Manchester Animation Festival (MAF), the UK’s largest animation festival, has today revealed additional details of its programme for 2021. Returning for its seventh year as a hybrid event in November, the festival will offer audiences an opportunity to access the world’s greatest animated content both in person and online.

Highlight events of the latest programme announcement include a special 20th anniversary screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli masterpiece Spirited Away, a live Q&A with the director of critically acclaimed animated documentary Flee voiced by Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and a selection of Greek language animation curated by Co-Founder and Festival director at ANIMASYROS International Animation Festival, Maria Anestopoulou.

JURY MEMBERS

The Jury for the first Manchester Animation Festival Feature Film Category includes

Mikey Please (Robin Robin, 2021), Claus Toksvig Kjaer (Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary, 2020) and Nikki Baughan (Contributing Editor at Screen International) who

are now confirmed to adjudicate together. The jury will combine their respective industry experience to name the first ever winner of the Feature Film category at Manchester Animation Festival.

The returning Short Film Category Jury will include Dan Ojari (Robin Robin, 2021), Maria Anestopoulou; Co-Founder and Festival Director at ANIMASYROS International Animation Festival, and Kirsten Howard; News & Features Editor at Den of Geek.

The Jury for the Industry Excellence Awards will feature Kevin Spruce (Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014), Mark Oswin (Danger Mouse, 2015), Althea Aseoche (101 Dalmatian Street, 2019) and Kenneth Anderson (The Illusionist, 2010). The newly announced nominees can be found below.

INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

The Manchester Animation Festival is delighted to announce this year’s Industry Excellence Award Nominees across four categories; Character Animation, Character Design, Scriptwriting, and Storyboarding.

In the Character Animation category, the nominees are: Ben Keohane for Fourth Wall Animation’s Milo, Philip Ward for Obki, Aman Gupta for BirdBox and Susan Guy for Squib: When All of This is Over.

In the Character Design category, the nominees are: Greg McLeod for animated series Circle Square, Mark Pyper for 80’s inspired The Retro Squad, George Crosbie for Milo and Daniel Amar for Sunrise.

In the Scriptwriting category, the nominees are: Alan Robinson for School of Roars, Sophie Dutton for Hey Duggee: The Pet Badge, Alex Collier for It’s Pony – Locked Out and Ciaran Murtagh & Andrew Barnett Jones for The Rubbish World of Dave Sput.

In the final category, the Storyboarding nominees are: Arly Jones for Absolute Love, Jonathan Mortimer for New Signs for Animation, Justin Quinlan for Lisey’s Story and Graeme Young for It’s Pony.

The winners of the Industry Excellence Awards will be announced alongside the Film Competition at the MAF Awards on Thu 25 Nov at 20:00

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE PROGRAMME

CONTEMPORARY GREEK ANIMATED CLASSICS, PRESENTED BY ANIMASYROS INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL

Shining the spotlight on Greece at this year’s Manchester Animation Festival, the programme will include a specially curated selection of Greek language animated films presented by ANIMASYROS International Animation Festival. The selection made by Maria Anestopoulou will include a variety of contemporary Greek animation classics from the last decade including stop motion film directed by Effie Pappa My Stuffed Granny (2014), Fokion Xenos’ The Lazy Dragon (2020) and Dimitris Armenakis’All You Can Eat (2019)

WORK IN PROGRESS: THE CHARACTER OF RAIN, WITH DIRECTOR LIANE-CHO HAN (VIRTUAL)

Delegates at this year’s Manchester Animation Festival will have the rare opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes look at the forthcoming feature film The Character of Rain, with a special discussion from the film’s director Liane-Cho Han. Sharing the story of Amélie, a 2-and-a-half-year-old Belgian girl, born in Japan, who thinks that she is God, the film is realised in sublime 2D animation and is set to be released in 2024.

Liane-Cho Han is a french animator and storyboarder who has worked on titles such as Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods, The Little Prince and Long Way Nowhere.

FLEE LIVE Q&A WITH JONAS PHER RASMUSSEN (VIRTUAL)

Danish/French film director Jonas Pher Rasmussen will take part in a virtual Q&A discussing his work on critically acclaimed animated documentary Flee, from Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. After playing at the Sundance, Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, Flee could become the first film to be nominated in animated, documentary and international feature at the Oscars (if selected).

CHARACTER ANIMATION AND STORYBOARDING ROUNDTABLES (VIRTUAL)

As part of Industry Excellence Awards MAF welcomes seasoned experts in the field of Character Animation and Storyboarding for a chat among themselves about their careers in animation. The Character Animation session welcomes Joanna Quinn, Jo Chalkey, Ere Santos and Will Becher for a peek behind the curtain to see what makes Character Animators tick and for Storyboarding Jez Hall, Max Loubaresse, Althea Aseoche, Isadora Morales and Cat Salkeld share the secrets of storyboarding.

IN THE FRAME: IS ANIMATION ACCESSIBLE? (VIRTUAL)

Speakers have now been announced for this virtual discussion around the accessibility of animation. Manchester Animation Festival will welcome Sumita Majumdar (shey/they), Jane Davies and Zione Hong to take part in the discussion. Sumita Majumdar is an autistic arts-expresser, researcher, writer and voice actor offering insight into her imaginative-autistic processing and academic research in Creative Arts & Mental Health at Queen Mary’s University London. As Voice Director and Co-Director for Aardman series Lloyd of the Flies, Jane Davies has over 25 years industry experience. Aspiring animation artist Zione Hong is a pioneer in creating animation work that can be enjoyed by both hearing and deaf children, championing inclusivity through her art.

FAMILY DAY SCREENING: SPIRITED AWAY 20TH ANNIVERSARY SCREENING

Manchester Animation Festival is delighted to include a 20th anniversary screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli masterpiece, Spirited Away. The film joins 10-year-old Chihiro and her parents as they stumble upon a seemingly abandoned amusement park. After her mother and father are turned into giant pigs, Chihiro meets the mysterious Haku, who explains that the park is a resort for supernatural beings who need a break from their time spent in the earthly realm, and that she must work there to free herself and her parents.

Other new events added to the programme include: Life’s A Pitch, pitching panel and one-to-one reviews, In-venue screenings of Best of MAF 2020 Competition titles, Q&As with

Absolute Denial (2021) director Ryan Braund, My Sunny Maad (2021) director Michaela Pavlátová, a live discussion with the director of My Favourite War (2020) Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen and an in-venue and virtual box set of BBC family favourites from CBeebies and CBBC featuring Hey Duggee, Love Monster, Gnasher Unleashed, Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese and more.