Celebrating the 21st Anniversary of the Festival, the festival committee took attendees on a whirlwind tour with feature presentations from Trinbagonian animators working abroad, a motion-capture Hollywood actress, as well as the launch of a new animated web comic from Tobago.
Festival Manager – Anushka Sonai, Winner Ansa Caribbean Excellence Award, welcomed guests, inviting them to partake of all the activities. “Animae Caribe brings the world of animation directly in focus for persons who are interested in careers in Animation. We use this festival to inspire attendees about the endless possibilities in the industry. We continue to be thankful and encouraged by the wealth of Caribbean content and the continued level of interest in the development of the Animation industry throughout the Caribbean.”
Animae Caribe Festival took place from Tuesday 8th November until Friday 11th November 2022, physically at the UTT Academy for the Performing Arts on the NAPA Compound, Keate Street, Port of Spain. Festival Founder, Camille Selvon Abrahams who is also a senior educator at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, thanked the University for its vision and willingness to partner with the festival allowing BFA in Animation and Visual Arts as well as Music Technology students to gain hands-on training and exposure to festival coverage and management.
For the Opening Screening at CinemaONE 4DX at the IMAX Theatre the audience showed their appreciation for themix of screenings of new and unseen works as well as the premier of the feature length film OPAL by Alain Bidard, film maker and animator from Martinique. Also shown was Ego Sum from Jamaican Animator Adrian Lopez in collaboration with JAMPRO and the Caribbean Animation Business Network, additionally four locally created short films were screened to the delight of the audience – PB and the Buck by Shane Lee Kit, Unfettered and Fly by Rynelle Williams, Kenny and the Brown Bear by Kendall Boodoo, and Maxi Men by Jonathan Campbell.
The festival also welcomed Ms. Danielle Swan. Ms. Swan’s career in the entertainment industry as an Actor, Motion Capture Performer, Dancer, Model & Creative Director spans more than 15 years. She is known most recently for ‘Cerulean’ which she was lead Actor, Producer, and for THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (4) as ‘Woman In Red’ alongside Keanu Reeves, Directed by Lana Wachowski released in December 2021.
Alongside a panel of guests from the USA, Ms. Swan presented her project IRIS, which she hopes will draw partnership from Trinidad and Tobago for the creation of an action packed Film Noire movie. Poised to employ many locals in their respected fields, IRIS will place Trinidad & Tobago on the international film industry registry. The film is designed to transfer knowledge in new technologies to creatives in Trinidad and Tobago.
Feature presentations by Trinidadian animator – Adrian Nurse from Oscar winning team – Framerstore Studios. Mr. Nurse took the audience on his journey of growth and showed them where he started and high calibre of work that he has been able to achieve. Showing images from his latest project, Spiderman: No Way Home, Nurse captivated the audience with the levels and depths of the design process that went into creating some of the more intricate sequences in the movie.
The Launch of Tobago Trek. In 2019 a team from Tobago won the Animae Caribe Pitch Competition with a project concept for Tobago Trek, since then these five young adults have received support for E-idcot and the Caribbean Development Bank towards developing the animated web-comic, online as well as board game for the project. Pinpointing animation as a pillar for development of Tobago, E-idcot representative – Mr. Larry Richards, formally launched the project as one for development at the Animation studio at the Cove.
The festival was possible through the support of UTT, FilmTT, NIHERST, The Heroes Foundation, Scholastic Esports Research Center and the Oxygen with Nicole Foundation.
