Saint Lucia’s Malfinis Productions return from KingstOOn Animation Festival 2016 in Jamaica

​Malfinis  Theatre Film and  Animation Studio Inc. attended  the second  KingstOOn Festival in Jamaica  March 12th and 13th  Milton Branford , Managing Director of Malfinis Productions Theatre Film and Animation Studio Inc. together with  Senior Animator – Francis Butcher and  Business Development Advisor -David Jordan were the representatives of the company.

Milton Branford says “ this provided an opportunity  to witness  first  hand  the standard of the animation industry In Jamaica and the  attempt to  broaden the scope and development in the rest of the Caribbean.  As an OECS territory participant,   he recognizes what the exposure can provide for his own studio and its potential for growth and the networking  opportunities  to learn from the several international experts  and resource persons slated to attend.

Branford envisages  that  this  opportunity can further generate  a platform for a networking  base for his training centre and a reservoir  of assistance to enable further development of the animation industry in the OECS region.   He says he expects to learn from the talent, creativity  and innovation of the Jamaican  animation industry.

Branford  expresses his gratitude to  the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank ,  as well as the Jamaican Government  to sponsor and enable his company’s delegation  to participate in  “KingstOOn 2016 which he says “ is an important mechanism which can stimulate interest and build the required capacity necessary for the emerging animation sector in the region” Branford says Malfinis studio which has a licence as an Authorised and Accredited  TOONBOOM  Training Centre and Production Studio, expects that KingstOOn will also provide participants with the perspective of a platform to showcase their creativity and innovation in addition to increasing awareness of employment opportunities in the animation industry.   The exposure that was provided "can help address high levels of male and female unemployment (especially in the youth demographic), and contribute to the identified need to diversify our regional economies,” – a Jamaican government Ministerial official  has said.

The organisers of Kingstoon 2016,  indicated that over nine hundred (900) entries from ninety three (93) countries were received for the KingstOOn Emerging Animators Content Competition (KEACC) and the KingstOOn International Animation Film Festival (KIACC).    However a shortlist of forty-four ( 44 ), was selected from among the ninety-five (95 )entries received for the KEACC.  The aim of the KEACC is to unearth new talent and showcase the excellence of the content created by the Caribbean’s animation practitioners. The entries were submitted in categories of storyboard, character design, Caribbean short film and concept.

Some eight hundred and forty (840)  submissions for the KIAFF came from just about everywhere in the world  – Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North, South and Central America, the Middle East, and Oceania. These were shortlisted to 49 films which competed for awards in the categories of student film, short film and full feature film.

In the Caribbean, submissions were received from Antigua and Barbuda,  Barbados, Cuba  Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago. “The films from around the world were screened at venues around Kingston during the week leading up to KingstOOn, giving anyone interested in animated films a unique opportunity to view the work of artists from around the globe .

The KingstOOn Animation Conference and Film Festival took place March 12 and 13 at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica.  The KingstOOn programme, designed around the themes of Learn, Earn and Display, comprised of an animation conference, a marketplace to link content producers with buyers, in addition to the competition and film festival. KingstOOn is an initiative of the government of Jamaica in collaboration with the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank.