A new digital arts festival hits Singapore end of this November with inaugural Merlion Animation Week (MAW) 2016. Held from 25th November to 2nd December, the week-long event will comprise exhibitions, outdoor screenings and conferences which span the comics, animation and digital games industries.
Organised by Youthub International, a Singapore-based organisation which focuses on the creation and distribution of new digital educational content for Singapore and Chinese markets, MAW aims to generate greater exchange between practitioners across all three industries.
MAW will feature such well-known personalities such as director Mark Walsh who supervised the animation for the Disney hits Finding Nemo and Ratatouille, Lu Wei, producer of the award winning and highest grossing animated film in China, Monkey King: Hero is Back and Silas Hickey who is senior director for Original Production & Development, APAC, of the mega media owners, Turner International.
Says Alex Liu, co-founder of Youthub International of MAW:
“From our observation, young creatives and aspiring entrepreneurs from the Singapore comics, animation and games businesses face challenges in accessing the key distribution networks for their content. Also, they often face various regulatory and policy restrictions. As such, MAW hopes to serve as a bridge for Singapore content into the China market. MAW will feature panel discussions with well-established media organisations (IKAN, a major animation distributor and toy manufacturer) and leading industry players such as Lu Wei from Skyfilm Capital who will share on best practices and distribution strategies for the Singapore industry.”
MAW will also feature workshops, talks in educational institutions and exhibitions featuring of works by international animation studios. One highlight of the festival would be the launch of the Merlion Animation Awards, a competition for original creations in the comics, animation and games industries that is open to the public. To participate in AAA, please submit your animation/comic/game works on www.asiaanimationalliance.com/submit-form/
When: 25 Nov - 2 Dec 2016,
By: *SCAPE
