Today's post is about the latest event that I visited: La città incantata, Il meeting internazionale dei disegnatori che salvano il mondo, in Civita di Bagnoregio (Italy). I am going to write it in English on purpose, because it is an Italian event and I wish more foreign artist knew about it, since it is an "international event for artists who save the world"!
This year it was the 4th edition of this beautiful festival, held in one of the most suffestive and breathtaking place I have ever visited: Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio, Italy). The entire event last three days (from Friday to Sunday) and it all takes place in the little old town of Civita di Bagnoregio.
For once I didn't attend a festival which was purely for animation of film: actually I had the impression the main focus of La Città incantata is Illustration and Comics. That was a great experience for me, for once, to meet some artist working for not-moving pictures, for printed paper! I have the feeling that animators and illustrator belong to the same big family, but have at the same time a lot of differences, and rarely have the chance to meet together.
During the event there were some screenings in different locations, some random interviews in the streets, some talking and comic presentations, some exhibitions and also some double interviews. I really appreciated the concept of the double interviews: They organized some public interviews, putting together two artist, belonging to two very different fields or using very different approaches and techniques. For example comparing the great and traditional stop motion artist Fusako Yusaki with the modern sensible 3D director Mauro Carraro.
Another interesting activity during the event is "l'arte si anima in piazza" (which could be translated in English with "the art is animated in the square"): it consists in artist making art the whole day in the middle of Civita di Bagnoregio, in the main square - and also main venue of the whole festival.
Here there was for example the great Lorenzo Terranera, who painted a huge colorful canvas in one day.
There was also a modeling clay area, where Fusako Yusaki, Stefano Argentero, Francesca Ferrario and many other artists were creating colorful characters and little sculptures together with many kids. Those characters have been then also animated, later, in the same square, with Stefano Argentero and Peter Lord.
La città incantata was not only a great festival and experience. I am so extremely grateful I had the chance to travel to Lazio and discover such a beauty in my own homeland. The nature in that region is wild and amazing and the people are warm and welcoming. I hope I will have the chance to travel to La Città Incantata again!
Sono stata a fine gennaio al primo festival di quest'anno, in Norvegia e per la precisione a Trondheim. E' una cittadina piuttosto piccola, eppure è la terza più grande della Norvegia e la più a nord di esse! Si affaccia su un fiordo lunghissimo che prende appunto il nome da questa città.
Nei paesi scandinavi fin ora esplorati e visitati ho sempre avuto l'impressione che tutto fosse in scala ridotta e in effetti così è visto che sono paesi molto meno popolati degli altri paesi europei e visto che vi sono estesi spazi naturali. Questa introduzione per dire anche che il festival stesso è decisamente piccolo e anche poco frequentato. Il festival ha festeggiato quest'anno alla sua trentesima edizione e ne ho scoperto l'esistenza (nuovamente) in Cina, durante un altro festival. MINIMALEN è anch'esso un festival di cortomentraggi (quindi non esclusivamente di animazione, anzi, come succede spesso in questi casi, i corti in animazione in selezione rappresentano una piccola percentuale). Anche i luoghi del festival erano piuttosto concentrati e super vicini l'uno all'altro, il che è come sempre a mio giudizio un fatto molto positivo perché aiuta il networking e a non disperdersi. In questo caso il tutto era ridicolmente vicino, tanto che bastava attraversare la strada per passare dall' hotel al cinema. Una meraviglia contando anche il freddo che faceva per le strade.
