The ninth Cape Town International Animation Festival is set to take place from October 1 – 3 online and in-person at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock.
CTIAF is one of the largest African animation festivals on the continent with an exciting hybrid programme of talks, workshops, screenings, producer meetings, business-to-business sessions and more.
This year CTIAF will also be presented with the Comic-Con Cape Town Pop-up event, in partnership with the City of Cape Town. On Saturday, October 2, guests can expect to enjoy activities such as Cosplay competitions, the popular Comic Art Drink, Draw and Sketch-off competitions and Pop Culture Quiz Sessions.
CTIAF and the Comic-Con Cape Town Pop-up will be compliant with all government and Covid-19 regulations as the health and safety of fans and participants remain of paramount importance.
Visitors can also enjoy the chance to watch screenings such as the Annency award winner Petit Vampire, directed by Joann Sfar, a story of friendship between a 10-year old never ageing vampire and an orphan schoolboy, and lookout for a selection of short films and the Best of Annecy. Screenings will take place at GoDrivein and tickets can be purchased at Webtickets. A full, three-day Professional CTIAF pass will also get you in!
The mouthwatering speaker line-up includes Anna Berthold from United Talent Agents and Aoife Lennon Ritchie, owner of Lennon-Ritchie Agency (LRA) & co-owner of Torchwood, a literary agency representing screenwriters, directors, and producers worldwide. Join them to find out more about the global animation industry when they will host an in-depth Q&A session on representation, studios and how to stand out in the crowd.
Berthold also oversees the Animation department at UTA, with a client list that includes Brad Bird, Chris Nee, Phil Lord & Chris Miller, Andrew Stanton, Rich Moore and The Jim Henson Company, among others. Lennon-Ritchie provides scouting services for the BBC in-house animation team and LRA is a literary agency representing a select group of international writers and selling International and film rights for publishing houses.
Producer and Founder of Reel Stories, Esther Pearl and Yasaman Ford will discuss why representation matters both behind the scenes and on the screen. Pearl spent the majority of her film career at Pixar Animation Studios where her feature film credits include Academy Award-winning films The Incredibles, Wall-e, and Monsters, Inc.
She is committed to closing the gender gap in the film and media industry and Reel Stories is the first filmmaking and training program for young women and female-identified people led by industry professionals. Yasaman Ford is a Program Coordinator and Instructor at Reel Stories and works with guest teachers from the film industry to translate their knowledge into the curriculum for Reel Stories’s Master Classes.
Ford will be also presenting a session on Script-writing and Story Structure – How to take an idea from ideation to screenplay.
Nathan Stanton presents Tales from the Story Trenches. A presentation on Story Structure, Storyboarding, Staging and Composition and Visual Storytelling. Stanton began his career at Pixar in June 1996 as a story artist for Pixar’s second feature film, A Bug’s Life. He has worked on many of the studio’s successes and Academy Award-winning films since then. Most recently Stanton has moved on from Pixar and is currently running a 12 week Story Lab program for local talent in Africa for Triggerfish Animation and Netflix in Cape Town.
Esther Pearl will take part in a second event about the Ins and outs of starting a studio with South African cultural activist and writer, director and producer at Na Aap Productions Deidre Jantijies as well as Emmy Award-winner Kia Simon. Na Aap Productions is an integrated, broad-based production company, screening untold stories of Southern Africa. In 2020, the company partnered with an Indian storyteller and produced Love Thy Neighbour, an animation short film that won international awards.
Kia Simon is the founder of Sneaky Little Sister, a motion graphics company that works on independent films, documentaries, and videos for clients such as T-Mobile, LinkedIn and eBay. She has won multiple Emmys for her editorial and mograph work on the YouTube series Deep Look.
Mary Glasser interviews Mounia Aram about upcoming distribution opportunities for African animation on the continent and across the world. Aram is the Founder and President of Mounia Aram Company, which specialises in presenting African animation.
Another incredible opportunity is to hear Ariane Suveg of WARNERMEDIA share her experience on the Cartoon Network Creative Lab, the next steps and the ambitions they have for African animation. Suveg is Kids Content Director for WARNERMEDIA and manages kids content for Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Boing in France, Africa and Israel.
Annemarie March, Loyiso Kwize, Jaco Smit and Clyde Beech are The Kwezi Team and were the winners of CTIAF’s Road to Annecy Pitching Competition. They talk about their experiences in bringing SA’s most loved comic to screen.
In The Path to A Series Greenlight, South Africans Lucy Heavens and Nic Smal join Emmy Award-winner Kent Osborne to talk about the career journeys that have led to the series production for their new Disney Channel show, Kiff. Osborne has worked for animated shows such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Camp Lazlo, Phineas and Ferb, The Amazing World of Gumball and Summer Camp Island, among others.
Brian Nitzkin is Senior Vice President, Business Affairs for Myriad Pictures and Photon Films. Myriad is a leading independent entertainment company with recent credits that include the Academy Award nominated Margin Call, Never Too Late, Iron Sky – The Coming Race, Fatima and Deadly Cuts. Nitzkin will be giving a workshop How to package your idea. What a sales agent needs to see.
Nitzkin will also be joining Pete O’Donoghue, Nick Cloete and Rob van Vuuren, to talk about Electric Juju: the start of making a one-man stageplay an animated feature film.
Cape Town International Animation Festival’s Women Transforming Animation Programme is a series of lectures, discussions, masterclasses, and networking events all aimed at helping women connect and create new networks with industry veterans and leaders. WTA throws a spotlight on women changing the landscape of the animation industry. In partnership with Reel Stories / BAVC Media, WTA provides training and upskilling resources and opportunities during the Festival and throughout the year.
A few of the other highlights include IFAS sharing training opportunities in France for South African animators; The Making of Troll Girl with director Kay Carmichael (Troll Girl will also be screened as part of CTIAF’s programme) and a workshop with Triggerfish Academy’s CEO, Colin Payne to learn about remote working best practices.
The range of full three-day festival passes are: (All events require a ticket for access and seats are based on a first-come-first-serve basis. A Festival ticket includes access to Comic-Con Cape Town events).
- Professional pass – R900.00 – access to all talks, workshops, films and meetings in person and online. Ideally suited for the animation professional
- Virtual pass – R750.00 – virtual access to all talks, films and meetings from the comfort of your lounge (does not include access to workshops)
- General pass – R600.00 – access to the talks and films
- Student pass – R350.00 – access to talks and films
Bookings can be made via Howler.
Picture: Facebook / Cape Town Internation Animation Festival