The state of the "industry" in Venezuela

I thought it would be nice if I wrote a couple of lines about the animation business here in my country, so hopefully people in other places can have a better idea about what challenges we face and the work that is being done.

The harsh reality is that there currently is no animation industry in Venezuela. 

Let me elaborate a bit. 

There are very few initiatives for the production of 3D content as the education sector does not contemplate teaching 3D or 2D animation, and the economic reality is that the costs of the licences for the programs (not to say entire studios) is exaggeratedly high according to our exchange rate for currencies. Only a few institutes offer training in animation software (3dsmax, Maya, Cinema4D) but the craft is not taught, only software skills; and we all know how bad that is if your intention is to create real art. Nevertheless, the web brought to our hands the whole world of information, and it serves as our primary source of training and animation related news feed. Here, 3D animation is only synonymous with advertising and architectural visualization, and in order to change that we have to boost the production of 3D features and short films to promote the art form. Speaking of features, there hasn't been a single 3D full lenght production finished in the country yet. Argentina and Brazil have an advantage in that regard, as they have many top quality festival entry level productions, as well as the argentinian animated film to be released this year, Metegol.





 Also noticeable in the field of visual effects is the 2009 Argentine crime thriller film El secreto de sus ojos (The secret in their eyes), directed by Juan José Campanella. The picture won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards. At http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/el_secreto_de_sus_ojos we can find an excelent production focus article of the movie.

However, in Venezuela there are very good initiatives, together with the financial support of the government we are starting to develop productions that meet really good standards. As an example we have the company Zootropo Producciones who is working on a government funded 3D feature film called Kaporito the Guardian of the Mountain, and the company Stuff3d Animation, of which I proudly belong, who made the short film Sin Salida (No Way Out) and is currently in production of our second short film, aimed to improve on our skills and gradually help build an industry with the quality we deserve in Latin America.




About the role of women

Given the "novelty" status of the animation craft here and the huge availability of related web resources there is a limitless playing field for both men and women to rise as influencial actors in the construction of an actual Animation Industry, and it shows as the number of women working in the production companies easily equals the amount of men, as you can see in my particular case: http://www.stuff3danimation.com/en/our-team/. The founder and current director of Zootropo Producciones is also a lady, Mrs. Viveca Baiz!

The possibilities are ours to seize and I can say that these are exciting times for thriving artists to show their skills and represent our country in the field of animation. Let's show what we are capable of.