The Real Place | Cam Christiansen | Canada, 2007, 5'45

This year’s Australian International Animation Festival descends on Bendigo with a selection of program’s from the animation festival held earlier this year in Melbourne, as well as a local component featuring Bendigo animators, including award winning animator Susan McMinn.

Presented by Allan’s Walk Artist Run Space, La Trobe University’s Visual Arts Centre and Undue Noise, with the assistance of the City of Greater Bendigo, the program will feature a free children’s animation program, an evening of local animation screenings, talks and performance (yes, some Bendigo animators perform their works), programs of Australian, International and Digital animation, as well as a session with Dennis Tupicoff, an internationally recognised Melbourne-based animator.

Friday 20th November @ 4.00pm
KIDS PROGRAM - FREE
Campbell Theatrette (next to the Library), 251-259 Hargreaves Street

> International program of animations made for children of all ages
> + locally produced schools animation

The festival program commences with a selection of Children’s Animation on Friday afternoon (4pm) and features some of the best animated films made recently for children, as well as a couple of films involving the work of Central Victorian school children.

Friday 20th November @ 7.00pm
LOCAL ANIMATION PROGRAM - FREE
Allans Walk Artist Run Space, Shops 5 & 7 Allans Walk

> festival opening by claire smith - multi media artist
> Talks & animations by Christopher Tay, Daniel Russell & Erin Recardo
> Animated performances by Paul Fletcher & Megan Beckwith

The festival will be officially opened on Friday at 7pm by multi-media artist Claire Smith, who first brought the festival to Bendigo about three years ago. This opening will be at Allan’s Walk Artist Run Space on Friday evening and will highlight the work of Bendigo Animators. This free event will feature performance involving animation by Paul Fletcher, who controls his live animation presentation with a vacuum cleaner, and choreographer Megan Beckwith, who projects her own 3D animations onto her dance performance. Also will be animated films by young Bendigo Animators, Christopher Tay, Daniel Russell and Erin Ricardo, who will also talk about their animation techniques.

Saturday 21st November
LOCAL ANIMATION PROGRAM - $5 per session
La Trobe University’s Visual Arts Centre, View Street

> special guest animator dennis tupicoff + 3 big sessions!!

11.30am
> Digital Panorma
1.00pm
> dennis tupicoff - screening of award winning films & artist talk
3.00pm
> international panorama
5.00pm
> australian panorama including susan mcminn's award winning 'the last warhorse'

On Saturday the festival moves to the Theatre at La Trobe Visual Arts Centre (VAC) in View St. The day starts with a Digital Panorama at 11:30am, featuring recent digital animation. This is followed at 1pm by a session with Dennis Tupicoff, an internationally recognised Melbourne-based animator who will present his films Chainsaw, His Mother’s Voice, and Darra Dogs and talk about his animation experiences. At 3pm, there will be an International Panorama, which will feature mainly hand-drawn animation to contrast with the earlier digital program. The festival finishes with an Australian Panorama at 5pm, which will feature the best of recent Australian animation, including Susan McMinn’s award winning The Last Warhorse, which was awarded the prize for Best Australian Student Animation at the Melbourne International Animation Festival this year. There will be an admission charge for the sessions at the VAC, but this will be only $5 a session (at the door), which is a real bargain for such high quality recent animation.

Supported by Bendigo City Council, Allans Walk, Undue Noise and La Trobe University VAC.