Ms. Cécile Blondel, director of International Relations at Gobelins, gave a master lecture at the 2016 KuanDu International Animation Festival (KDIAF), during which more than 30 works by Gobelins students from 1997 to 2015 were also shown.

Ms. Blondel said during the lecture that Gobelins was founded in Paris more than 50 years ago, the first vocational school devoted to the visual arts, with an aim to turn animation into an industry. 

All of the teachers at Gobelins have experiences working in the animation industry, and the students’ employment rate after graduation is high, with many of them entering famous animation firms in France. Many others have also joined the international animation industry by being employed by Disney, Pixar and Dreams Factory.

The three-year training program at Gobelins gives a heavy emphasis on hand-drawing, but students also get to learn to use digital tools.

There are exchange programs for students and teachers with other animations schools in Europe. 

Since 2002, Gobelins has been working with the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, letting the school’s students to create a short introductory film for the festival every year.

Ms. Blondel said France is the third biggest animation market, trailing only the United State and Japan. From 2006 to 2015, France produced seven animation feature films every year, and each of them needed a production budget of more than six million euros.

She said animation is an international language and cross-country cooperation is an unavoidable trend.