Streaming giant Netflix and French school Gobelins L’Ecole d’Image announced a new partnership to offer equal opportunities in animation studies. The Netflix Animation Fellowship will enable one Gobelins graduate each year to work directly with animation experts in Japan developing Netflix original anime titles. The post-graduate program will also help deepen the technical and creative skills of the participant. Claire Matz from France, who started at Gobelins in 2015, has been selected as the first recipient of this new fellowship.
Netflix will offer scholarships for up to ten students a year over four years from Africa to study at Gobelins as part of their Master of Arts in Character Animation and Animated Filmmaking Program. The first recipients of the Character Animation Scholarship Program will be named this September.
Nathalie Berriat, director of Gobelins, said: “We care deeply about helping to promote equal opportunities in the animation industry and we want to ensure that financial constraints don’t act as a brake for students. We’re excited to work with Netflix to support upcoming talent in animation from diverse backgrounds and cultures.”
Melissa Cobb, VP of original animation at Netflix, added: “At Netflix, we are excited to support emerging animation talent in countries like France and Japan, as well as within the African continent. By helping students attend a world-famous institution such as Gobelins, we hope to contribute to the growth of their careers and increase diversity across the industry.”
“We want to give talented young animators from around the world an opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture of Japanese anime and contribute their skill and passion to this globally beloved art form,” said John Derderian, who oversees Netflix’s anime programming efforts out of Japan. “Claire Matz is the trailblazer for this initiative and we look forward to her collaboration with the extraordinary teams of animators and artists working in Japan on our upcoming slate of Netflix originals.”
Netflix also joined imagineNATIVE, The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) and Wapikoni Mobile to reveal a number of partnership programs that aim to develop the next generation of Indigenous creators across Canada. These programs range from screenwriting intensives to apprenticeship programs, joining the 11 existing partnership programs Netflix has funded to nurture the next generation of Canadian creators from underrepresented communities.
Source: World Screen
