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Frédérique Vinel, who has more than 20 years of experience in television and since 2018 is concentrated in helping young specialists to develop their animation ideas, has recently been to Yerevan. Vinel was here in the frames of ReA festival, and she managed to meet some Armenian specialists and watch their products. The producer from Paris says she was very impressed by Yerevan, which she finds very inspiring, and also by the projects she managed to watch here. In her interview with NEWS.am STYLE, Vinel talks about her first visit to Armenia and the colorful world of animation, which has captured her since her childhood.

Mrs. Vinel, you have  met some Armenian producers here in Yerevan. What are your impressions on the whole?

Altogether I saw close to 20 Armenian projects, majority productions or coproductions with other countries, and I was very excited. We saw very different projects in terms of animation technique, in terms of duration, in terms of target audiences. It all looked very creative and very professional. A lot of content was about your national history, we heard a lot of very moving stories and also references to the past that were quite moving. I hope there would be more opportunities to meet Armenian producers.

What was your first impression about Yerevan?

It is my first time here and I was happy to take walks in Yerevan. My first impression about the city was “wow”. First we are blessed with the weather. The light here is absolutely astonishing. People are very friendly, it’s very safe. I was walking on my own at night in the streets and I was feeling very comfortable; lots of music all around me, and people even dancing in the streets. I loved that! It’s very beautiful here and I would like to come once more with my family and spend more time in Yerevan and see also the rest of the country. I was looking at the Mount Ararat from the top of the Cascade and that was beautiful!

Today you had an opportunity of meeting young Armenian people, who are interested in animation stories. What’s your main advice to those who are interested in creating cartoons? What’s the first step for them?

Don’t give up! If you go to investors and they start saying, “It’s not quite  that”, or “I like it, but it’s not for me”… Never give up!

You have started your career more than 20 years ago, but at first it was television, before you started your career in animation business. How did that world capture you?

Honestly, it was always there. As a child I used to read a lot of comic books and I loved animation, and as a young adult it never stopped. I watched a lot of animation films in theaters and I knew I wanted to work somewhere that is related to images and that’s what I did. So, I started with television, and then, when I discovered animation and saw the animation business, of course, that was put on the first side, because everything from my childhood came to me…

Some people think cartoons are created mostly for kids. Is this a stereotype?

It is! If you go to big festivals, they have dramas, comedies and then they have animation. Animation is also a drama or comedy. It can be for kids, but can be also for teenagers, for young adults and adults. If you give a right content to right people, you can talk with everybody!

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