On the afternoon of March 30, the news conference on the 30-day countdown of the 15th China International Animation Festival was held at the Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University.

Mr. Niu Jun, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee and Secretary General of the Animation Festival Executive Committee, attended the conference and introduced the basic information and highlights of this animation festival.

It is reported that the 15th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival will be held at the Baima Lake Animation Square in Binjiang District, Hangzhou from April 30 to May 5 this year. In addition to the main venue of Baima Lake, there will be 12 parallel venues around the city, covering the five sections of exhibitions, forums, business, events and activities. There will be more than 50 featured events.

A series of activities will be launched in this festival centering on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.

The animation summit forum will explore the future development of Chinese animation under the theme of “the Inherence and Development of Animation in the New Era”.

The business conference of international animation and game will place more emphasis on output and popularization of featured Chinese culture on the topic of “Chinese culture, cross-border communication”.

The theme of the float parade is “Hello, New Era”, which features singing and dancing to showcase the outstanding animation works of these years.

During the festival of animation, Karl Heinrich Marx by Wawayu Cartoon in Hangzhou, which commemorates the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth, the movie White Snake with more than 400 million boxes at the box office, and the excellent cartoons recommended by the National Radio and Television Administration in 2018, will be unveiled.

Anime The Leader

At the press conference, the Executive Committee also organized the COSPLAY flash event of "Me and My Country" to show more people the vitality and vigor of Chinese youth in an animated manner.

This year, Disneyland will participate in the China Animation Festival for the first time and bring some fine works for the 80th anniversary of the world-famous Marvel Comics. Brazil is also the first group to participate in this year's exhibition, and Chilean animation companies are also attracted by the festival reputation.

The well-known American Blizzard Entertainment, Webtoon, the biggest cartoon and animation platform in South Korea and other cartoon and animation institution from 20 countries and regions around the globe are coming to CICAF to seek for opportunities of cooperating with China.

In addition, China COSPLAY Super Festival has also set up six overseas sub-divisions in France, Spain, Switzerland and other foreign countries and regions, and for the first time, the rules for pair games have been unified in line with the international competition;

The “Magic Eye” International Children’s Comic Contest attracted more than 43,000 works from more than 30 countries and regions, and established six overseas divisions in the UK, Germany and Japan and other countries and regions.

This year’s animation festival also launched a campaign for overseas folk publicity ambassador, to select 100 ambassadors who introduce the animation festival to more people, so that people could come to understand Chinese animation culture and take to animation and cartoon in this animation festival.

The animation festival this year is a gathering of masters and masterpieces.

At this year’s summit forum, Kristine Belson, president of Sony Pictures Animation, the producer of the 91st Oscar-winning animated feature film Spiderman: Parallel Universe, will also give a speech.

Hayato Date, the director of the famous Japanese animation Naruto, Cai Zhizhong, a famous cartoonist who settles in Hangzhou, and key guests like Cui Di, the producer of the original Chinese animated film White Snake, which has won a success both in public comment and box office in 2019: all will gather in Hangzhou, bringing a new collision of thinking.

      《白蛇缘起》White Snake  

      《火影忍者》Naruto

Mattel, one of the world’s top toy manufacturers, will bring famous toy brands such as Barbie and Fisher.

Canadian toy giant Spin Mater will bring children’s favorite brands like Paw Patrol;

And Peppa Pig, Fox Spirit Matchmaker, Mysterious Sword, Riding Whales, The Founder of Diabolism and other Well-known IPs at home and abroad will attend the festival.

In addition, the domestic five major cartoon TV, three new media broadcast platforms and many strength companies such as Zoland Animation, Alpha Animation, Huaqiang Fantawild, Tencent, NetEase and Bilibili will show themselves at the animation festival.

The business conference of international animation and game is also forging itself into the best way for international buyers to enter the Chinese market, and has gradually become the vane of the development of China's animation industry.

This year, anime will work with Wang Xingji, Zhi weiguan, Zhang Xiaoquan and other Hangzhou “time-honored brands” to create a more updated and down-to-earth animation derivative products.

The Animation Industry Expo will also set up the Chinese culture featured theme pavilion for the first time, organizing the Han-clothing show, catwalk and experience activities. The legendary Wansong Academy in the Butterfly Lovers will also hold an anime blind date for the first time, with the matchmaker as an anime character.

After a decade of meticulously crafting, the series of short films of “Let Calligraphy and Opera Meet in Anime” will be presented to the public. The Yue opera " farewell", the Peking Opera "seeking accommodation at Shizipo", Qin Qiang "Picking Gold" and so on will inherit and promote traditional culture in animation and in the way that young people prefer.

During the animation festival, in addition to the main venue of Baima Lake, 12 sub-venues will also be set up such as Zhongnan Game and Zoland Happy Town, Youth Activity Center, and Wildlife World.

In the next month, in these sub-venues, a series of events such as anime float parade, COSPLAY super festival, and anime voice actor competition will be held in succession to make citizens and visitors in Hangzhou  enjoy their feast of eyes and ears.

Anime Metro Station, Anime Lake Ring Bus, Anime Check-in Island of Xiaoshan Airport will also be arranged. In Hangzhou, animation will be always around you when you take a plane, ride or subway.

March 30, 2019