Animation sensation

Inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead festival, Coco crushed Pixar Animation's previous box-office records to become the studio's top-grossing movie in China.

The animated biography examining Vincent van Gogh's complex life and his unusual death, Loving Vincent, was nominated for best animated feature both at the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards this year.

Blade Runner 2049, an acclaimed sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi masterpiece, won the best cinematography award at the year's Oscars. The movie's visual effects creator Mike Stillwell will also be attending the festival, according to Zhu Xiaoting, an international liaison officer with the festival's exhibition office.

She says the filmmakers will share their experience in master classes on April 27 and 28, and the two animators behind Loving Vincent will create a painting of 4 meters long by 2 meters wide for local people.

Hiroyuki Ito, the creator of Japan's digital pop idol Hatsune Miku and chief executive officer of Crypton Future Media will also join the festival.

A barometer of the festival's popularity, the Golden Monkey King Award－the festival's top honor－has so far received more than 600 submissions, including the Irish animated hit The Breadwinner, which was nominated for best animated feature at this year's Oscars, and the Chinese blockbuster Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink, which grossed more than 600 million yuan earlier this year.

For domestic animation producers, the Hangzhou festival is also a good platform to meet with overseas industry players.