Ottawa: When the organizers decided to transform the Ottawa International Animation Festival from an every-other-year fest to an annual event – one that would incorporate the key elements of the original with those of its sister student festival – they thought they’d receive a lot fewer film entries and be smaller overall. Wrong.

The 1,883 works entered this year is slightly fewer than last, but entries pelted in from 64 countries and 108 films will compete in 15 categories, including animated features, new media, commissioned and independent films. Another 46 will screen in the Showcase series.

The 2005 program, set to unfold Sept. 21-25, is a busy one – including the Animators Picnic, the buzz-making Hungarian toon The District!, a workshop by Yoda creator Rob Coleman, a technology forum and the sophomore year of the Television Animation Conference.

Total attendance is expected to hit 20,000, on par with last year. TAC expects 1,200 delegates, up from 200.

Observers say TAC, Sept. 21-22 at the Chateau Laurier, has reenergized OIAF, which until last year had no ongoing focal point for industry executives, despite being a hive of recruitment. Its debut transformed OIAF into what Cookie Jar CEO Michael Hirsh calls a ‘world-worthy event’ on par with the Annecy festival in France.

‘Adding the conference does add a different level of professionalism and does draw more executives to the market, as well as producers,’ says Pat Burns, Nelvana’s VP of international production. The conference now also has pitch sessions, a first among animation events.

The two companies chosen to pitch are Kidzone TV from Australia with its kids show Gum Nuts, and Image Entertainment from Montreal with the kids series Constantine. At press time, reps from Teletoon, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon were set to evaluate the pitches.

Also new at TAC is Fast Track, which conference director Maral Mohammadian compares to a speed-dating event – but better organized. ‘Over an hour and a half, buyers, distributors and executive producers are available for a series of five-minute meetings with anyone registered for the conference. It’s all planned ahead of time. Some of the buyers are so in-demand, this eases access to them,’ says Mohammadian.

TAC will also feature an all-day screenwriting workshop with Ian Corlett (Being Ian) as part of the Teletoon Masters Series. Panels and discussions round out the lineup, including a Sept. 21 case study on the coproduction of Planet Sketch, a new CGI series by Decode Entertainment and the U.K.’s Aardman Animation. ‘Even people who’ve been in the industry awhile can learn something,’ Burns comments. ‘They’re very dynamic and current.’

The country spotlight is on Singapore this year. OIAF managing director Kelly Neall says a ‘fairly large delegation’ will attend from the city-state, including reps from production companies and training institutions looking to explore coproduction opportunities. ‘One of the roundtables is specifically about that and some of their potential clients will be at the roundtable. Each year, we focus on one growing, emerging market that’s important to the Canadian industry,’ Neall adds.

‘The festival tries to combine the business and artistic aspects’ of the animation world, says Neall, and therefore delivers a long list of workshops and industry, student and public events.

This is critical to its success, according to Ottawa animator Sharon Katz, a fest regular whose short film Slide is in the Canadian Showcase.

‘It’s important for the festival not to lose sight of the independent animators not working in the commercial world. They’re the risk-takers, the inventors. They’re unique, in terms of the art form, not in terms of what’s current on television,’ she says. ‘People involved in commercial material can come to the festival and see that work and incorporate what they like into their work.’

Employers such as Canadian gamer Bioware, B.C.’s Studio B Productions and Nerd Corps, and Disney Feature Animation will be busy recruiting. Ottawa’s Boomstone Entertainment will also be keen to see students’ portfolios, says producer Lee Williams. ‘I did notice [last year] the number of American kids and European students coming in. A lot of people from New York state and Washington were coming up to get feedback on their portfolios’ along with Canadian students.

Williams, whose company is doing service work on Cookie Jar’s Caillou and developing a preschool series, Little Melody, adds, ‘The industry has been somewhat quiet for the last three years, but it’s picking up again with [the rising emphasis on] Flash animation and 2D digital software,’ which he says is bringing more work back to Canada.

www.awn.com/ottawa

www.cinar.com (Cookie Jar)

www.nelvana.com

www.boomstone.com