I have written about the Art Institute at Bournemouth and their exceptional animation program before. Peter Parr, Reader in Animation and his colleagues consistently produce award winning students who find good places in the animation industry when they graduate. Peter and his colleagues have plenty to be proud of this year.
Graduates Geoff King and Beth Witchells took home multiple honors for The Great Race, winning The Royal Television Society Award and a £500 award at Animated Exeter. Richard Williams presented them with his DVD Animator’s Survival Kit as their award at Animated Encounters.
Fish by Dennis Constantinou and Chara Sottou picked up the Best Student 2D Animation Award at Animex and was also a Royal Television Award nominee. IO, created by Alex Wad, Robert Nelson, and James Swindells was also nominated for the Royal Television Society Awards where it was gained a Special Jury Mention.
It was an especially noteworthy year for the Art Institute with renowned screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy, an Arts Institute graduate, winning an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Slumdog Millionaire. He also took home the Best Screenplay Award at BAFTA, London; a Golden Globe, and the Critics Choice Award.
Simon graduated from the Film course at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth in 1991 where he produced Release, a half-hour drama which premiered on BBC2 and won five international awards. He later went on to write the screenplay for the award winning film The Full Monty.
I leave for MONSTRA Animation in Festival in Lisbon on Sunday and I look forward to seeing Aerius, Fish, and Journey Out. All three have been selected for the Student Competition at the festival. Congratulations not only to the award winners but to all of the students and faculty of The Art Institute at Bournemouth for a job well done.