Il festival comprendeva una selezione internazionale e una di film scandinavi. Inoltre c'era una selezione di "european award winners", una sull' Iran, una su Nick Jordan, una sull'animazione estone, alcune su autori norvegesi e una sezione per bambini. Nella competizione internazionale era previsto anche il voto del pubblico e quindi all'inizio delle proiezioni veniva consegnato un foglietto da crocettare. Era anche previsto un cinema all'aperto (incredibile ma vero) nel buio e nel freddo norvegese, che è andata avanti tranquilla e imperterrita anche con la neve e la pioggia (nota metereologica: in quel periodo dell'anno a Trondheim c'è poca luce. L'alba è alle 9h30 del mattino e il tramonto già alle 15h30). Sono stata felice di vedere alcuni corti che da tempo inseguivo e non ero ancora riuscita a trovare e anche felicissima di avere rivisto alcuni amici e conosocenti incontrati in festival precedenti. Erano anche previste delle sessioni di Q&A e di incontro coi registi, ma purtroppo erano, come l'intero festival, poco frequentate e quindi poco ricche di domande (per usare un eufemismo). Questo festival, a differenza di altri, non è molto "social" e non ha fotografi o cameramen o simili, quindi poche notizie vengono pubblicate su internet.
Purtroppo sono potuta restare solo tre giorni, quelli in mezzo alla settimana, perché questa era la finestra di tempo che offriva il festival, e quindi non sono riuscita a vedere l'intero festival, la serata di apertura o quella di chiusura con l'assegnazione dei premi.
Nonostante io abbia già prima parlato del freddo, in realtà pare fossimo stati incredibilmente fortunati con il tempo: infatti durante la settimana del festival le temperature sono state più calde del previsto, con qualche nevicata qua e là, ma nulla di estremo e abbiamo anche avuto una giornata di sole incredibile per i norvegesi stessi. Ho imparato un sacco di cose su Trondheim e la Norbegia e anche un po' sulla Scandinavia in generale e non (solo) perché ho passato il tempo negli aeroporti a leggere Wikipedia, ma anche e soprattutto perché il festival ha organizzato diversi tours guidati (a piedi e in pullman) intorno alla città. Ho preso parte all'ultimo e lìho trovato molto bello. Peccato che fosse riservato solo ai produttori e ai direttori di festivals.
per chi fosse interessato a più foto norvegesi, o in generale dei miei spostamenti e festival, vi rimando al mio instagram.
Nella settimana appena successiva a questo festival ha luogo il famosissimo festival di cortomentraggi di Clermont-Ferrand e in effetti tutti i partecipanti si salutavano ridendo dandosi appuntamento alla settimana successiva. E, se non bastasse, a un'altra settimana di distanza inizia pure il Berlinale, che sicuramente non ha bisogno di introduzione o sottotitolo. Purtroppo non mi trovo a Clermont-Ferrand in questo momento, ma sarò a Berlino per qualche giorno durante in Berlinale. Tuttavia, mi chiedo se valga la pena scrivere un post a riguardo, visto che mi potrò trattenere solo qualche giorno e per giunta nemmeno con un film in selezione. Ben si sa, o per lo meno ormai ho imparato, che senza film in selezione ad un festival si è degli sfigati. Però proverò ugualmente a farmi strada a gomitate e a crashare qualche party e vedremo se al mio ritorno avrò qualche cosa da raccontare.
Visto che è il primo post dell'anno: BUON ANNO 2018 a tutti i lettori, che magari sono zero, ma non lo posso sapere e allora mi crogiolo nell'ignoranza virtuale :)
On the 8th of december2017 in Lille the ceremony for the first Emile European Animation Awards took place. This was the FIRST EDITION of Emile European Animation Award: in fact it was born this year for the European animation industry and to award different figures in the animation production, from storyboarders to sound designers.
Peter Lord (AARDMAN) is the president of the EAA and here's a little introduction:
They made an Open Call and I heard about at the beginnng of the year, while I was attending ASF, so I suddenly applied with my graduation film, MERLOT.
The nominees have been announced already on the 6th of November: there are 17 prizes for EAA and three nominations for each category. Since we had the honor to be nominated with our short film MERLOT for the Best Student Film prize, we experienced this amazing event.
Prizes of EAA are for:
- Best Student Film
- Best Animated Short Film - Best Background & Character Design in an Animated Short Film
- Best Commissioned Film
- Best TV/Broadcast Production - Best Writing in a TV/Broadcast Production - Best Storyboard in aTV/Broadcast Production - Best Character Animation in a TV/Broadcast Production - Best Background & Character Design in aTV/Broadcast Production - Best Soundtrack in aTV/Broadcast Production
- Best feature Film - Best Writing in a Feature Film Production - Best Storyboard ina Feature Film Production - Best Character Animation ina Feature Film Production - Best Background & Character designin a Feature Film Production - Best Soundtrackin a Feature Film Production The whole thing lasts just one night and the schedule goes like this: there is first of all the Ceremony, which is the biggest and most important part. In a big theatre all the nominated films were presented and the the winners announced and called on stage to receive their trophy. After that there was in the same theatre the premiere screening of a feature animation film (it was the Bredwinner), but at the same time the winners are in another room to make interviews, so I missed the screening, snif! In the end there was a cocktail party, food and drinks, and the chance to talk to all those incredible people who were there.
Those events and networking moments are very important to exchange opinions, talk, get to know new professionals in the animatio industry, but at the same time they are so hectic, excited and busy that it's very hard to have a conversation for more than few minutes and also to remember and be remembered. Also for this reason, I would say, it would have been great and wise to have some business cards on me, but I didn't and many others were also in my situation, because we all were in facy cocktail's dresses and suits.
- Best Background & Character Design in an Animated Short Film: "Peripheria"
- Best Commissioned Film: "The last job on Earth"
- Best TV/Broadcast Production: "Revolting Rhymes" - Best Writing in a TV/Broadcast Production: "The Amazig World of Gumball" - Best Storyboard in aTV/Broadcast Production: "Shaun the Sheep" - Best Character Animation in a TV/Broadcast Production: "Revolting Rhymes" - Best Background & Character Design in aTV/Broadcast Production: "Ernest et Célestine" - Best Soundtrack in aTV/Broadcast Production: "Lastman" - Best feature Film: "Ma vie de Courgette" - Best Writing in a Feature Film Production: "Ma vie de Courgette"- Best Storyboard ina Feature Film Production: "La Tortue Rouge" - Best Character Animation ina Feature Film Production: "La Tortue Rouge"- Best Background & Character designin a Feature Film Production: "Longway North" - Best Soundtrackin a Feature Film Production: "Ma vie de Courgette"
+ The Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Achievement Award to Richard Williams
17 prizes, trophy designed by Virgile Saiah
Again, I cannot say I much honored we felt to be in that place, sourrounded by such amazing artists and talents and heros of us and also to have received a prize for our first animated graduation film, only Italian film nominated too. Such a dream!
Just a little last note about the city who hosted this first EAA edition: Lille. Lille is a nice French city very close to the Belgium and also to Paris. While we were there we had the chance to visit a studio where we met some friends (ex students of La Poudriere) who are working on" En Sortant de l'ecole" project. I will post soon a new article about La Poudriere school, which my fella Marta is attending.
In a blue fairy-tale forest, a grumpy granny losesa bottle of wine. This event will give rise to a crescendo of linked events: consequently establishing a dialogue, a funny repartee between frames and characters, which will lead to an unexpected development.
THE IDEA: the brainstorming for this short film actually started from a word game, a joke. Then we started to create a story around it, having fun. We had one year to make our graduation film, a small team (2 people) with no experience of previous work together, so we tried to keep the expectations low and to take advantage from this chance to learn and enjoy the process. During that year we learnt alot! We shared the whole work from script to compositing, working both on each step;we also learnt much on team work and, I must say, between me and Marta it worked perfectly :)
THE SCHEDULE The whole process took one year, from January to December 2015, the last year in the CSC national film school, department of animation in Turin. The first months were dedicated to brainstorming and ideas, then witing. Then we got into the actual preproduction until the beginning of the summer, we animated then during the hottest months of the year and did the compositing and editing in autumn. In november the film was made, but the sound was still missing! THE SOUND Merlot has no music and no voices/dialogue, but only sound design. The sound design was made by Alessandro Nepote and we were very satisfied with his work. We asked him to use only glass/bottle/cork material to record the sounds. and to pay attention to the crescendo of the story. The sound is crucial in our animation because it helps the audience to follow the story through the panels! Every character is typyfied by one distinctive sound and material too. The sound also won a prize at ZABUT 2016 and got many great feedbacks we're very proud of. THE EXPECTATIONS We learnt a lot by doing this film and also after that! For example I did not expect the marketing work/sending-to-festivals&co to be such a huge job (I wrote a post on this blog about all the work you have to do when you think the film/work is done - and it's actually not!) The great success in festivals and multi-award winning was also not expected at all and a nice surprise! What I have learnt and I am still learning is that big expectations are bad: you should do your work just for yourself and for a real interest in researching, having fun, telling a story... Expectations give for sure a pressure that is not healthy for the creative process.
THE DISTRIBUTION Merlot has been sold by the Producer CSC Animazione to Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg in the summer 2016 for 5 to 7 years with a pretty exclusive contract, which means it cannot be distributed online and can only be screened in competition in festivals. For any other out-of-competition screening or any other screening event, a fee is asked from the Distributor (usually around 40-50€). The income coming from the distribution is divided between the distribution agency and the producer.
If you still have some questions, you can read the FAQ list here below and/or write us an e-mail.
Some more LINKS to MERLOT: Follow us on Facebook and Tumblr! hashtag #merlotfilm
F.A.Q. How did you come up with the idea? It all began with a word game. See "THE IDEA" paragraph above
Some references? We've been inspired by the amazing work of Paul Driessen and by the collection of poems "Revolting Rhymes" by Rohal Dahl. How did you manage the panels' thing? That was for me a very fun part. It is like solving a riddle and making a puzzle. It takes a lot of time and a mobile storyboard and storyline.
What softwares did you use? ToonBoom for the animation, Photoshop for the backgrounds, After Effects for some compositing and for the animation of the panels/trees.
How was to work alone with Marta and share the whole work between only two people? We shared the whole process completely, from the script to the compositing, to try everything and learn as much as possible. So all the tasks were split into two. Also for the animation, I mainly animated the wolf and the hunter, she animated the little girl and the granny. I think I have been very lucky to work together with Marta and find such a good partner. I should also add that we were not only co-directors, but also flatmates for the entire year. But at the same time so organized that we were able to be home every night at 19 and not to talk about the film until the next day.
What about all the festivals and the prizes? While I am writing this post, Merlot has been to 80 festivals in 42 different countries all around the world! And it won 23 prizes! It has had a big success and it was not really expected! To read the updated lists of screenings and prizes, please consul this page. ______________________________________________________
[IT] MERLOT è un cortometraggio animato che ho creato nel 2016 insieme a Marta Gennari, come progetto di fine percorso di studi di animazione.
“In un delicato bosco turchino delle fiabe, una burbera nonnina perde una bottiglia di vino. Questo darà il via ad un crescendo di eventi concatenati: si instaura così un dialogo, un divertente botta e risposta tra vignette e personaggi, che porterà a un inaspettato sviluppo”.
L'IDEA: l'idea del cortometraggio è nata un po' per scherzo, da un gioco di parole. Ci siamo poi divertite a concatenare gli eventi come in un puzzle, chiedendoci come era possibile arrivare alla situazione iniziale o finale di una fiaba ben conosciuta. Il film è stato fatto durante tutto il 2015, ultimo anno di scuola presso il CSC, dipartimento di animazione a Torino. I primi mesi sono stati dedicati alle idee, il brainstorming, la scrittura. Poi è iniziata la vera e propria preproduzione fino all'inizio dell'estate. Abbiamo passato i mesi più caldi ad animare e verso settembre/ottobre a compositare. L'11.11 abbiamo terminato il montaggio e editing: mancava ancora il suono da fare!
