Animators line up for Animex

Animex, Middlesbrough’s international celebration of animation, is organised by the University of Teesside and in its sixth year.

Bill Westonhofer, Visual Effects Supervisor on the forthcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, will be one of the guest speakers on Thursday 3 February. Bill’s previous credits include Elf, Welcome to the Jungle, Stuart Little, Stuart Little 2, Men in Black II and Cats & Dogs.

Media call: Bill Westenhofer will be available for interview and photographs at 11am Thursday 3 February at the University of Teesside, Europa Building, off Woodlands Road, Middlesbrough.

Two of the talented animators behind the Disney presentation of a Pixar film, The Incredibles, will be also be headline speakers at this year’s Animex festival, on Friday 4 February. The Incredibles was one of the most popular films of 2004, and has just been nominated for Best Animated Feature film in this year’s Academy Awards. Animex is offering people the chance to find out more about how the family of superheroes was brought to digital life. Animators Mark Walsh (who was also the directing animator for the Academy Award©-winning Finding Nemo) and Rob Russ (Toy Story 2 and A Bug’s Life) will talk about how the silver screen heroes were created. 

Media call: Mark Walsh and Rob Russ will be available for interviews and photography at 11am Friday 4 February 2005 at the University of Teesside, Europa Building, off Woodlands Road, Middlesbrough.

To arrange an interview or photograph, please contact either Mark Malik or Stephen Laing, at the University of Teesside’s Press & Public Relations Office on 01642 342015 or email: pr@tees.ac.uk

Animex Festival Director Chris Williams said: “This is without doubt the best line-up of speakers we've ever managed to assemble for Animex Talk! Anybody who's interested in animation is in for a huge treat. Some of the festival screenings will be getting their first viewing to a public audience.”

Another big Animex event is the results of the annual Animex Student Animation Awards, and this year’s winners will be the first to receive the new style trophy – the Lemmy. This year’s winners will be announced on Friday 4 February. The Lemmy trophy is based on the lead character from a short animated film Brink created by University of Teesside BA (Hons) Creative Visualisation graduate Fraser Brown.

The competition has received over 450 entries from 28 different countries and includes several different categories including 3D Character Animation Award, Best 3D Computer Animation, Best 2D Computer Animation and Best Experimental Animation.

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