By Susan Lorenzana
The Art Department at East Los Angeles College will present the fourth Annual Animation Day to take place on Saturday, from 12:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
The goal of ELAC International Animation Festival is to give information and an entertaining introduction to international contemporary animation.
ELAC will partner up with Cinema Without Borders for the fourth time.
The head of the animation department, Michael Libonati, has organized the event for three years and will once again direct it.
The theme this year will be Latin American animation.
“The event is important to me because there is a lot of exciting international animation and artists,” said Libonati.
ELAC and Libonati hope to see a lot of people attend and make this event a success.
According to Libonati, award winners from animation will come speak at ELAC and the community will get to meet animation talents.
The community will also find out how these animation talents create their work.
They will be screening animated short films from Mexico, Brazil, and Chile.
The event begins with an opening reception at 12:30 p.m. The screenings will start at 1:45pm and are as followed: “Muros no fronteras,” “Paliangilar,” “Plantae,” “Sinias Do Sim,” “Camino Gigante,” “The Bear Story” and “Gift”.
A panel of well known animation experts will answer questions and provide analysis of the screenings itself.
The festival will also pay tribute to international animation artists working in the United States animation industry who are part of the festival program.
The panel members include Sarah Baisley, Enzo Baldi, Michael Libonati, Leonardo Matsuda, Tom McClean, Ennio Torresan and Jean Thoren.
“The event gives an opportunity for those who are interested in animation,” said Libonati.
At 3:15 p.m. there will be a special presentation in the program where animation director and story artist Leo Matsuda will present his short animated film, “The Inner Workings.”
Leo Matsuda recently directed the short animated film, that debuted in Walt Disney’s animated film “Moana.”
Every year, during the Animation Day, the event pays tribute to an animator who has impacted animation.
After Matsuda’s presentation, Tom Sito will present a tribute to a legend, the late Bill Melendez. Melendez is an animator who produced dozens of television shows and featured films.
Melendez is also an international animation artist who worked in the industry.
The event will end with closing remarks announcing Scandinavian Animation Day 2019.
The screenings will be held in building S1 Screening room 112. Free parking will be in Structure 4 at ELAC.
The Latin American Animation Day will be open to the general public and in order to attend you must RSVP at rsvpanim@gmail.com.