MIFA is a short form of the International Animation Film Market. Creators look forward to MIFA, the conferences, the pitches, networking opportunities, possible partnerships, and collaborations. Mifa is scheduled to hold for 4 days during the Annecy festival.
There was so much thoughtfulness put into the planning of MIFA. It was carefully categorized into 6 events and every category has a sub-category. The different broad categories were Creation, Inspiration, Connection, Training, Exhibition area, and Connected area.
Let us begin with the categories we actively participated in; Animators, storytellers, artists, and all creators were encouraged to make the most of their presence at the festival by booking exhibition spaces. There were over 4000 badge holders at different stands, each showing the originality of their art. Orange VFX studios also booked a stand where our Creative director Mr. Richard Oboh stood to represent the prestigious company.
MIFA is a wonderful opportunity to position your brand for international visibility and meet potential international clients.
Mr. Richard used this opportunity to network with many top people. He met Mr. Hugo, who works at Ubisoft, and learned some important things about IPs (intellectual properties) from him. Mr. Hugo mentioned that Ubisoft doesn’t share IPs; instead, they acquire, develop and sell IPS.
More interesting things he stated from his meeting with Mr. Hugo are:
- New IPs can take one or more of several paths books, shorts, comics, animatic, storyboard, VR, live shows, graphic novels, NFTs, Metaverse, games, etc
- Find the right balance between IP originals and existing
- IPs can also be adapted across various formats
- Have a clear picture or strategy of every IP before any kind of acquisition
- Feature Films, short films, TV Series & Specials, and Digital Experiences — the Pitches are becoming more elaborate every year.
We were also involved in the Creation session which is sub-categorized into four- MIFA Pitches, Partners Pitches, Partners Screening, and Video Library. Each of these is still aimed at showcasing originality and promoting creativity. The different categories of these pitches– Feature Films, short films, TV Series & Specials, and Digital Experiences — the Pitches are becoming more elaborate every year.
The Nigerian industry was well represented at the partner pitches and we had a winner and four finalists of the International MIFA Campus Talents Adebimpea Esther Kemi Gbadamosi, Somto Onubogu, Kwairanga Animation Studio, Folktail Studios, and Mustapha Bulama were selected to represent Nigeria at the Partners Pitches during Annecy Festival.
Partners Pitches
Nigeria was well represented at the partner pitches and we had a winner and four finalists of the International MIFA Campus Talents Adebimpea Esther Kemi Gbadamosi, Somto Onubogu, Kwairanga Animation Studio, Folktail Studios, and Mustapha Bulama have been selected to represent Nigeria at the Partners Pitches happening at the 2022 Annecy International Film Festival.
Animation Nigeria took this to their Instagram page and stated that “the Partners Pitches complete the panorama offered by putting talents from Nigeria in the limelight, giving them the opportunity to discover the latest creations”.
These Pitch sessions are a privileged time to discover the universes and sensitivities in their own right, which reflect young international creativity.
With an international dimension, the Mifa Pitches make room for diversity and offer an eclectic selection, whether geographical, artistic, or technical. The selected authors present their projects to an audience of professionals and enthusiasts, in the hope of receiving future support.
The Mifa willingly follows up on the evolution of the animation projects presented during the Pitch sessions and also asks the writers for feedback a few months later concerning the development of the projects presented.
The final part of the festival is the awards. “Many of us were not really interested in the awards, but seeing and meeting different filmmakers with interesting stories was interesting. It was a great experience indeed,” Mr. Richard stated.
Did you enjoy reading about Annecy? Are you looking forward to the festival and connecting with potential clients from other parts of the world next year?
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