Animex festival attracts big names to Tees Valley

Middlesbrough will be once again be transformed into an animated town, during the eighth Animex International Festival of Animation & Computer Games, taking place from Monday 5 February to Friday 9 February. Staged by the University of Teesside, the festival celebrates creativity in animation and computer games with animators, directors, students, artists, designers, writers and educators.

The university has developed a range of highly regarded courses in these areas, and Animex gives students and professionals from around the world, as well as the North East, the chance to learn from the very best in the business.

During the week there are talks, presentations, workshops and screenings. On Friday February 9, internationally-respected animator, and Teesside graduate, Andy Lomas will return to Middlesbrough, as one of the festival’s keynote speakers. Andy graduated from the University’s MSc Computer Aided Graphical Technology Applications degree in 1992 and went on to become a key member of staff at Framestore CFC, the special effects company behind the hit television series Walking with Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Park.

Andy went on to work at top Hollywood studios including Dreamworks but has recently returned to the UK as head of Computer Graphics at Framestore CFC. He will talk about his work and his other career in digital art - the university has purchased six of his sought-after works to stage a permanent exhibition. Andy was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts degree from the University in 2004.

Festival director Chris Williams said: “Animex is a place where people from across the world come to meet and share their thoughts and knowledge in a friendly, social environment. Whether they are an industry heavyweight, a freelancing artist, a new company, a student or even if they are just interested in animation or computer games, Animex is seen as the place to be at this time of year. It also enhances the reputation of the university and the wider Tees Valley as a place where these disciplines are being embraced and developed.”

Other speakers include:

• Thursday February 8, Karen deJong, Assistant Art Director at Disney Feature Animation in California. Karen will illustrate her talk with examples from Meet the Robinsons, Disney’s latest feature, currently in production.
• Also speaking on the Thursday, Hans Rijpkema, who will explain how animation can make for natural movement, drawing on movies including Night at the Museum and Superman Returns.
• Friday 9, Bob the Builder creator Curtis Jobling, will describe how an idea goes from concept to screen.
• Also on the Friday, independent producer Claire Jennings will talk about her role as a producer on films such as the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Ensuring that the wider public can enjoy the event, Animex will also take to the streets as walls, windows and monitors all over Middlesbrough become temporary screens for animated works from around the globe. Screenings at the University on Wednesday are also open for all and special screenings will be held for children throughout the week at Cineworld in Middlesbrough.

This year’s festival also sees the Animex Awards Ceremony get the red carpet treatment. The ceremony will recognise student talent from around the world and awards will be presented to the winners on Thursday evening at Cineworld in what promises to be Teesside’s very own version of the Oscars.

One of the other events is run by games specialists GameHorizon, one of the festival sponsors. Game Academy will give North-East university students, graduates or those involved in start-up companies the chance to pitch their ideas to games industry veterans. The competition will be held in at the university on Wednesday February 7.

To find out more about Animex visit www.animex.net
Chris Williams can be contacted on (01642) 342638 or c.williams@tees.ac.uk

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