Cardiff Animation Festival Announces Full Programme

Cardiff Animation Festival (CAF) have announced their full daily schedule, and added special events including a screening of Wes Anderson’s eagerly awaited new animated feature film, Isle of Dogs, with a chance to hear from selected crew members in an exclusive Q&A.

Early Bird passes to the festival have sold out, full-price Festival Passes are still available and individual tickets are on sale from today. The full schedule is available at cardiffanimation.com

Passes for the Industry Day are available, which promises to be a highly useful day for professionals, career starters and people looking to break into the animation industry. Sessions will include Afternoon Tea with the Children’s Commissioners, giving delegates the rare opportunity to learn how to pitch to TV networks and how to market independent short-form content, as well as a chance to sign up for a one-to-one session with the commissioners themselves and a host of other professionals. The Industry Day will kick off with a keynote from Bob Ayres, the head of TrueTube, which received a record-breaking seven awards nominations at the most recent BAFTA Children's Awards. Panels also include a talk on Licensing and Distribution, featuring speakers such as Alison Taylor (Aardman Rights) and Helen Howells (HoHo Entertainment). There will be plenty of chances for attendees to network and discuss the day’s events.

On Friday night CAF will celebrate new Welsh stop-motion animated feature Chuck Steel: Night Of The Trampires. Director Mike Mort, Art Director Bridget Phelan, Executive Producer Randhir Singh and animator Laura Tofarides will give audiences a look behind the scenes, and a chance to see an exclusive never-before-screened clip of the film. There will also be a four-day exhibition of the film’s exquisitely crafted sets, props and puppets.

Cartoon Saloon’s Mark Mullery will hold a masterclass, treating audiences to behind the scenes of Oscar-nominated feature film The Breadwinner, a stunning animated drama about a little girl living under Taliban rule. The film will also be screened ahead of its UK release.

Captain Morten and the Spider Queen is a recently completed, stop-motion European co-production, bringing the Irish stop-motion talent of Telegael together with the Estonian studio Nukufilm and the Belgium based Grid VFX. The film is yet to be released, however Co-Director Henry Nicholson joins us, along with head of puppets Emily Nicholson and Producer Robin Lyons, to talk us through how they navigated such an epic project across the continent, to build the heart-warming adventure of the imaginative Morten.

The Jury, tasked with selecting the winners of the animation programme from the 99 films in competition, will be independent director Rhiannon Evans (Heartstrings, Fulfilament), Manchester Animation Festival producer Jen Hall, author and Skwigly Animation Magazine Managing Director Ben Mitchell, Aardman animation director Will Becher, and independent producer, Director of Animation UK and newly-appointed director of the British Animation Awards, Helen Brunsdon.

Internationally-renowned artist Jac Saorsa will lead a Life Drawing for Animators workshop. Well known for her infectious knowledge of anatomy, this workshop is tailored to hone drawing skills crucial to animation. Suitable for animators, students, hobbyists and anyone looking to develop their drawing skills for animation.

Cardiff Animation Festival 2018 is sponsored by Animortal Studio, Cloth Cat Animation, University of South Wales, Beryl Productions, Jammy Custard Animation, British Council and Creative Europe Desk UK – Wales. The festival is funded by the BFI, BFI NETWORK and Ffilm Cymru Wales, and is held in partnership with Chapter, BAFTA Cymru and Curzon. CAF is part of ‘Anim18: A Celebration of British Animation’, taking place across the UK from April to November 2018. Anim18 is led by Film Hub Wales, Chapter (Cardiff) working with the BFI Film Audience Network, which is supported by the BFI with National Lottery funding to bring a diverse range of cinema to audiences across the UK. For Anim18 activities and events across the UK in 2018 visit www.Anim18.co.uk.

Cardiff Animation Festival 2018 will run from Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd April at Chapter, an independent arts hub and cinema space in the heart of Cardiff, as well as other Cardiff venues. Tickets, Festival Passes and Industry Day Passes are on sale now at cardiffanimation.com. Follow Cardiff Animation Festival on Twitter for more updates as they are released.