Laika On Board as Sponsor for Armed with a Camera Fellowship and 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Visual Communications (VC) is honored to have outstanding support for our programs, and is exceptionally pleased to welcome prestigious animation studio LAIKA as a sponsor for the ARMED WITH A CAMERA FELLOWSHIP FOR EMERGING ARTISTS (AWC) and the 2017 Edition of the LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL (LAAPFF). LAIKA's visionary support bolsters VC's enduring commitment to nurturing the next generation of Asian American & Pacific Islander media artists, as well as deepening the Festival's impact on our communities. 

LAIKA has garnered three consecutive Oscar® nominations and will fully sponsor the 2016-2017 AWC Fellows on an immersive two-day visit to LAIKA's Portland headquarters and also hold a special masterclass workshop on storytelling through animation during the 2017 LAAPFF. 

"Since 2002, the AWC Fellowship has worked to support and develop significant voices in AAPI artists," said Milton Liu, Director of Programs & Artists Services at Visual Communications. "LAIKA's brand-new sponsorship will not only sharpen AWC's focus on artistic innovation – especially with its unique, cutting-edge expertise on animation – but will also help forge a new path for our Fellows towards a career in the media arts." The call for submissions to the 2016-2017 AWC Fellowship opens on July 18, 2016 and details can be found HERE.

"Visual Communications is tremendously grateful for LAIKA's support of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and its upcoming masterclass workshop next Spring," said Executive Director Francis Cullado. "We fully support their commitment to developing and exhibition storytelling and artistic talents in our AAPI communities, and we look forward to discovering these new works next Spring." 
 
ABOUT LAIKA: LAIKA occupies a unique and distinctive position in American cinema in fusing cutting-edge technology with handmade animation techniques. The eleven-year-old Portland, OR-based studio is also in the vanguard of developing and sharing emotional, innovative and exhilarating stories with audiences. The studio's first feature film was 2009’s Oscar®-nominated CORALINE, followed by the Oscar®- and BAFTA-nominated PARANORMAN (2012) and Oscar®-nominated THE BOXTROLLS (2014). LAIKA's latest film, KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS, will be released in the summer of 2016.