Lina Younes, founder of Animate Dubai, on what to expect from the region’s first animation festival

Dubai is preparing to host the region’s first animation festival at d3, Dubai Design District, from December 3 to 5. Animate Dubai is the brainchild of The Animation Chamber, a grassroots organisation and the UAE’s first stop-motion collective and educational initiative that organises workshops, animations, panels and creates tailored programmes for universities, schools and art centres.

Lina Younes, the founder of Animate Dubai and Chamber, explains why the festival, which was to be held in spring 2015, was delayed: “We wanted it to be right and we felt we were pushing too hard to do it too soon. We know better now. We’ll now do it in better weather, closer to Dubai International Film Festival, which is perfect for people to do both, and there are a lot of practical advantages, too.”

The first of these, says Younes, is the space.

“Animate Dubai will be held at Dubai Design District, and we’ll be taking over a huge space for outdoor screenings, indoor screenings, workshops and panels and a film market, so visitors will be able to see every aspect of the industry. d3 was where I always wanted to do it, so it’s been great to achieve that.”

Original article by Chris Newbould

Continue reading at The National:

Lina Younes, founder of Animate Dubai, on what to expect from the region’s first animation festival