The best animation festival in Taiwan is coming! Filmmakers from all over the world gathered in Taichung for the grand opening of the 10th anniversary celebration

This is the event for which the animation fans have been waiting! Taiwan's largest animation event "2024 Taichung International Animation Festival" officially opens today (18th Oct.). To celebrate the film festival’s 10th anniversary, it has been extended to 10 days. It will open grandly at Taroko VieShow Cinemas from today until the 27th. The early-bird package sold out within two days. Moreover, the festival launched the limited "10th Anniversary Celebration Package," which included a limited-edition 10th anniversary T-shirt. On the first day of sale, it attracted a lot of die-hard fans.

 

The festival was honored to invite a strong lineup of filmmakers to the opening press conference. Domestic and foreign animation talents gathered in Taichung. Another highlight of this 10th anniversary “birthday party” was a unique "Taichill Friends" cake tower. The Deputy Secretary-General of the Taichung City Government, Lin Yu-Hong, the Director-general of Information Bureau of Taichung City Government, LUAN Chih-Yi, together with Program Director, Wang Chi-Sui, jury member and animation director, C.Jay SHIH, StopTrik International Film Festival Co- Founder Olga BOBROWSKA, and French director Boris LABBÉ, who just won the Grand Immersive Prize at the Venice Film Festival, as well as past winners of the festival competitions, kicked off the tenth anniversary of the film festival.

 

Deputy Secretary-General LUAN Chih-Yi expressed the appreciation for the festival. Already the most international animation event in Taiwan, it is in line with the world's leading animation film festivals. The program includes the Animafest Zagreb, StopTrik International Film Festival and Seoul Indie-AniFest, to name a few, bringing world-known animation works to Taiwan and gathering filmmakers in Taichung to share the different perspectives on animation, so that Taiwanese animation fans can enjoy the films without having to travel far across the ocean!

 

Deputy Secretary-General LUAN Chih-Yi also mentioned that this year’s Taichung International Animation Film Festival was unprecedentedly grand. The energy of animation attracted filmmakers from all over the world to Taichung. He looked forward for the Taichung International Animation Film Festival to becoming more and more prosperous and heading towards the next exciting decade. CHANG Wan-Yu, Deputy Director of Taichung Film Development Foundation, added that the 10th anniversary celebration is warming up. The giant balloons, BingBing and LiangLiang, set up in PARK2 Caowu Square attracted crowds. The outdoor screening in Citizen Square attracted more than 3,000 people despite the heavy rain.

 

According to the program director Wang Chi-Sui, this year’s competition has shortlisted 62 works from 107 countries to compete for a total prize of 1.35 million. The jury members include Boris Labbé, who won the first prize at the 2018 Taichung International Animation Film Festival and is this year's "Director in Focus." The " Studio in Focus" section features works of WIT STUDIO and 100studio, which hold sway of Japanese anime industry, as well as Miyu Distribution, which explores the new generation of potential creators. These studios, together with the production team of " Grandma and Her Ghosts 2 " and " My Little Boys " that are currently involved in animation production in Taiwan, will hold a series of talks and forums during the festival to share their experiences in animation production and distribution.

 

2024 Taichung International Animation Film Festival attracts not only people but also sponsors from numerous corporations. Limited-edition gifts are generously given away. Fans only need to participate in the bingo game to win valuable products! The prizes include Mille co-branded popcorn, PAH JI HUE’co-branded tea set for tasting good tea, Aroma Explorer co-branded fragrance card, BUBU ART CAFE co-branded badge set, and WEMA CORPORATION LTD. Shulishi® Vitality Tablets to take care of the eyes of movie fans. In addition, the film festival made a "10th Anniversary Retrospective Special Exhibition" at Zhongshan 73 Film and Television Art Space. During the exhibition period, previous prize winners were also invited to interact with movie fans.

 

In addition to screenings of exciting animation films, a number of talks and peripheral activities were also open to the public. In particular, the " audio description " held for the first time this year invite visually impaired people to experience the charm of animated films for free. The film festival will take place at Taroko VieShow Cinemas from October 18th to 27th. Tickets can be purchased at the film festival and through the OPENTIX ticketing system. For more ticketing and event information, please visit the official website of the Taichung International Animation Festival. Please check https://twtiaf.com or our official Facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/tiaf.taichung.