March theme: Festivals, Awards, and Animation
Deadline: March 7, 2021
For our March theme, we invite posts discussing from any perspective animation festivals and awards. In particular, with this theme, we aim to unearth, on the one hand, the role that festivals and awards have today and have had in the past in the acceptance and development of animation as a cinematic art form in general as well as in the affirmation of specific studios or animators. On the other hand, we hope to bring to the foreground the logic followed by festivals when selecting and programming animated films and the politics that inform animation awards and nominations. What do festivals represent for animators? Which festivals and awards have had a greater role in the flourishing of animation as an art form across the decades? How winning certain prizes can impact the career of an animator? Are there trends that inform today or have informed in the past the choices of juries in conferring awards to animated films? These are only some of the questions we hope to find an answer to with this theme.
Topics may include but are not limited to:
- Festivals, awards and animation as art;
- Festivals, awards and the reception of animation;
- The impact of awards on animation studios and animators’ careers;
- Ethics and politics of animation awards;
- Selecting animated films for a festival;
- Festivals, awards and independent animation;
- Animation festivals, awards and gender;
- Racial discourses in and around animation festivals and awards;
- Film festivals, animation and cultural consumption;
- Festivals, animation and national identities;
- “Small” animation film festivals: roles and functions;
- Festivals, animation and the celebrity culture;
- Controversies related to a specific animation award or win/loss;
- Micro-histories of animation awards and festivals.
Posts of between 600 and 900 words, which discuss any aspect of the above topic are welcome. Contributors are encouraged to include clips and at least one image to support their posts. Please also include a short bio and 3 keywords. All permissions are the responsibility of the contributor. Please contact the managing editor Cristina Formenti (cristina.formenti@unimi.it) with submissions or questions.