Themed "The Prime of Chinese Animation" and spanning from May 29 to June 2, the 20th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival (CICAF) held in Hangzhou has seen great success online and offline.

20th CICAF concludes with fruitful achievements

The festival attracted 2,156 enterprises and institutions and 3,072 professional merchants from 52 countries and regions around the world to participate in the exhibition. More than 147,000 animated products and works, both domestic and international, were showcased over the course of the gala. Prominent domestic animation makers such as CCTV Animation, Zhejiang Radio and Television Group, and Shanghai Animation Film Studio, along with numerous international companies and institutions such as Mega House and Hello Kitty, presented their most well-known intellectual property brands and cultural products.

As of June 2, more than 9 million people had participated in online and offline activities, generating an outcome of 1.28 billion yuan from on-site transactions and intentions. Additionally, more than 100 college students received employment offers.

Chinese animation witnesses 20-year passion

The theme of "The Prime of Chinese Animation" runs through special events such as the animation float parade, the "20 Years of Chinese Animation" themed exhibition, and the "20 Years Together" International Animation Film Week, highlighting landmark moments and masterpieces over the past two decades in Chinese animation.

Since the call for submissions on April 12, the "Golden Monkey King Awards", a top brand event of CICAF known as the "highest honor in Chinese animation", received 765 original animation works from 17 countries and regions. The animated historical drama film Chang An won the Gold Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Blending modern animation with traditional poetry, Chang An, produced by Hangzhou company Light Chaser Animation, was a surprise hit at the box office last year and won praise for its celebration of traditional Chinese culture.

"No matter who you are, no matter what kind of figure you have, as long as you wear Hanfu, your mental outlook will be different," said a lady who goes by the name of "Hanfu Granny", aged 80 and dressed in traditional Chinese clothes, making her fourth trip to the festival. The China COSPLAY Super Ceremony set up the Chinese style special award for the first time this year, while the Chinese Style Brand Ceremony presented the essence of Chinese cultural heritage to both domestic and international audiences, delivering an exquisite cultural feast.

"The daughter has not been fully weaned, so I brought her with me. My husband is also a COSER, and this time, we can take our daughter to get a glimpse of the animation world," said Yan Yan, who traveled to Hangzhou with her husband and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter. As part of a cosplay competition, she and other club members drew inspiration from the online game Swordsman Love III to show the story of women soldiers going to war for their country on stage.

Dressed in leisure wear and carrying a rosy messenger bag, Li Fujin, an 85-year-old former volunteer of the festival, visited the exhibition full of energy and gave her best wishes to this city of animation. Many booths at the scene showcased traditional culture in diverse ways, offering richer cultural content and a broader narrative imagination than before.

More than exhibitions with "Animation Plus"

On May 28, the International Animation Business Conference (iABC2024) kicked off in Hangzhou, centering around animation IPs, exploring innovation, collaborative integration, and value transformation from a source of inspiration of IPs to an entire series of digital content. The event featured the release and promotion of key works and IPs. Over 890 guests and industry representatives from both domestic and international circles attended the opening ceremony and ten series sessions of iABC.

The highly anticipated AIGC Chinese Animation exhibition area was designed to provide visitors with interactive experiences that combine technology with stage achievements and frontier exploration of animation industry development, such as holographic anime avatar photography studios and immersive metaverse transformation live streaming rooms. Through master classes, iABC, China Youth Animation Film Week, and other activities, it invited representatives of leading internet companies and industry experts to have in-depth discussions about the infinite possibilities of AIGC to promote the animation industry.

At the same time, the China Young Animation Artists Growth Plan selected a group of young animation talents in the whole industry chain and held an animation talent recruitment fair to offer more than 200 quality positions for college students, boosting animation talent incubation and training.

Famous international animation festivals and exhibitions from France, Croatia, Hungary, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and other countries also gathered by the Grand Canal in Hangzhou to carry out the International Animation Alliance series of activities. The three-day event was joined by Angouleme Festival, Animafest Zagreb, KAFF, BIAF, GICON, and more guests to explore new models and paths for the animation industry, and encourage collaborations including exchange visits, business contacts, exhibitions, and competitions. Among them, seven festival representatives and CICAF jointly signed the "International Animation Alliance Cooperation Memorandum" as well as the "National Animation Festival Cooperation Agreement" with each other.

Hangzhou is not only a host city of animation festivals. Through 20 years of accumulation, the China International Cartoon and Animation Festival has made its own brand and influence, attracting more and more creators and talents who love animation to come here to study, communicate, and work.

At the age of 20, the future of CICAF is even more promising. The 20th celebration has also opened a new journey for the next 20 years of the development of Chinese animation and the construction of Hangzhou as an "International Animation Capital".