Madimation Festival - Madrid

Madimation Festival - Madrid

So after getting shortlisted for the Madimation Festival in Madrid, i decided to take a week out of uni to attend. I felt i had earned the time off and also i had never attended an animation festival, let alone been shortlisted.

Spain is an amazing country and while i can't stand the heat, my girlfriend loves it. The drinking culture out there is so relaxed, infact most thing in Madrid were.

Eric Riewer

The first day of the festival had a number of guest speakers, one of which was Eric Riewer of Gobelins School of Animation in Paris. A great talk, with some great films. Being a fan of Gobelins work, i was in awe of some of the work. I managed to have a chat with Eric afterwards, and while being hypnotised by his impressive moustache, we spoke about the summer school they hold in Paris and was lucky enough to secure a reserved spot for this years school. Unfortunatly it clashed with graduation, so i'm looking to attend next years (which will give me a chance to save). We also exchanged buisness cards, which made me happy because it was the first chance i had to use them properly with someone from the industry.

One of my favourite films of the Gobelins school is 'The King and the Beaver' It has one shot that makes me smile everytime. Eric also showed us the making of which was great to watch and we were also told that it had originally be made for a CG production...so glad the makers changed their
minds. Heres the film and it's making of -

Me, Excited outside the Festival

The rest of the week was taken up with screening of all the films and some sight seeing. Me and my girlfriend quickly made friends with other attendants of the festival and also some of the students. Being held in a univeristy i got to check out some equipement and it was alot nicer and cleaner than ours in England.

Festival Friends, Me & Sara

The festival was the first for its university, so it was less known to some but it was a great experience to be part of. Some of the films shown were amazing while others were a little... shall we say...weird.

The exact centre of Spain

 During our travels around the city we saw many sights, including the palace and the cathedral. In general the architecture around Madrid was amazing to look at. So many random monuments everywhere. Here are some photos of the classic tourist sites...

Cathedral

Palace

Random Monument

The festival had some great films, it was won by Fabio Friedli of Switerzland with his film 'Bon Voyage'. The style is right up my street.



And winning the Grand Jury Prize was 'Doves Do Not Fly' by Yun Ik-won of South Korea.



This film was 20 minutes long and so engaging, animation, art and direction were all top notch.

Both films were so good, i recommend them if you get a chance to see them, while they're in the festival circuit, they're not available online. My film ofcourse can by viewed online and was recieved well from the festival, i think i got more laughs in Spain than my home country.

I then rounded off the awesome trip with a cheeky duty free purchase...19€...Bargain!