Brazil beefs up animation industry

Make sure to wear stretchy pants. That's just one snippet of friendly advice on conducting business in Brazil from Toronto, Canada-based independent consultant Tanya Kelen. Having recently returned from Rio de Janeiro where she attended AnimaMundi, one of the world's largest animation festivals, Kelen has become somewhat of an expert on Churrascaria, a variety of delicious skewered meats served up via an intriguing restaurant procedure that involves displaying different colored flags. She's also become an astute consultant in setting up kids TV series partnerships with nascent, yet eager prodcos in the country. In short, Brazil has a new appetite, and more importantly an emerging funding infrastructure, to get more long-form animated series off the ground.