IL SUONO: per il suono di MERLOT avevamo le idee molto chiare. Non ci servivano musica e dialoghi, ma era essenziale creare il ritmo e il crescendo giusto con dei suoni ripetitivi (come i loop animati). Inoltre la nostra struttura a "pannelli" richiedeva una grande attenzione sonora, perché l'occhio dello spettatore viene guidato in giro per lo schermo non solo dall'animazione, ma anche dai suoni. Abbiamo richiesto al nostro sound designer Alessandro Nepote di seguire queste direzioni e anche di usare materiali come vetro, bottiglie, bicchieri e tappi di sughero per registrare i suoni. E' stato anche molto importante caratterizzare ogni personaggio con un suono diverso, per aiutare lo spettatore a identificare meglio e più velocemente la fonte del suono. Il sound design ha anche vinto un premio a ZABUT 2016, oltre ad avere ricevuto innumerevoli complimenti di cui siamo molto fieri.
LE ASPETTATIVE: Abbiamo imparato moltissimo da questo primo cortometraggio. Per esempio io ho imparato a non sottovalutare il lavoro che inizia una volta che il film è terminato, e ossia l'invio ai festival e la presenza sui social network (ho scritto un intero post su questo blog a riguardo). Inoltre il grande successo che MERLOT ha avuto ai festival e i molti premi vinti sono stati una grandissima sorpresa e del tutto inaspettati. Quello che ho imparato e sto ancora imparando tutt'ora è che le aspettative fanno male al processo creativo, perché lo caricano di pressione. E' bene creare le proprie opere principalmente per se stessi e mossi dalla ricerca, dal divertimento o dal desiderio di raccontare una storia.
LA DISTRIBUZIONE: MERLOT è stato venduto dal produttore CSC Animazione alla agenzia di distribuzione Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg alla fine dell'estate 2016 per un periodo di tempo dai 5 ai 7 anni, con un contratto esclusivo che non ne permette la presenza online. Inoltre MERLOT può partecipare solo a festival che lo selezionano in competizione, mentre per altre sezioni non competitive o altri eventi e proiezioni, è prevista una fee da pagare al distributore, che varia dai 30 ai 50€. I ricavati della distribuzione vanno, come di norma, alla agenzia di distribuzione e al produttore. MERLOT ha avuto un gran successo in giro per il mondo. In questi due anni è stato in 80 festivals, 42 stati differenti e ha vinto 23 riconoscimenti! Per la lista completa e aggiornata rifarsi sempre a questo link.
Interview at ANIMATEKA 201
Ultimi links sul Tumblr ufficiale di MERLOT potrete vedere tanti disegni e bozze della fase preparatoria del film, vi basterà scorrere in basso, andando indietro nel tempo. LINK su MERLOT: Facebook e Tumblr! hashtag #merlotfilm Links alle registe Marta Gennari Giulia Martinelli (nonché me medesima)
nota di fondo e piccolina: The Animated Plan esiste da un anno e MERLOT oramai da due! buoni compleanni!
ANIMATEKA is an amazing animation festival in Ljubliana!
One year after my first experience there, I will tell you something about this festival and my impressions from the 2016 edition, just in time for the next one, which is happening soon!!
Ljubliana is the capital city of Slovenia, a very nice and quite place, that doesn't look like a big, crowded city. The festival is tiny and concentrated, which is always a great thing in my opinion because this keeps people together and allows better social interactions. There were two main theatres and one also hosted a bar, essential for any networking moment, before, after or during the screenings. In this case it was also crucial to have indoor venues, because the weather in december is always pretty chilly.
As hosted directors, we were staying in a youth hostel, in the city centre and very close to all the festival venues. It was a pleasure to walk down the streets, in the squares or along the river, illuminated by the xmas lights. The festival is well organized, with a nice relaxed schedule, which allows to meet people, other hosts, to chat and try some local cuisine.
I felt very welcome in Ljubliana and I met very nice people and new friends, that hopefully I will meet again and again in other animation events. The organization and the staff were also very warm and kind and I am grateful for the chance they gave me to be there. Igor Prassel is the director of the festival and a key figure for Animateka: he is an incredible person, very energetic and friendly, very helpful and caring with all of us. Grazie, Igor! I hope to come back to Animateka soon!
During last year's edition of the festival there was also a very interesting exposition about Joni Männistö and his work. He did in fact the artwork for the 2016's edition of Animateka and a lot of material from his previous work was shown there.
