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Since Hangzhou has become home to China International Cartoon and Animation Festival, the gala has been held for five times. The fifth festival in this year lasted from April 28 through May 3rd.

In Hangzhou, cartoon and animation is no longer small entertainment for children. The cartoons and animation films are most entertaining to both children and adults. Cartoon and animation are a huge creative industry.

The grand opening ceremony doubled as the issuing ceremony for 2009 CICAFAwards. After going through 1,552 candidate works, the 12-person jury named “Calabash Brothers” the best Chinese animation film and “Kongfu Panda” the best foreign animation film. Other 14 works won special awards. The organizing committee distributed 2 million yuan for the awards.

The competing artworks at the countrys most authoritative and most professional competition featured two major aspects. First, Chinese elements abound in these works. Award winners highlight Chinese culture and tradition. More than half of the 32 teams in the Cosplay finals presented Chinese elements. The Chinese elements formed a sharp contrast to the works heavily influenced by foreign elements in the past. Secondly, the festival attracted the attention of foreign animation artists. 157 works from 25 foreign countries and regions participated in the competition. Artists and representatives from more than 10 established international animation festivals attended the fifth CICAF.

Big Fun for Everyone

The gala attracted huge crowds from Hangzhou and neighboring regions. High profile organizations such as CCTV, Zhejiang Satellite Television, Hangzhou National Cartoon and Animation Industrial Base, China Academy of Art, Zhejiang Media Academy set up their booths in the vantage spots in Exhibition Hall A, where huge Chinese cartoon images, familiar to television audiences, could be seen everywhere in bright colors and humorous images. The majority of the crowds were young parents with their children, students of junior and senior high schools, and young people in love. Exhibition Hall B was assigned to overseas exhibitors. Their exotic cartoon images and products attracted huge visiting crowds. Exhibition Hall C, an underground structure, was a large shop where consumers could buy all kinds of souvenirs and products based on cartoon and animation films.

Every day of the six-day festival was a big celebration. More than 10 caravans paraded through the compound, accompanied by a brass band, acrobatic and Cosplay performances.

Cosplay teams from nine major cities across the country staged their shows at the festival. Interaction between performers and audiences was most enthusiastic. Weird costumes, stage sets in bright colors, exotic facial expressions and gestures, turned shows into big parties.

Big Business

The 6-day festival attracted 780,000 visitors from 38 countries and regions. 322 exhibitors from USA, Canada, Japan and France participated and 35 contracts worth 6.53 billion yuan were signed. The contracted animation films added up to more than 120,000 minutes. More than 170 news media covered the event.

Within the next three years, North Sun Yet-san Road in Hangzhou will be converted into a center of cartoon and animation and the CBD of Chinas creative cultural industry. It will become a golden place for cartoon and animation businesses. From 2010, the White Horse Lake in Hangzhou will be permanent home to the CICAF. □