The “SAF On The Road to China” project, financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia and the City of Vranje, was realized in the period from April 19 to 27. The four-member ŠAF team presented their work over the course of 9 days, held a screening of films from their production, held an animated film workshop with children from the international school “Beijing World Youth Academy” and presented the City of Vranje at the Cultural Center of Serbia “Ivo Andrić” in Beijing. The response to the presentation and screening was great and the audience consisted mainly of members of the professional public, that is, fellow animators and animation fans.
In addition to the aforementioned activities at the Cultural Center of Serbia, this team also had a meeting with representatives of the Chinese ASIFA led by Jonchil Lee, vice president of ASIFA. The meeting was very productive, experiences were exchanged, we visited their studio and agreed on new future collaborations. The interest of our colleagues in SAF and their impression of our methodology of working with children confirmed to us that we are still on the right path when it comes to children’s animated films.
We owe a great debt of gratitude to the Cultural Center of Serbia in Beijing, led by Mrs. Tatjana Soldat, director of the Cultural Center, who provided us with great help in the realization of this project, as well as to the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Beijing, which facilitated our stay in this large and fast but incredibly beautiful the city.
We are extremely proud, satisfied and happy that we had the opportunity to realize such a project and present our cultural institution, our city and our country in a country with such a culture and tradition as China.
