The Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival

Continuing its pursuance of increasing the exposure of fresh and unique domestic and international animation to those willing to lend an ear, the Korean animation industry is well into its 11th Annual Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF). The result of adequate domestic investment and an ever-present interest in building the skills and techniques of content creators oft-overlooked by their western counterparts, the SICAFs goal of bringing together all worlds of animation in order to celebrate the diversity of progress made by writers and directors and animators everywhere. Emphasizing local cartoons and animation produced regionally, the 11th Annual Seoul International Cartoon & animation Festival is just one of the many opportunities Korean animators have had in recent years to flex their creative muscles.

An altogether more mature market of animation of varying demography, this animation festival houses competitions for the categories of full-length films, animation shorts by professionals and students, productions for internet broadcasting and animation commissioned for television.

Exhibiting selective programming from May 23rd, 2007 through May 27th, 2007; the SICAF of South Korea additionally features or calls attention to specific productions that possess marked innovation or intelligence about the medium. It is here that, as the event organizers declare that it is through "the meeting of new technology and art," where we find the creation of "an animated film festival where cinema and the audience become one."

Held at the Seoul Animation Center's Ani-Cinema, the first Korean theater and operations area dedicated to animation, productions from all over Asia are presented and featured, most of them by animators whose entrepreneurial spirit insist on breaking through and into the industry at large. It should be noted, that planning and development for Korea's second animation-specific theater and business unit, the Cheongju Advanced Cultural Industry Complex, is already underway [related A.I. news: "Korean Animation Complex"].

"The SICAF Animated Film Festival, which in a short period of time has found its place as a representative animation film festival in Asia, is once more ready to introduce the audience to the recent great works from all over the world […] Commemorating the 60th anniversary of liberation, we present "50 years of Korean Animation History" to bring into the adult audiences with heart warming memories from their childhood period."

Among the many persons titles featured during the 10th Annual Seoul International Cartoons & Animation Festival include: Park Chan-wook and European science fiction artist Jean Giraud, Thailand's first reportedly CG film Khan Kluay (2006) is noteworthy by American-educated Thai animator Kompin Kemgumnird, Japanese animator Mamoru Hosoda and many others. Comic artists will visit with loyal fans and open discussions will be held on all sorts of subject matters that interest animation and visual arts enthusiasts from around the world.