Friends of the CICAF from all walks of life sent their best wishes to it.
By Zhuo Shuchang
The China International Cartoon & Animation Festival (CICAF) held a birthday party for its mascot LeLe and the Festival on June 1st.
Started in Hangzhou 18 years ago, the CICAF has helped to form friendships around the globe, uniting cartoon and anime fans alike across cities and continents. As the CICAF turns 18 this year, fans and friends of it have sent in greetings and wishes in videos and speeches, in which these past attendees recall their best memories at the festival and look forward to the exciting and fantastic events ahead. Local students who have just turned 18, along with the CICAF fans from over 60 regions and countries celebrate their coming of the age as they proudly declare the slogan of this year's event: "We Are All 18".
Some institutes, including InTime, Starbucks, NetEase Lofter, and E-Sports cheerleaders took part in the newly announced campaign of"Never-Say-Goodbye CICAF" The campaign aims to further solidify the principle of the CICAF, namely, to "Become an animation carnival and people's festival". Voice actors dubbed some famous cartoons and animations clips while cosplayers played their favorite characters through posing and dancing.
When the CICAF debuted 18 years ago, Hangzhou, the host city had neither original cartoons nor related industry of any significant size. It has since led the way for original Chinese cartoons and managed to attract popular Chinese cartoonists and animators to settle in Hangzhou. Among others, major companies such as Tencent, NetEase and Perfect World have started the business here. The size of the industry has boomed to 32 billion RMB this year.
It is more likely that the 18th CICAF is to kick off this November with many goals planned such as specialization, internationalization, industrialization, branding and market-orientation. For now, LeLe and the city of Hangzhou will be busy preparing for your arrival at the Whitehorse Lake.