Recap: Anima Mundi 2018, Brazil’s Largest Animation Festival

Over the last 26 years, Anima Mundi has grown into the largest animation festival not only in Brazil, but in the Americas. As the creator of the world’s leading digital solutions, Toon Boom Animation was at the latest edition in Rio de Janeiro (July 21 to 29). While at the event, we connected with LATAM leaders as well those building Brazil’s burgeoning industry.

Animation in Brazil has been much buzzed about recently, with the country’s work being highlighted at the 2018 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Among the focal titles was Tito and the Birds, nominated for the prestigious Cristal Award and animated by São Paulo-based Split Studios in Toon Boom Harmony. As “Variety” reports, the Brazilian animation industry has gone from struggling to stronger than live-action in less than a decade; of the 44 animated features produced there since 1951, 19 have been released in the last five years and 25 more are in the works.

Anima Mundi has been pivotal in both supporting the local creative community as well as attracting international attention. With events in both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (August 01 to 05), it has hosted more than 1.2 million attendees, screened over 9,000 films from 80 countries and empowered approximately 120,000 people to create small animations via workshops. As the industry-standard software, Toon Boom Animation is also a bridge between Brazilian talent and those seeking it globally.

Source: Carlos Ruiz / Toon Boom Animation.

Toon Boom Animation’s chief technology office and co-president Francisco Del Cueto and Latin American account manager Carlos Ruiz were at Anima Mundi 2018. While there, our team coached six new promising IPs from Brazilian studios like Cabong Studios and Dogzilla Studio as well as independent animators. Additionally, Toon Boom Animation hosted two events:

“Improving your animation projects with Harmony” — Tuesday, July 24
This showcase was hosted by Davi Costa, cofounder of indie game developer Digi Ten and a seasoned Toon Boom Harmony artist, and took part in at the Centro Nacional de Correios de Rio de Janeiro. The event saw over 60 animators attend, including studio professionals, freelancers, teachers and students. "Improving your animation projects with Harmony” focused on the possibilities of traditional, cut-out and tradigital animation with Toon Boom Harmony and featured an audience Q&A with our CTO, Francisco Del Cueto.

“Animation services: Best practices” — Thursday, July 26
This roundtable also took part in Auditorium at Centro Nacional de Correios de Rio de Janeiro, with panelists including Toon Boom CTO Francisco Del Cueto, Copa Studio co-founder Zé Brandão (Rio de Janeiro), Hype Studio partner and co-founder Gabriel Garcia (Porto Alegre) and Belli Studio executive producer Aline Muxfeldt Belli (Blumenau).

Source: Carlos Ruiz / Toon Boom Animation.

Among the over-75 professionals in attendance were CEOs and producers from leading Brazilian animation studios like Birdo, Combo Studio and Dogzilla as well as freelancers, teachers and students. Plus, there were also executives from BNDES — the Brazil Development Bank.

As a leading expert in the market, Francisco spoke about how now is the time for the Brazilian industry to leverage the global demand for animated content since it has both the talent and artistic quality to appeal to international audiences and drive larger productions to the country. He also emphasized the importance of the business service model’s role in opening doors for co-productions on new homegrown IPs with major players worldwide, which is the main focus of local studios currently.

Beyond the events, the Toon Boom team was busy connecting with professionals and animators at Anima Mundi 2018 to facilitate community, collaboration and creation. As a longtime supporter of both the festival and the Brazilian animation industry, we are already looking forward to next year’s edition — and all the amazing LATAM productions that are sure to happen in between.

Were you at Anima Mundi 2018? Let us know about your experience in the comments below!

Banner image source: Anima Mundi Facebook page.