Animation celebration: A trip to the Ottawa International Animation Festival

October 28 marks International Animation Day, which recognizes and celebrates all things animated. From movies and television to social media and advertisements, animation is found all around us. It’s a unique medium in that it can be created by practically anything–drawing, painting, puppets, clay, sand, paper collage, computer graphics–you name it. And it’s so versatile that it can be used to convey narrative or even non-narrative pieces. With so much material to work with, we wanted to take a deep dive into the latest and greatest animated pieces coming from around the world and the talented people creating them. So as motion graphics animators, we jetted off to the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) to do just that!

OIAF is an annual animation film festival that takes place at the end of September, welcoming animators and animation fans from all over the world. From students to industry professionals, OIAF gives you the chance to connect with anyone and everyone from the industry–making it the largest animation festival in North America. Over the course of five days, the festival hosts a variety of screenings, workshops, and events at movie theaters and art galleries around the capital city. Below are some highlights of what this year’s festival had to offer:

Film Competitions

Throughout the festival, there are screenings held daily for short film, world panorama, and feature length film competitions. These competitions range from narrative to non-narrative to music video pieces of completely indie or commissioned work. Directors are usually in attendance, coming from all over the world to talk about their work in “Meet the Filmmakers” events, giving the audience a glimpse into their minds and inspirations.

Artist Talks at the Animation Exposé

On our fourth day at the festival, we were able to catch two major industry level creator talks from Netflix’s Scavengers Reign, and a behind-the-scenes look of the making of DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot.

At the creator talk for Scavengers Reign, we had the opportunity to listen to Co-Creator Charles Huettner, Director Jonathan Djob Nkondo, and Titmouse, Inc. President Chris Prynoski talk about their series and their creative inspirations and process as they went through the steps and challenges of getting their adult-oriented show off the ground.

After this, we got to sit down with the team behind The Wild Robot which featured Writer/Director Chris Sanders, Production Designer Raymond Zibach, Head of Story Heidi Jo Gilbert, and Film Editor Mary Blee. We were able to get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how their earliest concepts and visual developments became the finalized emotional story being shown in theaters. They took us through early storyboards, rough character concept art, and even some of the first rough edits with early sound design and scripting.

Threads and Fibers: Animated Textiles

Fabrics and felts aren’t necessarily the first things that come to mind when talking about animation. However, the films shown at this special screening were all crafted using textile materials. We got to see stop motion films that utilized sewn costumes and props, and even more abstract films that used fabric, beads, and thread to convey rhythm and movement in their most basic forms. Some films even combined embroidery and quilting techniques with the digital aspect of animation to create even more visual possibilities. This panel was amazing to see, especially in a world where textile art is coming back into popularity.

Vertical Vibes Cinema

This screening featured viral animators from TikTok and Instagram. Not only did we get to watch a screening of their work, but we also got to listen to the content creators talk in a panel afterward. They spoke on how they balance creating enough content for social media, staying ahead, and getting their videos to work with an ever-changing algorithm. Most of their work was made just for their own use and enjoyment, but some of their work was commissioned. Their monetized work comes from being noticed on social media, which is why it is so important for them to work ahead. For these creators, animation on social media is about rethinking their entire approach. They’re creating content specifically for these platforms that are always growing and changing.

Spotlight on Korean Animation

This year at OIAF, there were special screenings that highlighted Korean animation. This included the world premiere of the feature-length movie Your Letter with Director Kim Yonghwan attending, and a collection of award-winning short films. Similar to the short film competitions, these animations ranged from solo student work to bigger productions. The Spotlight was put together specifically to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Korea and Canada’s diplomatic relations in a year of cultural exchange.

All these events reminded us of what makes animation such a fun and unique artform. And as we celebrate International Animation Day today, we wanted to take the time to appreciate what it has to offer. The sky’s the limit with what can be done using animation. By attending OIAF, we had the opportunity to watch films from all over the world and engage with animators from all walks of life across various cultures. All of this made for a very creatively charged trip and we hope to use this inspiration in our animated pieces here at Crowley Webb!