MALFINIS Theatre Film and Animation Studio Inc. attended the second Kingstoon Festival in Jamaica earlier this month.
Milton Branford , Managing Director of Malfinis Productions Theatre Film and Animation Studio Inc. together with Senior Animator Francis Butcher and Business Development Advisor David Jordan represented the company.
Milton Branford said: “This provided an opportunity to witness first hand the standard of the animation industry In Jamaica and the attempt to broaden the scope and development in the rest of the Caribbean”.
As an OECS territory participant, Branford recognized what the exposure can provide for his own studio and its potential for growth and the networking opportunities to learn from the several international experts and resource persons who attended.
Branford envisages that this opportunity can further generate a platform for a networking base for his training centre and a reservoir of assistance to enable further development of the animation industry in the OECS region. He said he expected to learn from the talent, creativity and innovation of the Jamaican animation industry.
Branford expressed his gratitude to the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank , as well as the Jamaican Government for sponsoring and enabling his company’s delegation to participate in “KingstOOn 2016 which he said “ is an important mechanism which can stimulate interest and build the required capacity necessary for the emerging animation sector in the region”.
The organisers of Kingstoon 2016, have indicated that over 900 entries from 93 countries have been received for the KingstOOn Emerging Animators Content Competition (KEACC) and the KingstOOn International Animation Film Festival (KIACC). However a shortlist of 44, was selected.
The aim of the KEACC is to unearth new talent and showcase the excellence of the content created by the Caribbean’s animation practitioners. The entries have been submitted in categories of storyboard, character design, Caribbean short film and concept.
Some 840 submissions for the KIAFF came from just about everywhere in the world – Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North, South and Central America, the Middle East, and Oceania. Some 49 films were shortlisted to compete for awards in the categories of student film, short film and full feature film.
In the Caribbean, submissions were received from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago. “The films from around the world were screened at venues around Kingston during the week leading up to KingstOOn, giving anyone interested in animated films a unique opportunity to view the work of artists from around the globe”, a Jamaican government official reported.