Something that has been hugely beneficial in my consideration of my future in animation was the chance to go to Cardiff Animation Festival in April. My LIAF film, Disparate Threads was selected as part of the Slice of Life screening.
Having the chance to have any film, let alone the first film I ever made and directed, was an incredible opportunity and I was humbled by the wealth of talent I was programmed alongside.
I took away so many things from the festival, but four in particular stood out.Networking
Networking
It seems so obvious, but it’s so important to do. Even as someone who is extroverted and used to communicating with people, I find networking difficult as it’s easy to feel like an imposter with nothing to offer. During Cardiff I really pushed myself to speak to a variety of different people; professionals I admired, fellow filmmakers and other attendees, and when the first two people you meet over lunch are the festival director and Joanna Quinn, it feels like a strong start.
We went to quite a few networking events at the festival and using those as a basis kept up with several industry professionals over the course of the four days and then subsequently on social media. People such as Steff Lee, Nia Alavezos, Matt Partridge, Tina Nawrocki and Harriet Gillian, are just a few examples of people I spoke to regularly across the four days and have caught up in the time since. Having just had the talk with Passion Pictures and expressed interest in working with, I’m hoping to follow up with Matt Partridge who works as a director there.
It was also really exciting to meet with other filmmakers, learn about their processes and inspirations and what drives them as artists, it was especially comforting seeing people who have only been in the industry for a short time but are making work they are proud of and passionate about. I especially got on with Nam Crame, who directed a short documentary ‘Rainbow Junktion’; we bonded over making work about underrepresented communities and queer art.
Everyone has imposter syndrome, but we are all just animation fans who love making cool stuff
I’ve learned that imposter syndrome never really goes away, especially as you take steps into the next stage of a career, but people around so many people across the four days made me realise that that’s okay. That people will see my work on its own merit and not whether I’ve completed the correct steps to get to where I am. Seeing people be so excited about animation and films really inspired me to just keep on trucking. We were all a bit worried about taking four days away from the grad film practically, but I am so glad we did. I came back to it feeling motivated and inspired by everything I had seen and everyone I had met. Every single person at the festival was just so excited to be there and share the joy of animation and this really bolstered me to push through feeling like an imposter and to just enjoy all that I can.