The Stoke Your Fires Festival of Animation will return in 2009. This year's animation festival builds on the success of the 2008 event by hosting a month of animation themed events at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.
The festival itself takes place on April 2-3, 2009 and will see professional animators come to Stoke-on-Trent to take part in seminars, lectures and masterclasses to share and develop their understanding of the industry.
The festival also has a major international competition element. Last year saw more than 100 submissions from animators across the globe. The Best Animated Short was awarded to Aardman Animations' THE PEARCE SISTERS which now has more than 35 awards worldwide.
The competition is not limited to professional animators. The 2008 competition saw many pieces of original and engaging work by student animators.
Speakers include Sarah Muller (BBC), Dave King (Animation Director), Sebastian Barker (VFX Specialist), Darren Robbie (Aardman) and Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall (Cosgrove Hall).
The organizers of the 2009 festival would like to invite submissions in the following categories:
Best Animated Short Best Professional Regional Animation "Made in the Midlands" Best Animated Commercial Best International Animation Best In-Game Animation Best Student Animation
See www.stokeyourfires.com for more information about how to submit work to the competition.
