Animation South Africa, The French-South African Seasons Project, the NFVF and Wesgro will launch Kunjanimation 2012 – South Africa’s only national event exclusively dedicated to celebrating the art of animation.

This year, which will see the Cape Town premieres of two highly-lauded animated features: Jean Laguionie’s Le Tableau, and South Africa’s own Adventures in Zambezia, produced by Triggerfish. 

The event brings some of the world’s most exciting animation and animators to the the country for a week of sharing knowledge, strengthening ties with the industry abroad, and of course, exploring South Africa’s own emerging talent. 

2012’s program features screenings of a wide variety of work from across Europe and Africa, all of which will be open to the general public.

An important new focus for the festival’s second edition is professional education and skill-sharing. For animation professionals at every level, a loaded schedule of learning opportunities awaits, with talks, workshops and discussions led by the country’s most respected studios, including Blackginger, Triggerfish, Imaginari and Strikas.

In a first for South Africa, Kunjanimation 2012 will also be offering a series of master classes on character animation, to be led by Dreamworks animator Alexandre Heboyan and facilitated by his alma mater, world-renowned French animation college Gobelins, l’École de l’Image.

The event is done is close collaboration with France’s most prestigious annual industry event, the Annecy International Animation Festival, and its market, MIFA.

So whether you’re an industry veteran, a new graduate, or just a movie lover, there'll be something for you at Kunjanimation 2012, will run from October 17 to October 21, in Cape Town, and October 26 to October 27 in Johannesburg.

For more info, and the full lineup of events, visit the Kunjanimation website HERE.

I have a writer over there right now, planning on attending the event, so look out for some coverage from him, leading up to, and during the festival.