The wonderful world of Animex

Animex, our annual international festival of animation and computer games, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.

The festival runs from Monday 2 February to Friday 6 February, and this year's event has a big Disney focus, climaxing on the Friday with a special 'Disney day'.

Disney highlights during Animex 2009 include:

• A gala 3D screening of Disney's latest film Bolt, again at the Cineworld, on Friday 6 February at 6.00pm. This screening is open to the general public and will be introduced by Mark Empey, the film's Computer Graphics supervisor. Bolt is the first film released since Disney acquired Pixar and will be networked across the UK following the gala screening.
• A Cineworld screening of the film, The Hand That Drew the Mouse, exploring the life of Ub Iwerks, a friend and long time collaborator of Walt Disney and the man responsible for the creation of Mickey Mouse. The film was produced by Lesley Iwerks.
• A talk by Charles Solomon, a Disney historian.

Chris Williams, Animex Director, said: 'We're hoping that our tenth anniversary will live up to previous years. The line-up we've managed to secure in terms of speakers, films and other events should provide our growing audience with many things to see and do.'

However, the tenth Animex doesn't just focus on Disney. Dave Sproxton, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Aardman Animations Ltd, will be interviewed on stage at the Cineworld on the evening of Wednesday 4 February. Aardman's most famous achievement is the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit series. Their most recent film, A Matter of Loaf and Death, was the most viewed programme on Christmas Day with over 14 million viewers.

Wallace and Gromit
Dave Sproxton's talk is part of Animex After Dark, an opportunity for the people of Teesside to gain a more light hearted view of the festival and its contributors.

In addition, one Teesside graduate who is now a major player in the animation world will return to his old University to share his expertise. Andy Lomas, Head of Computer Graphics at Framestore CFC, will be returning to speak at Animex. Andy is another CAGTA graduate and University of Teesside Honorary Graduate, who spoke at the first Animex in 2000. This time he will describe his work on The Tale of Despereaux, Framestore's first fully animated feature film.

For more information on Animex go to the web site at www.animex.net, call 01642 342631 or email info@animex.net

---