By Antonie Lyka C. Manaloto | Services Division (SD) | DTI-Export Marketing Bureau

09 March 2019

Published also in Business Mirror

THE Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) in collaboration with the Embassy of France in Manila, Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI), and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) organized Animation du Monde in Manila from February 18 to 22, 2019, at the Alliance Francaise de Manille in Makati City.

Animation Du Monde is an initiative set up by Annecy and International Market of Animation Film (MIFA) to provide opportunities for young talents to acquire funding, coproduction deals, project collaborations, and to equip animators with the best practices and trends in animation. The event provided interested animators of all levels with a series of lectures, workshops, one-on-one sessions and film viewing of animated films from all over the world.

A session focused on international marketing for animation was hosted by DTI-EMB on February 20, 2019. The session began with a film viewing of Paglisan by Carl Joseph Papa, an animated musical about the struggles of a man diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and the pain it brings to his family. The animated film was featured in the 14th Cinema One Originals Festival. The film was created in just four months with an initial budget of P3.5 million. The creators said they intentionally stayed true to the director’s vision of presenting an animated film that looks very Pinoy. The visuals were also purposely created to match the stages of emotions throughout the film.

EMB Assistant Director Anthony B. Rivera gave a message and welcomed the 90 participants of Animation du Monde. He said the cultural and creative industries are major drivers of the economies of both the developed and developing countries, contributing $2.25 trillion in revenues and employing 29.5 million people in 2013, and influencing income generation, job creation and export earnings. He said that in the Philippines, animation has evolved from being an outsourcing industry to a creator of original Filipino content. He added there is a need to add additional skills to the Filipino’s creative industry work force and expand creative industries and service work beyond Manila.

Géraldine Baché, head of Projects Mifa, Citia–France, talked about the Annecy and Mifa: The Reference in Animation. She said Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 in the town of Annecy, France, and is the biggest in the world with 12,000 participants from 90 countries and receiving 3,080 submissions, but with only 200 films on the official selection. The  Mifa was created in 1985, an event of the animation industry for co-production, purchase, sale, financing and distributing content across all media channels. 

Louie Andrew Calvario,  lawyer from Ipophil, discussed copyright law in the Philippines, which is important to audiovisual works. He discussed the concept of the copyright, automatic protection, copyright deposit, idea-expression dichotomy, and gave examples on how artists could protect their intellectual property and works.  

A source of the country’s pride in the animation industry today is the success of Barangay 143#LigaNgBuhay, the first Filipino anime television series aired on GMA7. Geraldine Yumul, Business Manager of Synergy88, the creator of Barangay 143, said the project started global before it went local. The anime series was created by 200 animators with Toon Boom experience sourced from around the country and the sounds and specialized animatics were made by international partners. One series of Barangay 143 took more than three years to finish with 26 episodes. Yumul said Barangay 143 is a testament that it is possible for Filipino creators and animators to produce something “we can be really proud of.” She encouraged and empowered all the young talents who attended the session to continue creating and dreaming.

“Filipinos are acknowledged worldwide as good animators, and not only on specific content,” Yumul said.

French expert and producer Ron Dyens presented the producer’s insight for short and feature animated film. Dyens founded Sacrebleu Productions, a film production company. About 50 short films have been produced since then and have been selected in more than 1,000 national and international festivals. He discussed how co-production with other countries works and the system of feature-film production in France. During his presentation, Dyens also showed the audience few short animated films, which got funding from producers to give the audience an idea on marketable content.