SIGGRAPH 2018 COMPUTER
ANIMATION FESTIVAL TO PRESENT
‘NEXT GENERATION’ OF
STORYTELLING
Electronic Theater
Announces Lineup of 25 Short Films and Presentations,
Award Winners; VR Theater to Present 14 Projects,
Including First Student Work
CHICAGO, July
12, 2018 —SIGGRAPH 2018, the
world’s leading annual interdisciplinary educational event
showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive
techniques,
announces the full lineup for its Computer Animation Festival
Electronic and VR Theaters. The 45th SIGGRAPH conference will take
place 12–16 August at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
The
SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival is known for continuously
pushing the boundaries of computer-generated storytelling in
film, games, visual effects, and more. In-line with the 2018
conference theme of “Generations,” this year’s Electronic
Theater lineup is poised to epitomize a next-generation
showcase of 25 short films and presentations, culled from over 400
submissions. Truly an international show, the Electronic
Theater will feature works from Ecuador,
Spain, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, New
Zealand, Sweden, and the United States; five student projects;
and, two major studio shorts — Pixar Animation Studios’ “Bao,”
written and directed by the studio’s first-ever female
director of a short film, Chinese-Canadian-American artist
Domee Shi, and DreamWorks Animation’s “Bilby.” The Electronic
Theater is a ticketed event that will be presented three
evenings in a row, 13-15 August.
“We
will be presenting a high caliber of work this year from a
very competitive, international field of submissions. Our jury
commented several times that there were tough decisions to be
made over pieces that might have been a ‘slam dunk’ in
previous years,” said SIGGRAPH 2018 Computer Animation
Festival Director Larry Bafia. “Each year, the Computer
Animation Festival provides a spectrum of computer graphics
that is unique from any other festival. The work shown ranges
from hyper-real to stylized, from student grad projects to
small studio work, from large studio shorts to visual effects
house showcases. Our 2018 festival will, once again, present a
great variety of styles of visual storytelling — sure to make
for an entertaining and compelling show.”
The
jury-selected SIGGRAPH 2018 Computer Animation Festival
Electronic Theater award winners are:
** BEST IN
SHOW
Hybrids
Florian
Brauch, Kim Tailhades, Matthieu Pujol, Yohan Thireau, Romain
Thirion
MoPA
(France)
** BEST
STUDENT PROJECT
Overrun
Pierre
Ropars, Antonin Derory, Diane Thirault, Jérémie Cottard,
Matthieu Druaud, Adrien Zumbihl
Supinfocom
Rubika
(France)
** JURY’S
CHOICE
Bilby
Liron Topaz,
Pierre Perifel, JP Sans
DreamWorks
Animation
(United
States)
“The
experience of watching this year’s submissions with such a
diverse group of cross-industry professionals was an absolute
pleasure; and quite a learning experience for this old,
stop-frame luddite. Of particular interest was the amazing
depth and quality of work we saw from educational institutions
across the globe. The technical challenges, as well as the
provocative themes, that this year’s crop of students
confronted inspires a renewed enthusiasm for the future of the
animation medium,” notes Paul Harrod, SIGGRAPH 2018 Computer
Animation Festival juror and production designer
whose recent credits include the Wes Anderson animated film
“Isle of Dogs,” of the work.
The
Electronic Theater began as an annual showcase of advances in
computer graphics and has since has come to celebrate the rise
of computer graphics as a medium for storytelling, not just in
animation, but also in visual effects for film and games. The
festival, since 1999, is recognized by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival and several
works originally presented at the SIGGRAPH conference have
been nominated for, or have received, a “Best Animated Short”
Academy Award. View the full lineup of 2018
selections.
Though
newer than the Electronic Theater, the 2018 Computer Animation
Festival VR Theater promises to pack just as much punch. In
its second year, the VR Theater will present daily ticketed
screenings — expanded from 25 to 32 seats each — along with
individual kiosk programming, culled from more than 30 global
submissions. The 14 total selections hail from 12 countries
and include two, longer format VR stories: “Space Explorers”
from Felix & Paul Studios and “Arden’s Wake: Expanded”
from Penrose Studios. Also featured within the VR Theater will
be the live-action, science-fiction project “Trinity” from
UNLTD-INC and the student-produced “Blue Bird” from Savannah
College of Art and Design. The VR Theater kiosks, will be
located throughout the conference’s Immersive Pavilion, and
will showcase content with a runtime of five minutes or less,
including Facebook’s “Beyond the Fence” and Google Spotlight
Stories’ “Back to the Moon.” View the full lineup of 2018
selections.
To
register for the conference, visit s2018.SIGGRAPH.org. The
Electronic Theater is included at the Business Symposium, Full
Conference Platinum, and Full Conference registration levels,
or tickets can be purchased separately. VR Theater screenings
are open to Full Conference Platinum and Full Conference
registration levels only, and kiosks are accessible with
Exhibits Plus registration or above.
About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH 2018
ACM,
the
Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest
educational and scientific computing society, uniting
educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire
dialogue, share resources, and address the field's
challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a
special interest group within ACM that serves as an
interdisciplinary community for members in research,
technology, and applications in computer graphics and
interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH is the world’s leading
annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing
the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2018,
marking
the 45th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take
place from 12–16 August at the Vancouver Convention Centre
in Vancouver, B.C.
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