Asian Animation Summit (AAS) is the latest industry event to cancel its in-person plans this year and pivot to become a virtual experience. AAS 2020 will be held as an online event from November 16 to December 4 due to travel restrictions and health & safety issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

AAS is designed to showcase Asia-Pacific’s strongest animation projects on the hunt for investors and financing. The event has previously been held in Seoul, South Korea and Brisbane, Australia, among other locations in the region.

This year, event delegates will be able to watch in real time as projects are presented to a panel of kids programming buyers, who will ask questions and provide feedback in a live webinar format.

Project presentations will be scheduled in morning and late evening time slots (EST) over a three-week period. To accommodate time zones and scheduling conflicts, the sessions will also be recorded and made available online to registered delegates for two weeks. Registration for the virtual event is now open.

Roughly half of the projects that have debuted at AAS over the past nine years have since gone into production, including Bluey (2016), Bottersnikes & Gumbles (2012), Kuu Kuu Harajuku (2013) and Balloon Barnyard (2014). Last year’s event featured 25 animated projects from Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand and Indonesia.

This year’s event was set to take place in Bali after Kidscreen and BEKRAF Indonesia Agency for Creative Economy finalized an agreement to host AAS in Indonesia for two years. Kidscreen intends for AAS to return to a live event format in Bali in 2021 and 2022.

AAS is the most recent industry event to go fully digital in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, joining the likes of BLE, MIPTV and Annecy. Kidscreen‘s full list of postponed and cancelled kids industry events is available online.