DEDI presents “Children and Family” films at the Panorama of European Film in Cairo
November 7, 2018
SANDUQ El-DUNIA at Cairo’s Off Biennale!
December 14, 2018
Last November Ibrahim Saad and Mariam AbdelRahman, the directors of The Animation School – Jesuit Cairo, and Fadi Baki, organizer of the Beirut Animated Festival, were given the opportunity to visit the Danish Film Institute and VIA’s Animation Workshop on a DEDI-sponsored field-trip to Denmark.
On the trip the participants got to enhance their knowledge and share their experiences on how to do animation films with some of the main teachers of animation in Denmark today. On visiting the Danish Film Institute, they explored the tendencies in the Danish Animation Film Industry today and got acquainted with some of the dominant techniques, guidelines and tools used in the current production of animations. By visiting VIA University College — a College offering one of Denmark’s leading educational programs in animation, and organizer of a variety of animation workshops and festivals — the participants were introduced to faculty, students, facilities and companies on campus, obtaining a deeper understanding of the school’s vision, daily-run and taught curricula.
Some responses on the trip:
“The Animation School wish to have a long term relation to the Animation Workshop in terms of developing the structure of the school to make it as professional as the animation college – this could be very hard and takes a lot of time and work from us but we believe we can do something for art education in Egypt” — The Animation School – Jesuit Cairo
“It has been an amazing experience to have DEDI to sponsor a trip like this, as we are lacking this kind of outsider’s perspective in the region. It is important to create networks within and without, and Denmark has been a surprisingly hospitable and warm destination point. We hope that we can strengthen our collaboration with the actors we met as this will only expand our reach and capabilities. Like animation, our work has to be collaborative to be able to compete on an international level. Initiatives like these are what allow us to stitch together the various efforts across the region.” — Fadi Baki
An outcome of the trip were the two animation shows, The Danes Are Coming, hosted and organized by The Animation School – Jesuit Cairo. The show is a campaign, built on the catalogue of animation movies presented at the VIA Animation Workshop, demonstrating the art of animation filmmaking.
The field-trip was sponsored by the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Initiative, and took place from the 19-24th of November 2018; so far there has been two screenings of The Danes Are Coming held the 11th of March and the 9th of April 2019.
Photo Credit goes to Fadi Baki
