3rd Year BA (Hons) Illustration and Animation student Laura Beth Cowley reports back from the Lille Animation Festival 2013.

This year's Fete de L'anim proved to be an overwhelming success. The festival is based in the northern French towns of Lille and Tourcoing, and the industrial buildings over-run with animators from around the world, with an impressive line-up of guest speakers, screenings and workshops. The international festival starts and finishes with the collective efforts of 19 animation schools and one professional group. Teams from all across Europe - including France, the UK, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe - were invited to take part in this fantastic challenge.

The Marathon

The excited young animators gathered together in La Teinturerie studio space to create 10 seconds of animation each, over a 48 hour period. This was a massively collaborative project, which offered students a unique opportunity to experience both a creative challenge and to see a range of work from their peers across Europe. The studio was a hive of activity from 2pm on 13 March, when the start image was unveiled (created by Belgium animator Raoul Servais), until 7pm on 15 March. Many of the teams worked through the night (one French team even slept on the floor) to create their animations. The stints were then edited together with sound and screened at the closing ceremony.

There was also a Graphic Battle, which encouraged students to pitch their skills against each other in a knock out round of talent within two categories: 2D digital drawn and 3D digital modelled (zbrush).

The Master classes

Joanna Quinn, Serge Élissalde, Adriaan Lokman, Patrick Bouchard and Pixar animator Erick Oh each offered up their knowledge in these informative and incredibly intimate programs. The festival was heavily Pixar-themed this year, with screenings of most of Pixar's most loved feature films on show, and master classes and screenings from the wonderful Erick Oh as well as the premiere of his exhibition His Chamber in Lille.

The master classes offered a fascinating insight into each of the guests' working practices. They discussed their films, storyboards and production photos, which left the audience of animation enthusiasts, students and experts alike far more knowledgeable about their work. Each presentation was followed by extensive and thought provoking Q&A session.

A personal favourite was the inspiring and charming master class by Mikey Please, in which he discussed his work methods, showing animatics and personal photos that inspired his BAFTA winning film The Eagleman Stag. We were also given the amazing opportunity to see the rough cut of his new film Marilyn Myller, which received great accolades from the audience - a brilliant film from this amazing talent.

There was also a range of activities for the younger audience in the Imaginarium, which celebrated retro games (perhaps to coincide with Disney's Wreck-It-Ralph) but also offered workshops in stop-motion, storyboarding and much more, helping to make sense of the key principles of animation that will hopefully inspire the next generation of animators.

And that's not all: from 11.00pm to 4.00am, this jam-packed festival offered an Electro-animated night, with electronic music, digital art, dancing and drinking. This energetic atmosphere allowed for much socialising and many discussions within the stimulating surroundings.

Screenings galore

As well as the Pixar films and each of the guest animators' screenings there was also the Best of School screening, which showcased a selection of European best student films including the National Film and Television School's Head over Heels and MOME's Dipendenza. Throughout the rest of the festival there were screenings from each school who entered the Marathons, all demonstrating diversity in style, influence/inspiration and teaching practices. Many contacts and friendships were made during and after these screenings.

There was a full audience for the closing night, which offered a fantastic selection of short films from top French directors including Amelie Harrault's Mademoiselle KIKI et les montparnos and Bruno Collet's Son Indochine. Michaela Pavlatova created a huge amount of laughter with the sensual short film Tram. The festival was brought to a close with the premiere screening of the Marathon challenge film (right), the end result a melting pot of creative styles and ideas, often comical and surprising - but each stint individually stunning. Every student represented their country with pride, and left inspired and ready to take on new work or continue their current course with greater vitality.

Fete De L'anim had a distinctly student vibe to it, making it a great place for young animators to cut their teeth in the animation community. It also offered the guests, tutors and public a great opportunity to see new talent emerging.

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