Animation Festival Opens 18th Edition
The Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Film Festival (SICAF) kicked off yesterday for its 18th edition. With an opening ceremony taking place at lunchtime in the capital’s Seoul Animation Center, the doors were opened for the six-day event showcasing the best in international animation. The festival then screened the opening film
The Road Called Life – Animation of Korean Literature Part 1 in the Seoul Animation Cinema.
Staged in the Seoul Animation Center and the nearby Myeongdong CGV theater, SICAF is presenting 362 works from 43 countries this year. Among those will be a retrospectives of the works of Ivan Maximov and Moustapha Alassane, as well as a variety of sections on Polish animation, family-friendly fare from the Swedish outfit Zigzag Animation and much more.
Serving as the opening film, The Road Called Life – Animation of Korean Literature Part 1 is a three-part omnibus directed by AHN Jae-hun and HAN Hye-jin consisting of When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom, Spring Spring and A Lucky Day. Among other Korean films at SICAF are The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow, the JANG Hyung-yun film that is taking part in the official competition along with four other works from Brazil, Italy and the US. Many local shorts films are also peppered throughout the various short film programs, such as JUNG Yu-mi’s Love Games.
Junji ITO, a famed author of Japanese horror comics will visit SICAF for a special signing session while Zoomwooz will stage a live performance. SICAF will present its awards during a ceremony on Saturday, July 26th before closing its 18th edition on the 27th.