Festivals are great places for interviews too and Animateka is doing an amazing job here. There are Q&A sessions after the screenings and also recordered interviews for their Youtube channel. Animateka is also very active on social media, updating FB page with info, pictures and videos.
This can be a great chance for you guys to have some nice pictures and memories of the festival, so be ready for it! Remember that festivals are always a perfect chance to meet other talented directors and artists!
In 2016 we were both there with our short film MERLOT. In 2017 our graduation film was there again in the Italian programm. Here you can see an (embarassing) interview we had at Animateka last year:
Animateka will happen soon again (4-10th december 2017)! ENJOY IT!
Note for my fellows coming from Turin/Milan: I have been travelling to Ljubliana with Flixbus (Torino-Ljubliana), which was a good experience and totally "doable!"
The pictures I used for this post are coming from my own personal pics and from Animateka's FB page
6-14 ottobre 2017 ANIMATOU è un festival di animazione a Ginevra, in Svizzera. Quest'anno (2017) si trattava della 12esima edizione e l'Italia era invitato d'onore. website Facebook
Periodo di festival a raffica per me ultimamente.
In questo caso sono riuscita ad andare al festival di Animatou solo per gli ultimi giorni: prima di tutto perché mi trovavo in Cina al festival di Hancheng, poi perché Animatou mi offriva solamente due notti.
Quindi il mio commento è un po' limitato al tempo che ho trascorso lì, ma cercherò di descrivere tutto quello che sono riuscita a carpire negli ultimi tre giorni.
Il festival proietta i suoi programmi in 6 diversi cinema sparsi per la città. Animatou ha anche qualche accordo con un paio di posti per bere e mangiare e qualche esposizione.
Il tutto è facilmente raggiungibile a piedi, ma, per i più pigri, l'hotel Cornavin in cui eravamo alloggiati, offre ai suoi ospiti anche una carta dei trasporti di Ginevra per la durata del soggiorno. La città di Ginevra è molto bella e internazionale ed è stata particolarmente calda e soleggiata in questo metà ottobre.
Sono stata solo in due sale di proiezione: una si trova nel MEG, Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, un edificio architettonicamente meraviglioso e che ospita un museo etnografico gratuito e bellissimo + altre esposizioni temporanee. Un'altra proiezione è stata fatta allo Spoutnik, un centro sociale molto undergroud e accogliente.
La selezione di animazioni era varia e interessante. C'erano alcuni lungometraggi (premiere e avant premiere), non molti e purtroppo proiettati una sola volta.
Principalmente cortometraggi divisi in "corti internazionali", giovane pubblico", " corti sperimentali", "documentari", "corti svizzeri", e un programma speciale. Questi erano tutti in competizione e gareggiavano per 6 premi, assegnati da 6 giurie differenti. I premi variano da 3000 a 1000 franchi, oppure all'acquisto da parte di una televisione svizzera, oppure ancora due giorni di registrazione in uno studio di suono. Inoltre sono state assegnate alcune menzioni. Vi erano poi tre retrospettive sull'Italia, proposte da Andrea Martignoni: retrospettiva storica, pubblicità e retrospettiva contemporanea. Infine vi era un programma speciale sulla scuola CSC di Torino, uno su Animaphix (Rosalba Colla) e poi su Donato Sansone e Michele Bernardi.
In onore dell'Italia come ospite d'onore sono stati organizzati anche eventi culinari e musicali a tema, molto belli e aperti al pubblico (tarantella, preparazione della mozzarella, serata di risotto...).
L'organizazione è molto buona. Ci sono diverse persone che lavorano duramente prima dopo e durante il festival: l'intera equipe è disponibile praticamente a qualsiasi ora per telefono ed e-mail.
I honestly do not remember if I apply for that festival sending my film or if they found me and asked me to apply, but they selected my short film Merlot and ivited me, together with all the other selected directors, to spend 10 days in China!!
I thought it was quite a big opportunity, so I decided to go. Here I'll tell you my experience in China and at the festival, trying to combine personal experiences in a new country with the festival itself.
