Malcolm Turner

Damian Candusso is a Sound Designer and Associate Lecturer in Animation and Visual Effects at Charles Sturt University. He is a MPSE member and has more than 15 years' experience in Film, Television, Animation and Games. His latest film Happy Feet, recently won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film at the 79th Academy Awards. Damian will give a breakdown on the creation of the sounds for Happy Feet, how it all came together, and how many hours went into this animation epic. Damian will also discuss the flexibility and disadvantages of working with sound in animation.

"Animation Now! - An Annual Overview of The International Animation Scene" presented by Malcolm Turner
Co-Director Australian International Animation Festival
Executive Director Melbourne International Animation Festival
Co-Director London International Animation Festival
Animation Programmer New Zealand Film Festival
Advisor/Jury (CAF) SIGGRAPH Asia 2008
In addition to programming these festivals, Turner visits many of the major festivals around the world, sits on juries, presents at conferences and maintains an extensive international network of contacts in the international creative animation community. All of this gives him a front row seat to current trends, shifting styles and raging debates within the world of indie animation. Turner will present a comprehensive snapshot of the animated year that has lead up to AIAF 08 complete with a screening of unusual films that caught his attention along the way.

"The State of Animation in Australia & An Intro to The Australian Panorama" presented by Andrew Hagan & Malcolm Turner (AIAF Co-Directors) with visiting Australian Filmmakers.
Animating in Australia is as challenging as any occupation. Australian animators are creating world beating creative films as well as working in ads, music videos, gaming and on-line. AIAF in Wagga Wagga is the first comprehensive collection of Australian animation to screen each year. AIAF's co-directors use the experience of pulling the Australian Panorama together combined with their extensive knowledge of the broader Australian animation creative, commercial and funding scenes to present a "State of the Animated Nation" address, with a special focus on the films selected for screening in AIAF 08.
Filmmakers with a film in the festival will be encouraged to participate in the address and there will be screenings of recently made commercial works as well as excerpts from works in progress. We are thrilled to announce John Lewis will be presenting his trilogy of stop-motion short films including The Birdhouse, The Boy Who Wanted to Touch the Moon, and his latest award-winning creation - The Designer.

AIAF Co-Director, Malcolm Turner travels extensively in the course of pulling together this festival. This year he has spent several weeks immersed in the indie New York animation scene, a fantastic week rummaging through the 650+ films in the Zagrebfilm archive in Croatia, sat on the SIGGRAPH Asia 08 Jury, rubbed shoulders with a whole crew of Russian animators getting ready to celebrate the 60th anniversary of legendary Moscow animator Alexander Tatarsky and dropped into more than a dozen festivals. From this unique perspective, Turner will discuss these adventures in colourful detail as well as present an up to date snapshot of the contemporary indie international animation scene - complete with a special selection of the old and new films that excited him most.

AIAF Co-Director, Malcolm Turner travels extensively in the course of pulling together this festival. This year his adventures included a spending a truly inspiring weekend in deepest Somerset trawling through an awesome archive of old "Felix The Cat" episodes, hanging out with Autour de Minuit who are one of Europe's most impressive producers & distributors of digital animation, sorting out tour details with Edouard Salier who produces very 'big-concept' films, learning a lot more about the guy who animated Donald Duck, learning heaps about historical Australian animation, finally got round to sorting out a Slinky Pics Tribute program and dropped in on a dozen or so festivals. From this unique perspective, Turner will discuss these adventures in colourful detail as well as present an up to date snapshot of the contemporary indie international animation scene - complete with a special selection of the old and new films that excited him most.