The 10th Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival, the largest such festival in Asia, will be held for five days from May 24 at the Seoul Trade Exhibition Center and CGV Yongsan.
The festival will feature 1,204 cartoons and animations from 53 countries, the most in the history of the annual event. Besides exhibitions on cartoons and special screenings of various feature animation films, also there will be many fun events to encourage more to come and enjoy, such as costume play competitions (May 27 to 28) and autograph sessions of popular local cartoonists (May 25 to 28).
"The festival is meant to be a market driver, but at the same time, it will be a festival that can be enjoyed by as many people as possible", said Kwon Soon-hyung, president of SICAF Executive Committee, in an interview. Launched in 1995, the festival has grown significantly in size and scope since the Seoul Metropolitan Government began sponsoring it three years ago, pledging to contribute 1 billion won ($1.07 million) a year until 2012.
Until last year, SICAF had been held in August, but the organizing committee decided to reschedule it to avoid the summer vacation season hoping to attract more renowned feature animation producers and cartoonists to the festival. For the sake of cartoon and animation enthusiasts, the major venue has also been changed to the two places from COEX in Samseong-dong, taking advantage of the outdoor facilities of the trade exhibition center. Opening the festival is "Asterix and the Vikings (2005)", an ambitious four-year project aimed to prove that the French heroes are capable of matching the likes of beloved Disney animation characters such as Shrek and Nemo. Based on the hugely popular comic book by Albert Uderzo and the late Rene Goscinny, the good-natured adventure comedy was directed by Stefan Fjeldmark from Denmark, and has become the most expensive European animated film ever with production costs of $25 million.
Asterix and Obelix set sail for the dangerous Viking territory to rescue Justforkix, the teenage nephew of the Gauls' chief. Not only do they have to fight the Vikings, but they also encounter one big obstacle, Abba, the daughter of the Vikings chief, with whom Justforkix falls madly in love.
The line-up for the festival's official competition section in the feature animation category will include "Fire Ball (2004)", the "best animation feature" of the 50th Asian Pacific Film Festival directed by veteran Taiwanese director Wang Toon. "Immigrant", the latest work of Gabor Csupo (co-creator of "the Rugrats" with Arlene Klasky), one of the world's most respected animation artists from Hungary, will also feature. A total of 38 animations will compete in the category of short film professionals. They include Bill Plympton's "Guide Dog (2006)", a sequel to the former New York Times illustrator and cartoonist's Oscar-nominated short "Guard Dog". Also "Little Dog Turpie (2004)", multiple "best animation" winners by British animator/cartoonist Ben Mars, and Korean Chang Hyung-Yoon's "Wolf Daddy (2005)" are included.
The festival will also present a host of other screenings, from retrospectives to student films.
French animation "The Snails (1965)", a fanciful, colorful tale about a farmer whose tear-watered crops cause snails to grow to enormous sizes will be shown. "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)", a CG-animated feature film based on the hot Playstation game "Final Fantasy VII", and Japanese puppet and stop motion animator Kawamoto Kihachiro's "The Book of the Dead (2005)" are all too good to be missed. Kawamoto, along with another world-renowned Japanese anime director Isao Takahata (best known for the war film "Grave of the Fireflies"), will visit the country during the festival to participate in the screening of their films.
Cartoon and animation lovers will also see the complete comeback of Robot Taekwon V, the Korean animated robot hero born 30 years ago, as the seriously damaged original film has been digitally restored. Many of the participating films will be screened either in English or with both English and Korean captions. For more information about SICAF 2006, call the organizing committee at (02) 3455-8418 or go Open the link
English 
