Five Facts About GIRAF17

We’re excited for this Friday’s launch of the 17th annual Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival, and hopefully you are, too. But we’ve been focusing so much on the films and artists in this year’s festival that we might’ve missed mentioning a few details. So, here are five things you might not know about GIRAF17:

1. We’re available everywhere in Canada. OK, this one we’ve definitely mentioned, but it’s worth saying again. For the first (and maybe only) time, animation fans from coast to coast to coast can see 90+ animated shorts and features, our Video Game Animation industry panel, and conversations with award-winning animator Renee Zhan and the anonymous admins behind 24memespersecond. 
2. We fit your schedule. Every film except The Crossing is available on demand for the full 10-day festival, so there’s no need to binge if you don’t want to. (The Crossing is only around for our first weekend, so make sure not to miss it.) Plus, we’ve kept all of our shorts packs to about an hour, perfect for fitting into a lunch break or a gap in your evening. We’ve been living in this online world long enough to know that attention spans work differently at home than in the theatre, and we’ve found an hour is the sweet spot for a shorts program.
3. We’ve got watch parties. Festivals are more fun with a crowd. That’s why we’ve set up a festival Discord channel (a chat room, basically) and published a schedule to let you know what and when the Quickdraw team will be watching. Join us to watch along, chat about the films, and maybe even meet some of the filmmakers. Or, set your own schedule and watch at your own pace. It’s up to you.
4. Your pass comes with some bonuses. After the festival wraps up, we’ll send every passholder a commemorative program guide to remember this year’s festival, plus an 11x17 poster and a pair of stickers with Molly Little’s amazing artwork. It’s our way of making the online experience a little more tangible.
5. We’re subtitled. Thanks to our accessibility sponsor Calgary Economic Development, every film at GIRAF, plus every artist talk and panel, comes with English subtitles. The only exceptions are Krysar - The Pied Piper, which is in a made-up language that isn’t meant to be understood, and the featured artist workshops, which take place live.

Thanks again to everyone who’s busily working away behind the scenes to get things ready for our launch this weekend—our sponsors, funders, staff, volunteers, and community partners across the country. See you on Friday!