GIRAF festival celebrates 20th anniversary with a showcase of independent animation and stories
By Hannah Caparino, November 20 2024—
The Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival (GIRAF) is celebrating its 20th anniversary and will present a number of independent animated projects. The festival will feature a number of shorts, films and packages that will highlight all forms of animation, as well as hold workshops with renowned animators. Executive Director of Quickdraw Animation, Val Duncan, sat down with The Gauntlet to discuss the 20th anniversary of GIRAF Festival.
“We always try to make the festival as spectacular as possible,” said Duncan. “Our festival curator Ryan Von Hagen and the programming committee were able to put together an amazing festival.”
The festival’s lineup will compile a number of works made by independent creators, that will comment on originality being introduced in the field of animation compared to larger studios.
“GIRAF is an entirely independent film festival, so what we try to do is really highlight films made by independent creators and films made outside of the large studio model … You’re going to see films coming from smaller creators working outside of that model,” said Duncan.
Duncan discussed some of the featured highlights of the festival and how each of the films are stylistically different, and reflect different themes. The films that Duncan had mentioned also made appearances at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and are part of the larger international animation industry, including films from Belgium or China.
“Some real highlights are our features this year. Each year at GIRAF, we program four feature length films or feature length presentations,” Duncan said. “This year we have Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds, which is a really beautiful film and great for fans of Studio Ghibli … We’re also presenting a three-part mini series that’s 3D stop-motion called Lantern Blade which is an amazing trio of films, it’s based on a manga by the same name and the stop-motion is gorgeous.”
The different kinds of animation that are included in the program will include a wide array of styles. Duncan also describes the different packages that will be part of the festival, including the Indie Mixtape Side A and Indie Mixtape B, the Northern New Wave and the QAS Constellations. The Indie Mixtapes include 2D and 3D animation and stop-motion that would garner the attention of the wider audience, and the Indie Mixtape Side B will include more abstract and experimental works. The Northern New Wave will include independent Canadian animated works and the QAS Constellations will showcase Quickdraw Animation Society’s digital archive and uncovered reels.
“We really try at GIRAF to program the really broad spectrum of different styles, and types of animation. We wanna see 3D animation, we wanna see 2D, we wanna see digital, we wanna see analog. We like to see a spectrum of everything,” Duncan said.
The GIRAF festival’s packages and films had some themes that would reflect global events like conflict and struggle, with the packs being derived from the artist’s or studio’s individual experiences and personal expression. The programming of the festival aims to display the best quality projects with the goal to start conversations surrounding independent animation around the world from a multitude of submissions.
“It comes down to less about theming a pack, but it comes down to what topics or ideas are naturally coming out of the artistic unity at this moment,” Duncan explained. “We have a lot of films of really good quality taking on those same themes, we will program them together in order to make a comment on that but ultimately our pursuit is always to show off the best of whatever independent animators are making.”
With the formation of this year’s festival, Duncan commented on how next year’s festival will reflect the success of this year’s overall program. The goal is to build a festival that is bigger from this year’s feedback and utilise this year’s partnerships, sponsors, and community response to modern day animation. The GIRAF Festival will run in-person and online from Nov. 14-24, and ticket information can be found on the festival website.