‘Red Stick’ Fest grows

• By TED GRIGGS
• Advocate business writer
• Published: Jan 8, 2009 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Red Stick International Animation Festival, which has grown to be the largest such event in the United States, has doubled the number of entries from last year for its fifth annual “Best of the Fest” competition, with 411 films from 45 countries.

Last year the festival featured more than 200 films from 27 countries and drew between 4,000 and 5,000 people. This year’s festival is set for April 22-25.

“It’s grown, it’s become successful probably because it’s a community event,” spokeswoman Kristen Sunde said. “But we also have opportunities for people who are aspiring animators as well as students or just film enthusiasts, animation enthusiasts.”

Red Stick is an all-encompassing event, more than just films or instruction on filmmaking and the other processes, Sunde said. There’s something for every audience.

Sunde said it’s hard to say how many people will attend the 2009 festival. The festival has roughly doubled in size each year, and if it doubles again, that will mean “lots and lots of attendance.”

Festival director Stacey Simmons said the festival’s economic impact is estimated at several million dollars. Last year’s event generated nearly  300 hotel and motel room-night rentals, along with meals and other spending by attendees, she added.

Organizers are also holding a luncheon at 11 a.m. Jan. 16 at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center to discuss the ways area businesses can capitalize on the festival’s success. The luncheon will also feature Walt Disney executive Emily Hoppe, who will talk about Disney’s relationship with Red Stick and an upcoming feature film, “The Princess and the Frog,” which is set in Louisiana.

One way Red Stick hopes to boost its economic impact is by establishing itself as the first animation market, Simmons said.

While there are events such as the Sundance Festival which target film and television producers and buyers and where deals get done, Simmons said, there is no single venue designed for the animation industry.

“Red Stick’s goal is to have the buyers and sellers convene in our city to do business,” Simmons said.

Red Stick also plans to hold another “pitch” contest, where aspiring filmmakers can try to sell industry executives on their ideas for movies or television shows. Last year, entrepreneurs received tips on screenwriting and pitching those ideas and were given the chance to sell TV executives on an idea for an original, animated series.

Sunde said the festival’s growth has been helped by its partnership with Animex International Festival of Animation and Computer Games in the United Kingdom.

Red Stick has also been able to promote itself at different events such as SIGGRAPH, the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Technologies, Sunde said.