Cartoon, comic and animation convention at SM
MANILA, Philippines - Some of the country’s top cartoonists and their foreign counterparts gathered together for the opening of the first Philippine International Cartoons, Comics, and Animation (PICCA) Festival at SM Megamall.
The four-day event featured an exhibit, a free comic workshop for students, as well as fundraising caricature sessions by the Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas (SKP) for the benefit of typhoon Ondoy victims.
John Lent author of The First One Hundred Years of Philippine Komiks and Cartoons, expatriate Filipino cartoonists Edd Aragon and Dengcoy Miel — who work for the Sydney Morning Herald and Singapore Straits Times, respectively — were the guests of honor. Also present were Mimbi Eloriaga, Barry Jose, Lito Yonzon and Jun Aquino.
One of the highlights of the festival was a tribute to some of the country’s pioneering cartoonists, who have become legends in their own right. These include Francisco Coching, Mars Ravelo, Nestor Redondo, Alfredo Alcala, Pablo Gomez, Larry Alcala, and Nonoy Marcelo, whose families received their citations.
The event was capped by the launching of John Lent’s book, The First One Hundred Years of Philippine Komiks and Cartoons published by Yonzon Associates.
The PICCA is a newly formed non-stock non-profit organization that aims to create awareness about comic creation and animation in the minds of the Filipino youth so they can be inspired by the Filipino’s great talent in these fields. The SKP, meanwhile, is one of the oldest existing formal arts group in the Philippines founded in 1977 by Larry Alcala, Hugo Yonzon, Jr., Roni Santiago, Edd Aragon, Boy Togonon, and Edgar Soller among others.
