"We have the pleasure to inform you that your short film “Flip” has been selected for the Official Selection of Animation on the 7th Manlleu Short Film Festival."
Just got this email last night. So that's four festivals so far, no rejections yet. Just on the law of averages there must be one coming soon. Manlleu apparently received 2700 entries, don't know how many were selected but it's still encouraging to hear the numbers and know 'Flip' made it in. There were a similar number of entries for the Melbourne International Animation Festival (which is effectively the same as the Australian International Animation Festival), Vienna I don't know about.
I am getting more hopeful for Ottawa later in the year, that's the big animation festival that I'm hoping for this year. At this point if I don't get any more screenings at all it's still a decent effort, Melbourne is a major festival and having a couple of overseas screenings is also a boost. But to get Ottawa, one of the 4 biggest animation festivals in the world, would be incredible and deserve a trip to Canada for the screening. Canada has a long history of producing exceptional animation through the National Film Board of Canada, while you probably don't know any of the animators names if you grew up watching Sesame Street you will have seen plenty of their work. I know Sesame Street wasn't Canadian, but it was one of the only main stream outlets available for interesting and experimental animation.
I have to get a Spanish translation of my opening text to send to the festival. Fortunately there's an ALT in Kiryu who does Spanish language broadcasts for the local radio station. Alison has agreed to help me out and do the translation, which is lucky or I'd have to rely on Yahoo Babel Fish for translation, and that's never good.
Opening ceremony at school today, so it's suit and tie and general confusion for me as no-one explains what's going on. Of course it's all explained in Japanese, but I can't follow it. My desk has been moved so now I sit opposite the English teacher, she will answer a question if asked dirctly but tends not to offer any information on her own, the problem is I don't necessarily know when I need to know something or what I need to know. So for example right now I'm in the teachers room and apart from the school cleaner there's no-one here. Where are they all? I can hear a vacuum cleaner in the hallway so maybe they're all cleaning up.
Who knows.
