Santiago Echeverry appreciates a good cartoon. And not just because he's made a career teaching about them.
"I adore Bluey," Echeverry said, "and I have a husky, so I just watch it, and it's just one of the most amazing things."
Echeverry is a professor of film, animation and new media at the University of Tampa, and he's one of the organizers of this weekend's Tampa Animation Festival.
It will showcase lots of different styles, along with experts who will explain how they bring it all together.
While film production digital media are major focuses of Echeverry's curriculum, he has a special affinity for animation.
"I love animated series, and why? Because it lets me understand what my students are going to be educated on, or the culture that they grew up watching," Echeverry said. "And so when I'm able to talk about Pokemon, when I'm able to talk about Dragon Ball Z, and I tell them I actually was late for class because I was watching Dragon Ball Z, because the battle scenes never end when I need to have an element of a common ground with my students, and that's exactly what I do."
The festival, at UTampa, will feature more than 140 films from 38 countries in a variety of formats.
Echeverry said the region's talent level in film production makes the Tampa area a perfect location to host the festival.
"We have two very strong film schools in Tampa — USF and the University of Tampa," said Echeverry, who has produced more than 90 peer-reviewed short films. "We're just 60 minutes away from UCF, which is the center for animation in Florida, and we know that there's a need to see worldwide animation, so that's why it's important to bring those animations, to bring the world to Tampa."
Echeverry said programs Saturday and Sunday are dedicated specifically to Florida students and films.
And you attend, he warns: You might want to "bring Kleenex."
"I cried for 30 minutes after watching 'Heart Hug' 30 minutes," Echeverry said of the Israeli film. "I'm a 55-year-old grown up man, and I cried for 30 minutes, and I still cry thinking about it, because it's such a beautiful piece. And it's so touching, and it shows the reality of the people living right now in Ukraine under the Russian attack."
The festival is free at the University of Tampa and runs Thursday through Sunday, when they announce the best animations of the year. Thursday through Sunday. More details can be found here.
This story first appeared on The Bay Blend podcast.
