AC 2016
Promoting Diversity, Difference & Creative Awareness in Animation & Game
It has been 15 years since Animae Caribe Festival was first held in Trinidad and Tobago. Back then it was an empty canvas brimming with wonderful possibilities.
We have since proven to the world and most importantly to ourselves that we can paint our own horizons, tell our own tales and share our unique stories with the world. In September 2015, founder and creative director Camille Selvon Abrahams collaborated with the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC to collect and curate an exhibition of Caribbean Animations and produced Caribbean in Motion. It included the works from animators like Wendell Mc Shine and Ansar Sattar from Trinidad and Tobago, Alison and Hanif Latchman from Jamaica among others. We conducted workshops in Suriname as part of Spangmakandra Creative Week, welcomed a new animation network in Guyana and hosted mobile bus workshops through Tobago on our Animation on The Bus Tour. We also shared our knowledge with young inmates at Metcalfe Prison and South Camp Women Facility in Jamaica through a programme A New Path, initiated by the Organisation of American States.
With support from regional institutions like CARICOM, Caribbean Development Bank and Caribbean Export Development Agency, this year’s festival will be a week of screenings along with appearances from animation and gaming professionals from the Caribbean Diaspora who are making waves in companies like Disney, Pixar and EA Games. It is also a special year to celebrate our differences as we create a stage for diversity, celebrating women in animation, encouraging diverse content for the world stage and creating platforms to discuss how animation, games and digital media can be used to engage social issues like autism, war and the emotional turmoil of cancer. For the first time in its 15 year history the festival will feature six investment ready IP projects coming out of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. Apura Network, based in Suriname, is the official crowd funding platform. Its diaspora investors are preparing to support all six projects for Phase2 of the Animated Ideas Bootcamp project.
On the final day of the 2016 Festival, Animae Caribe will hold screening and exhibitions in Tobago, in communities like Castara and Parlatuvier, to add an eco-conscious dimension to the festival. This will create additional revenue for these rural communities, contribute to the positive global visibility of the island of Tobago and simultaneously help to achieve one of Animae Caribe’s aim of exposing residents to animation and digital media.
So come celebrate this momentous occasion with us, see animations from around the world, experience Caribbean nightlife and be part of this Caribbean animated party under the sun.
It’s not just a festival, it’s a movement.
See you there, Camille.
