Animation Dingle Kicks Off 2022 Virtual Edition Next Week And It’s Packed With Amazing Events

By Cartoon Brew Connect | 03/02/2022 10:35 am | Be the First to Comment!

Virtual Animation Dingle (VAD) 2022, presented by Jam Media, builds on its enormously successful virtual platform with two days of animation through a vibrant and interactive conference, screenings, awards and workshops program. It’s all happening next week from March 11-12.

Best of all, one pass offers entry to all the events across one platform.

Over 100 Short Films

With Industry Partner Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, VAD 2022, has some amazing offerings this year. Celebrating its 10th edition, VAD is now a qualifying festival for both the Academy Awards and Student Academy Awards festival. Over 100 shorts, representing 20 countries, will compete for a shot at winning festival prizes and will be available to view throughout the month of March.

The annual Animation Dingle Awards will be hosted by Aoife Dooley, an Irish writer, illustrator, comedian, and graphic designer. The very special Murakami Award, sponsored by Brown Bag Films, will go to Eileen Bell, Senior Business Development Adviser with Enterprise Ireland – a passionate supporter of the Irish screen industries with an affinity towards the animation sector and community, globally recognized for its unique innovation, creativity, and storytelling.

"Lady Betty," one of the films nominated for Best Irish Professional Short. — “Lady Betty,” one of the films nominated for Best Irish Professional Short.

A promise of a world-class event

Here is what sponsors and organizers are saying about this year’s event. First, a word from Jam Media CEO John Rice:

We’re excited and delighted to continue on the success of last year’s virtual festival by offering a Jam packed two days of conferences, screenings, workshops, awards and networking opportunities for both students and professionals. Animation Dingle has continued to attract world class contributors that see the festival not only as a content rich destination but also as a celebration of the strength of the Animation Sector in both colleges and in the companies. The sector has grown almost 30% over the pandemic and is crying out for new and emerging voices. It’s a place where students can get employed and studios can build their crews while learning about the forces shaping the ever changing media landscape. I’m very much looking forward to welcoming the animation tribes once again to Virtual Animation Dingle.

Maurice Galway, Festival Director/Co-Founder Animation Dingle:

This year’s festival is an extraordinary display of creativity from the animation sector, both professionals and students. I urge all decision makers to view the incredible animation on offer and I wish all nominees the best of luck at our awards! I’m thrilled at the wealth of knowledge we bring you this year at our conference and workshops, have a wonderful festival and I can’t wait to welcome you all to Dingle next year.

Flee, a creative discussion at the festival

Flee is unprecedented with its nominations for Best Animated Feature Film, Best International Feature Film, and Best Documentary (Feature) at the 2022 Academy Awards. The French Embassy of Ireland, and the festival will present a creative discussion with the animation team: animation director Kenneth Ladekjær and art director Jess Nicholls chatting with Irish illustrator Ben Hennessy.

Key highlights at this year’s festival

Opening keynote (supported by Enterprise Ireland) presented by Patricia Hidalgo, Director of Children’s and Education BBC and Tony Reed, Head of Animation for BBC Children’s productions, on the topic of “Future ways of working with the BBC – an animated discussion.”

"The Seine's Tears" is nominated for Best International Student Short. — “The Seine’s Tears” is nominated for Best International Student Short.

AR/VR/MR/XR/Meta WTF? Lines between animation, film and games are increasingly blurred. Game engines used to make animated and live action content; games with animation and narrative; content being consumed through virtual, augmented and mixed reality. It’s a lot to keep track of. Panelists from EA, Story Toys, Simvirtua, Piranha Bar, and RTÉ have all of the answers.

A popular returning event is the Big Pitcher where top broadcasting executives from Disney, Dreamworks, WarnerMedia, BBC, and RTÉ will again call out the Best Pitch, offering the winner a placement with Jam Media and the opportunity to pitch at Cartoon Springboard.

With support from Animation Ireland and The National Talent Academy of Animation, VAD looks back over 10 years, bringing forward the Animation Dingle Alumni. Once students, now professionals, sharing their journeys from the beginning as past winners, showing us just how life changing festivals can be.

"Wylder," from Engine House, will screen at the festival. — “Wylder,” from Engine House, will screen at the festival.

Animation Skillnet presents Unreal Engine: This panel from Cornish studio Engine House will answer the question, ‘How do you create animations in a game engine without it looking like a game?’ Engine House Animation Studio will talk through their real-time pipeline and how this has boosted their storytelling and creative approach.

"The Socks and Squimmy Show" nominated for Best Irish Student Short. — “The Socks and Squimmy Show” nominated for Best Irish Student Short.

King of Cartoons: How a young boy’s real-life space quest inspired a trailblazing animated show. Six-year-old Adam King has inspired and stars in a new cartoon, Adam Loves Adventure! in which the hero travels the galaxy helping aliens with their everyday problems, using his big heart and space-smarts. Now poised to go universal, Adam, and his Dad David, speak to RTEjr’s Suzanne Kelly and Kavaleer’s Andrew Kavanagh about the cartoon.

Women in Animation (supported by The French Embassy of Ireland) returns to explore the positive changes over the past decade. This vibrant panel of women includes Oscar and BAFTA-nominated director Joanna Quinn, (her film Affairs of The Art will also screen at the festival), Merhnaz Abdollahinia (whose multi-award winning film The Soloists will screen), Ellen Grant, Associate Lead Cinematic Artist in Larian Studios (Baldur’s Gate 3), Lorraine Morgan, Director of Production, Brown Bag Films, and Deirdre Barry from the National Talent Academy of Animation. The panel will be chaired by Cécile Blondel, Director of International Development, Gobelins.

"Fall of the Ibis King," one of the films nominated for Best Irish Professional Short. — “Fall of the Ibis King,” one of the films nominated for Best Irish Professional Short.

Ready for my Close-Up: Making Charlotte: A look at this new animated biopic of painter Charlotte Salomon, starring Keira Knightley, and how making animated films for adult audiences draws on and differs from making comedy and family fare.

Cuphead: For the Love of 2d Animation Presented by Animation Skillnet, Tina Nawrocki will speak about her work as an animator on this glorious indie run-and-gunner game, which was inspired by classic 1930s rubber hose cartoons. Blowing up since launching on PC and Xbox One, Cuphead was painstakingly created with traditional hand-drawn animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.

But that’s NOT all folks…

Ten years old, Animation Dingle is now the cornerstone of animation in Ireland, and continues to work hard to support upcoming young animators to connect with industry experts, whilst allowing industry experts direct access to the next generation of animators and their work. This synergy is a hallmark of Animation Dingle.

VAD 2022 brings together a conference, screenings, awards, and workshops across one single platform with the support of The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, allowing passholders full entry and access to everything, without the need to buy any add-on tickets. One pass, all in at Virtual Animation Dingle.