Two Irish animation companies have picked up awards at the Annecy Film Festival in France for their films Santa’s Apprentice and The Amazing World of Gumball – The Quest.
Founded in 1960, the Annecy Animation Festival and market (MIFA) is the world’s largest event entirely focused on animation.
Kilkenny-based company Cartoon Saloon is responsible for Santa’s Apprentice, which was produced with funding from the Irish Film Board (IFB), while Dublin company Boulder Media produced the other film.
“IFB support for animation projects is vital to ensuring Irish companies can hold onto their own intellectual property, enabling them to exploit their own material fully. This helps the long-term stability of companies here and allows them to flourish in the international marketplace,” said Emma Scott, production executive at the IFB.
Mainly an export-focused business
“The Irish animation sector is primarily an export-focused business that remains a leading full-time employer in the Irish audio-visual sector. The expenditure in the Irish economy for the sector was estimated at €30m in 2010 in terms of spend on local jobs, goods and services.”
At the Annecy Film Festival, a special focused event was organised by the Luxembourg Film Fund and the IFB to bring together producers from the two countries with a view of exploring co-producing opportunities ahead of a co-production treaty between them which will be signed at the Galway Film Fleadh.
Photo: A still from Santa’s Apprentice
Article courtesy of Bizstartup.ie
