Meeting Morning of 25 April 2020 10am EST (US) - It’s Midnight in Australia and tomorrow already down under!
Present on Zoom this morning: Trent Ellis, Sabine Zipci, Saraswathi “Vani”Balgam, Jim Middleton, Deanna Morse, Dimitra Anastasia, Brad Yarhouse, ASIFA Central President, IAD coordinator, meeting moderator
Brad provided a prologue to the meeting stating that IAD 2020 represents a huge opportunity in this environment of self-containment to celebrate and share our strengths and examine our weaknesses and how to rise above them.
Introductions followed
Brad’s report on IAD 2019 - his report is going to be ready soon and will be shared after some other chapter reports make it in (ie Germany). The overall attendance was up considerably over IAD 2018, both in viewers and participation. The photos of the global events provide an inspiration to other animators and aspirants.
The report will also show that Iran had significant participation, holding picnics and an “animation walk” among area businesses, all running animation examples. Not a “bar crawl” but a “cartoon crawl!” (Jim note), Madeira in Portugal had a first-time celebration, and even in the chapterless Kharthaum of Sudan there was enthusiastic observation of the IAD.
“The richness of what goes on around the world” was demonstrated in 2019's IAD.
The Two-Minute Chapter Clip - Brad suggested the Yeats-inspired term for “Spirit of the World,” namely SPIRITUS MUNDI, as the name for the international participation project. With 15 chapters willing to participate (5 represented in today’s meeting), it should represent a cumulative 30 minute project.
Due to CoVid’s societal challenges, the logistics are going to be a challenge this time around. And this particular project will represent one of three projects currently running in parallel:
- Spiritus Mundi
- The ASIFA 60th anniversary celebration (Deanna and Anastasia working on specifics)
- The IAD curated collection of international animation
The upper limit of 2 minutes was to keep the final project manageable. Less can be fine.
Deanna mentioned the Ann Arbor Film Festival’s recent live streaming as a one-time access, to maintain the sense of an ongoing festival.
There was enthusiasm for the curated IAD films and the ASIFA chapter project, with the following challenges being discussed
IAD Films in General
1. Rights and permissions to the work for broadcast/streaming purposes
2. Duration of the on-line presence
3. Deadlines
ASIFA Chapter project - what common themes of humanity can be explored that represent the region for the particular chapter
3. Interlinking the sequences of the chapter project
4. Use of music
– each chapter will make its own soundtrack for their portion; the assembly will have some appropriately vetted music, either public domain or specially composed, with appropriate rights cleared for usage
5. Titles and credit for participation
– do we want to do a Facebook “live” contribution on the day of IAD
6. Deadlines
Overall, on submission of films, permission sign off should be performed at that point.
Is there a useful connection with UNESCO for promotion or inclusion of “Spiritus Mundi” in their online information (it has been a while - 10 years?- since UNESCO made mention of ASIFA in its reports).
Brad expressed concern regarding global access - can China see this? Other suggestions included Vimeo, Film Freeway, a Zoom “festival,” note - Film freeway may have deferral of bandwidth expense if it is a “non-profit” putting together the program.
Music scoring - keep each chapter’s sound a chapter-based inclusion. This will add an international feel to the entire piece with regional variations. Keep international copyrights on music in consideration.
Brad thought each piece could come with a brief comment by the head of each chapter. Language?
Options discussed on screening types for IAD showing
1. Marathon running over a period of days - downside, you don’t have the interaction or feedback, and the viewer doesn’t get to “know” the contributor
2. Short running time over a period - three weeks would be about right for that, and then pull down the shows
3. Perhaps break films up by category, if the submissions suggest a trend - perhaps a “family friendly” section in case things get rowdy?
4. There needs to be some way of getting viewer feedback to the creator(s). When logging in to register the entries, is there a template that can be used? Can this “catalog” link to the creator’s website? Bio? Picture?
A final thought - rather than make a huge, centralized curated event, let each chapter create its own packet of films, which can then be parceled out over a few weeks beginning the end of October. October 28th would be the day for running the Spiritus Mundi piece at 30 minutes, which would then be sent out to the individual chapters for their respective use. Four times during that day, the ASIFA chapters could do a FB or public zoom presence to chat up the profession, the process, and the joys of animation!
The meeting reluctantly dissolved about noon.
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