Imagination of youngsters developed by animation

First animation festival Anifest'09 takes place in Almaty from 30 May to June 5. The organizers of the festival is A2B (www.arttobusiness.net) public foundation. They defined the goal of the animation festival, which included forum of animators, as popularization of the contemporary animation art in Central Asia and creation of animation project with the participation of the studios from different countries. The topic of the project is a manifest of the animators, expression of their art-civilian position towards such problems of the modern society as nationalism, racism.

"Thus our project is about peace. We also want to unite Kazakhstani animation artists, who live in Kazakhstan, but work separately. We would like Kazakhstani animation artists to create something that will be recognized on the world arena," said Almaz Kossobayev, director of Anifest'09.

Great Britain, Germany, France, Japan and Kazakhstan participate with their cartoons at the festival. Poland also was expected to present its cartoons, but due to custom regulations it didn't manage to arrive.

Kazakhstan was represented by 14-15 cartoons, titled as The Last Deer.

The guest of the festival was Susan Wilson (England), who teaches at the Harvard, who came for the first time to the former USSR. She said that among Soviet animators Yuri B. Norshteyn (p. 15 Sept., 1941) - famous Soviet and Russian animator is the most known in the West, as Walt Disney is known among former USSR countries. In animation Norshteyn uses a special technique multilayered linings image that attaches to the cartoon effect of three-dimensional images, and refuses to use an animation computer graphics.

"Cartoons differ from country to country, for instance in the US animators backs more on story, whereas in France art is important. But at the moment cartoons are not used as propaganda, and it is more important at the moment what platform animators use in order to create a cartoon," said Susan Wilson.

At the opening of the festival there were mostly heroes from the Western animation - Japan, namely. And here it is controversy that cartoons are not any longer of propaganda character. For, according to Almaz Kosobayev the target group of their festival is from 7 to 15 years old. But none of the children was dressed as a hero from local cartoon. Although Almaz Kosobayev said that "all of us were brought up with such a kind cartoon of the Soviet animation As Hedgehog in the Fog," at present children are brought up with the Western culture, Thus, almost every child knows who Naruto is, and they want to look like this warrior from Japanese anime.

The hope only remains that those domestic cartoons which were found in the archive of the Kazakhfilm studio will be also popularized among young TV-audience of Kazakhstan. And, perhaps, next year some of the children will be dressed as someone from the Kazakh cartoons as well.

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