggestions on how we might make it better, but I'll save those for my next post.
I'm really bummed that I missed it, but my bluegrass/folk band was playing a show this weekend, on top of my stupid work schedule. Don't let me miss it the next time around!
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