Fist of all, as the name of the festival says, it is not a festival only for animations, but for short films. So there were also short live action films and short documentaries. I would say also that animation was only a little section of it.
The festival was created last year by some European festival directors, who met together in Hancheng and made it happen.
The festival takes place in a Cinema (5 screening theatres), on the 4th floor of an empty and super new building that was built on purpose for the festival and concluded few days before the opening ceremony! The cinema is in front of the entrance of the old city, which is very beautiful and where you can find the food markets (also night food markets), great places to spend time and taste amazing food.
There were different selection groups for films:Grand Prix (films selected by other festivals), International Competition, National Competition, National Student Competition, Youth Programme, Children Programme, Silk Road. Every block was very various, mixing techniques and genres. Apparently the open ceremony and the closing/award ceremony were majestic, but unfortunately I missed them both :( They both lasted about 3 hours and included orchestra music, performances, songs, etc. The awards are pretty big (around 8000 euros if I am not wrong) and they were for best director, best national short film, best international and best grand prix, if I remember well.
All the directors were invited (payed trips and accomodation!) and this was a great chance and big generosity from the festival itself. Still wondering if it was just a boost for the first edition or not.
I met many directors and amazing people there, but, I have to say, sadly, mainly western people, since the Chinese directors were for me difficult to find and reach. Living such an incredible experience and sharing all this together is also pretty intense and one week is enough to feel a good connection with everybody. I think there were about 100 western guests at the festival. We were staying in three different hotels, some better than the others. The directors were all together, the festival directors and the jury were somewhere else, still not far from each other.
The festival also organized some trips around Hancheng and were pretty much open to proposals. We went to a couple of ancient villages, to a national monument, to a mausoleum and to a light show on a lake. Then some of us asked to go to the Yellow River too. Taxis are so cheap that very often we used them to move.
Practical info: - To go to China you need a VISA. For this purpose the festival provided me an invitation, but I still had to provide many other documents to the embassy and also to pay a fee (it was for me around 200 euros, but I heard from other people attending the festival very diversed prices! Bureacracy misteries!) - in China there is no Google! Maybe you already know, but it was for me a big surprise. All the app I normally use do not work in China. No Gmail, no Google Maps, no Google Calender, no Facebook, no Instagram, no Whatsapp. They all use Wechat and they use it for everything! Also to pay for food! - In Hancheng was pretty impossible to get cash from the bank or to change money. So we had to bring cash from home (or change at the airport of Xi'an, but I am not sure about the interest). - NOBODY speaks English. There are really a few few people who speaks English, ans they were mainly the volunteers (students from Xi'an). The rest of the people will just keep on talking to you in Chinese. - There are no western people in Hancheng, so be ready to be stopped in the streets about 1000 times a day for pictures. Everybody will stare at you and find you amazing, and you'll get quickly used to it.
Some more facs and personal opinions:
- the local currency is the Chinese Yuan. Everything is very cheap for us coming from Europe. - In this occasions it's good to do networking and get to know the people at the festival and especially the other guests. The time was short, so I tried to spend some time with everybody, which meant sometimes to change company every day. - I found the air pollution very shocking and heavy. You cannot see the sun because of a white "fog" that covers all the area (I saw it for the whole time I was there. From the airport of Xi'an to Hancheng - 3 hours drive -!) - You cannot drink tap water - The way they drive and use the horn in the streets is very peculiar and funny - When you are going to festivals so far away from home, and in countries you'd like to visit, it's great to take advantage of that and stay after the festival to travel a bit. It was unfortunately for me not possible, but many of the guests did it and I would surely recommend it. I would do it, If I didn't have some upcoming deadline and if I had a fellow to travel with. Alone around in China sounds a little too much for me, even if I love lonely trips!) - At the end of the experience, once you're back and the jet lag is gone, don't forget to FOLLOW UP!
I leave you with a link of one of the winner of the festival, a Japanese Short Film that conquered the audience and the Jury (and which is luckily online): And so we put Goldfish in the Pool
