Upcoming Animation Workshop: NipponNordic Universe Accelerator

As fans of all things animation, we here at AFA love to talk about events that not only give animators a chance to show off their hard work but also be able to hone and improve their craft. It is for this reason that we'd like to share what we know of upcoming animation workshops that may be worth keeping an eye on.

The Nippon Nordic Universe Accelerator is 3-week artist residency program with the primary focus of skills training and cooperation between artists of Denmark and Japan.  With the aid of acknowledged tutors, participants will develop their original concepts such as universes, story worlds and paper-prototypes which will relate to a variety of media including: video/mobile games, animated TV series, documentaries, serious games, VR, AR and transmedia.




The participants are selected by a committee based on their proposed projects and will be:

• Junior or intermediate artists with backgrounds as directors, new media concept artists, writers, storyboard artists or game designers.
• And who are Japanese (living in Japan or abroad), Korean or Chinese (special permanent residents in Japan), Danish (living either in Denmark or abroad) or foreigners who are currently living/working in Denmark.

On the last day of the residency, during the Viborg Animation Festival (VAF), the participants will get the opportunity to pitch their concepts to a jury of high-level professionals from both territories who will also advise them on how to best reach the market and go into production. The best projects will get the chance to take their development through additional residencies and to access pitching sessions in major festivals and partner-events throughout Europe and Asia (such as Annecy MIFA Pitches, Sunny Side of the Doc, Cartoon Connection Asia, Japan Content Showcase, etc)

The event will be hosted by The Animation Workshop/VIA University College in Viborg, Denmark and its first edition will be taking place on September 11 - 29 of 2017.

Participants of the first edition have until April 14th, 2017 to submit their projects for consideration. Once all applications have been submitted, Pre-selection Interviews will be conducted in the beginning of May.

If you would like more information on how to apply, follow the link here.

For more information on Nippon Nordic, you may check out their main website, or follow them on Facebook / or their Japanese blog.