Atlanta is a standout city for soul food, hip-hop culture, technology and fintech innovation, world-class arts, music and entertainment. It’s a top contender in the film industry and a city known for the TV animation of Turner Broadcasting and Cartoon Network. That means animation artists are at home in the Big Peach, too — whether executing their craft hand-drawn, stop motion or through 3D computer technology as industry veterans, current students or the animators of tomorrow.
Adding to the momentum and advancement of animation and digital media arts in the South is the Savannah College of Art and Design, where the Atlanta campus will hold its annual AnimationFest September 28 through September 30. The event is an extension of the university’s SCADFILM program, which generates learning-focused events and opportunities for students in film, TV, animation and other digital media arts.
Now in its 12th year, AnimationFest is the nation’s largest festival that showcases bleeding-edge animation and digital media arts techniques, technologies and trends alongside the work of student animators. This year’s event includes panel discussions, presentations on animation, game design, visual effects and more with “industry titans,” as AnimationFest’s website notes. A thick slate of screenings is also one of the 2023 festival’s biggest draws.
Fresh this year, AnimationFest will hold its screenings at SCADFILM’s new 700-seat performing arts theater, SCADshow, in the heart of Midtown. The theater is on the ground floor of the FORTY FIVE building — a haven for film students and those in the school of animation and motion — and is outfitted with the industry’s leading sound production and projection technologies.
“AnimationFest shines in three-dimensional wonder — especially true this year, as SCAD unveils our [new theater],” says Paula Wallace, president and founder. “This screen is as colossal as SCAD’s student talent. It’s the perfect stage for the world premiere of The Last Dungeon, the latest triumph from SCAD Animation Studios.”
The film is reported to be the first student-animated film created using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.
According to Asante Bradford, senior industry engagement manager, creative industries, at the Georgia Center of Innovation, an arm of the Georgia Department of Economic Development in Atlanta, animation is a key component of the city’s overall creative economy moving toward 2024.
“Television production [alone] accounted for $3.2 billion spent in Georgia in 2021. Much of this is on animated TV series’,” Bradford says, citing statistics provided by the Georgia Film Office.
At the same time, Animation Career Review reports that Atlanta is among the top U.S. cities for animation professionals, ahead of Chicago and Miami. Bradford adds, “The metro area has over 1,100 animators and illustrators.”
Incidentally, Animation Career Review also ranks SCAD in the top 1% of its Top 50 Animation Schools and Colleges in the U.S. 2023 College Rankings.
As stats support, animation is on its A-game in Atlanta, and the timing of SCAD’s 12th annual AnimationFest is spot on. Having an animation festival like this can positively impact Atlanta and the region in several ways. “The festival brings in attendees, animation professionals, producers and studios from around the world,” says Bradford.
In addition, he says, “the festival facilitates networking and connections between local animators/studios and major industry players. These connections can lead to more job opportunities.”
The AnimationFest also gives rising talent a chance to shine, grow and make a living. Or as Bradford puts it, “the festival provides a platform for students and emerging animators to showcase their work to executives and potential employers. [And it also] helps foster a sense of community around animation in the region.”
This year’s AnimationFest will include sessions with top creatives and executives from Cartoon Network Studios, Netflix, Viva Kids, Gearbox, FOX and from creative media companies, including Atlanta’s Crafty Apes (visual effects and production services), Artie (next-generation social gaming platform) and FuseFX (visual effects studio).
Keynote speaker Theodore “Ted” Ty, global head of character animation at DNEG Animation, will delve into the creative animation behind the Netflix movie Nimona. Ty will also be honored with an award for outstanding achievement in animation at this year’s event.
Bradford closes with this thought leading up to the 12th AnimationFest: “Factors like the talent pool, business climate, tax incentives, infrastructure and community have all contributed to Atlanta becoming a major animation hub . . . the success of Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting helped establish the city as an animation leader.”
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Carol Badaracco Padgett is an Atlanta freelance writer who specializes in film and television coverage. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, her work has appeared in publications nationwide.