Giant Incandescant Resonating Animation Festival

GIRAF, or the
Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival (est 2005), is an
annual animation festival that runs each November at the Plaza Theatre
in Calgary.  GIRAF celebrates the spirit of independent,
underground, and experimental animation, showcasing Canadian animators
and presenting diverse animations from around the globe. We’ve showcased
the award winning independent work artists including Don Hertzfedlt,
Bruce Bickford, Brandon Bloomaert, Barry Doupe, Cordell Barker, Richard
Reeves, Chad Van Gaalan, Nick Fox-Geig, Amy Lockhart, Stu Hughes, Madi
Piller, and Cam Christiansen, among many others.

GIRAF
is committed to gaining greater awareness for animation as an art form.
Through 5 days of interactive activities: workshops, artist talks,
visiting artists, and animation screenings, our festival showcased over
80 animations in 2010 alone. We focus on presenting works that push
boundaries through the development of new techniques, hybrid forms of
creation, and challenging subject matter, and thus animation that is
rarely seen at other festivals.