A five-member team of East Tennessee State University digital media students has been selected as one of 10 groups to participate in the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International in Kalamazoo, Mich.
ETSU team members are Chris Haga, Collin Fannon, Daruth Padilla, Jeffery Moore and Joshua Shelton. They will travel to Michigan’s Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and on the morning of Monday, May 9, all the participants will be given the topic to create a 30-second animated public service announcement.
From that moment, students will brainstorm, work, eat and create together to conceive, script, design and produce the PSA.
KVCC will provide sleeping accommodations, food and materials including computers, software programs and production equipment. The teams can work on their own schedule for the four-day contest, but the final creations must be submitted at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 12.
On Saturday, May 14, a special screening of the entries will be held as part of the international animation festival and festival attendees will select the winner to be announced at the closing ceremonies on Sunday evening.
In addition to the ‘Cartoon Challenge,’ the KAFI will have seminars and workshops for professional animators and students, and with other animation competitions, will give away nearly $15,000 in prize money.
Many top animators will be presenting at the festival including Eric Goldberg who works for Disney, Brian Tindall of Pixar Animation Studios, John Fountain of Nickelodeon and Lia Abbate of the Walt Disney Co.
For more information about the digital media program or the festival, call Peter Hriso of ETSU’s Department of Technology and Geomatics at 979-3158, or e-mail hriso@etsu.edu.

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