Teesside hosts an international celebration of animation

Middlesbrough will become a truly animated town, with the launch of the fifth international festival of animation, Animex, from Monday 26 January-Friday 30 January. The annual festival, which is organised by the University of Teesside, will include international guest speakers from the world of animation, competitions for aspiring animators and striking images displayed on the streets of Middlesbrough.

Highlights of this year’s festival include:

ANIMEX GAME - on Tuesday 27 January, a whole day will be devoted to computer games art, design and animation. It’s the first time this event has been included in the festival, and will take place at Middlesbrough Football Club’s Riverside Stadium. Ernest W. Adams, games industry veteran and renowned author of books on computer games is also part of the line-up.

ANIMEX TALK! - the festival’s main event, from Thursday 29 January-Friday 30 January includes presentations from some of the world’s leading animators.

This year’s main speakers are:

Dr Stuart Sumida, Professor of Biology at California State University in San Bernardino, who provided advice on the movement and physiology of animals on a range of animated films, including Beauty & the Beast, The Lion King, Hercules, Mulan and Scooby Doo. He speaks on Thursday 29 January at 4pm.

Mark Walsh, Directing Animator of the internationally successful animated film, Finding Nemo. Mark Walsh also worked on A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. before turning his talents to Finding Nemo, the latest Disney Pixar animated movie. Mark will speak at 4pm on Friday 30 January. Both talks will be held in the University’s Europa Building, Woodlands Road, Middlesbrough.

MEDIA CALLS

There will be an opportunity to photograph / interview Dr Stuart Sumida on Thursday 29 January from 2-3pm, Room OL2, Europa Building, Woodlands Road, Middlesbrough.

There will also be an opportunity to photograph / interview Mark Walsh on Friday 30 January from 9.30am-10.30am, Old Board Room, Middlesbrough Tower.

Please call Stephen Laing or Mark Malik on 01642 342015, e-mail pr@tees.ac.uk for more details about either of these media opportunities.

Another speaker at Animex Talk! is Tom Martinek, a Computer Graphics Supervisor with Industrial Light & Magic, the company created by George Lucas, of Star Wars fame. Tom’s numerous film credits include the role of Senior Technical Director on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and he is currently Computer Graphics Supervisor on Mask 2, starring Scottish actor Alan Cumming. Tom will speak from 2-3.30pm on Friday 30 January.

ANIMEX STREET on 29-30 January, takes the festival out on to the streets of Middlesbrough, with animated projections on the side of Middlesbrough’s prominent buildings. These include James Cook University Hospital, Captain Cook Museum, and clubs in and around the Cleveland Centre. Images will also be projected at Middlesbrough Football Club’s Riverside Stadium, before the kick-off of the Middlesbrough v Arsenal match on 28 January.

ANIMEX STUDENT ANIMATION AWARDS - the winners of the very first Animex Student Animation Awards will be unveiled during ANIMEX Talk! on Friday 30 January at 1pm. The international competition has attracted 350 entries representing 24 countries from around the world

Shelley Page - European Representative for Feature Animation from the film company Dreamworks will announce the winners. Screenings will take place at Arc in Stockton and the complete winners reel and announcement of the Audience Award will take place at the BALTIC, International Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead on Saturday 31st January starting at 2.30pm. For further information together with a full listing of all the films selected in this year’s ANIMEX Student Animation Awards please visit www.animex.net/awards

Chris Williams, Animex Festival Director and Principal Lecturer in Animation at the University of Teesside said: “Animex is now becoming an event that can truly boast an international audience as well as a world class, international line up of speakers and participants. We have delegates from as far a field as Australia, the USA as well as continental Europe. We are now in our fifth year and are continuing to grow, adding new events and widening participation to include as many people as we possibly can."

Tickets to attend both Animex Game and Animex Talk! are £70 for the waged and £40 for students and the unwaged. Booking and other details are available via the web at www.animex.net, e-mail: info@animex.net, phone 01642 342638, or fax 01642 342691.

The Animex student animation awards would like to thank its sponsors: Adobe, Alias, Apple, Chroma-colour, Corel, discreet, ENCAD, Inc., Focal Press, iomega , macromedia , Maxon, nvidia, Pixelution, toonboom and viglen.

Animex thanks its sponsors for their support: Arc, Baltic, Click Here, Codeworks, Codeworks Connect, Corel, Creative Partnerships from The Arts Council of England, Gisborough Hall Hotel, Middlesbrough Council, Middlesbrough Partnership, Northern Film and Media, nvidia, Onyx Internet, ONE NorthEast, Qurios Entertainment, Subtv, UGC Cinemas, UK Film Council, United International Pictures, The Verb Garden.

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