Vancouver Film School animation instructor Keith Blackmore thinks it’s significant that the SPARK Animation ’10 Conference and Festival is being held in Vancouver, which is famous as a filmmaking hub but less known for animation.

“I have travelled around to festivals around the world, and Vancouver is one of the centres of animation,” he says by phone. “There’s a reason why Disney opened a studio here in the 1990s and Pixar opened a studio in Gastown [on April 20]. Individuals like David Fine and Alison Snowden [“Bob’s Birthday”], Oscar-winning directors”¦have moved here because of the animation community.”

The event, presented by the Vancouver chapter of the Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics of the Association for Computing Machinery (more commonly known as Vancouver SIGGRAPH), is at the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street) from Wednesday until Sunday (September 8 to 12). It gives viewers a rare opportunity to connect with some of the biggest names in the profession. Now in its third year, SPARK brings together screenings and presentations by the creative minds behind blockbusters like Ratatouille and Toy Story 3.

Festival chair Larry Bafia says by phone, “All the major studios that have been the forerunners for feature animations—Disney, DreamWorks, and Pixar—are being represented in a big way this year.” Bafia explains that the fest brings a “condensed view” of animation conferences taking place worldwide, which is a huge boon for local artists. “One of the mandates for SPARK is not only innovation of technology, but also inspiration of the community.”

And the events this year are made to inspire. Among the presentations are “The Visual Style of How to Train Your Dragon” on Friday (September 10) and “The Evolution of CG Animation” on Saturday (September 11). Movies to watch for include the 10th-anniversary screening of the British stop-motion hit Chicken Run on Thursday (September 9) and the Canadian premiere of Metropia, a dark Swedish sci-fi story about an everyman’s fight against a mind-controlling corporation, on Sunday (September 12). The festival ends on Sunday with Japan’s Paprika, a mesmerizing cult hit with close parallels to Inception.

Bafia notes that some of the presentations are geared to professionals, with technical topics such as the making of computer-generated hair. Others offer film buffs a look at the origins of their favourite characters, such as Spanish Buzz from Toy Story 3.

The festival features two major documentaries about the 2-D animation titan Disney on opening night (September 8): Walt & El Grupo, about Walt Disney’s 1941 trip to South America with a group of his studio artists, and Waking Sleeping Beauty, about Disney animation’s comeback from irrelevance to a golden era that saw the studio churn out hits such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

Blackmore says Walt & El Grupo is a “timepiece” that humanizes Walt Disney. “He [Disney] was like the Steve Jobs of our day, an innovator and inventor,” he says. “He created goodwill between the U.S. and Latin America, and it also gave him the opportunity to make two films, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.”

On the appeal of animation as a medium, Blackmore says, “It’s a gruelling process, but the opportunities that come with it are boundless. You can elevate a small cartoon into a true art form.”

Bafia agrees. “I think we all like to be immersed in fantasy worlds. Whether it’s on a computer or drawings or puppets, there’s something to be said for that quality of handmade work.”