Flip Animation Festival
Encyclopedia
FLIP, is an animation festival primarily hosted by the Light House Media Centre
in Wolverhampton
, UK. It is one of two festivals hosted by Light House, the other of which is Deaffest
. Official literature for the festival says that FLIP occurs annually at the beginning of November and attracts submissions from more than 30 countries world wide. As well as screening the selected open submissions, FLIP also consists of special screenings, talks from professionals within the animation world, workshops, industry panels, portfolio reviews and competitions.
. It is part funded by UK Film Council
(National Lottery
) through Screen West Midlands
; Wolverhampton City Council; University of Wolverhampton; Business Link West Midlands and Animation Forum West Midlands
.
! and Andy Pandy
, and the puppet designer Nick Roberson answered questions from the audience. During FLIP 2008, the Light House building was home to large, moving, kinetic sculptures, by London based artist Steve Hutton. As well as this, there was a screening of animated Doctor Who
episodes from the 1960s followed by a talk on Doctor Who animation led by industry experts. 2009 saw a studio spotlight on the Glasgow-based Axis Animation who showcased some of their work and then answered questions from the audience. The other studio spotlight that year was from ArthurCox studios who also presented some of their work and then held a discussion with the audience.
2010's festival hosted a presentation from the creators of the LittleBigPlanet
games, Media Molecule
, as well as a display from Light House Media Centre
's own animator is residence, Drew Roper, including his set for his award winning film 'A History of Denim'.
and one of its core games, Halo 3
. This has then led to it becoming a regular feature at Light House with games such as the Fifa World Cup 2010
game and a Street Fighter
game. ‘Big Screen Gaming’ returned for FLIP 2010 with one of the year's most hotly anticipated releases, Halo: Reach.
Another feature of FLIP Festival is the curated programme hosted by a guest curator from within the animation world. Previous years have been curated by Professor Paul Wells (Director of Animation, Loughborough University) and The Brothers McLeod
whereas 2010 was curated by Clare Kitson, who is a former programmer at the National Film Theatre and between 1989 and 1999, commissioned Channel 4
’s animation.
FLIP also runs competitions for student films, created by current university/college students and, starting in 2010, for animators under the age of 18 years old as well.
The award winners of 2010's festival were:
The award winners for 2009’s Festival were:
The award winners for 2008’s Festival were:
The award winners for 2007’s Festival were:
and there was also a special screening at Artsfest
’10 in Birmingham, UK.
Light House Media Centre
Light House Media Centre, often simply referred to as Light House, is a cinema, gallery and media hub for Wolverhampton and the surrounding area. Light House is located within the historic former Chubb Locks Factory in the city centre...
in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, UK. It is one of two festivals hosted by Light House, the other of which is Deaffest
Deaffest
Deaffest, is the UK’s only Deaf-led film and television festival, which celebrates the talents of Deaf filmmakers and media artists from all over the world. It is hosted by Light House Media Centre in Wolverhampton...
. Official literature for the festival says that FLIP occurs annually at the beginning of November and attracts submissions from more than 30 countries world wide. As well as screening the selected open submissions, FLIP also consists of special screenings, talks from professionals within the animation world, workshops, industry panels, portfolio reviews and competitions.
The Festival
Based in Wolverhampton, the festival began in 2004 and features a range of events from educational workshops for young people to experimental animation for grown ups; from industry led panels to feature film screenings and from international showcases and retrospectives of short films to spotlights on animation studios. FLIP is organised and hosted by Light House Media Centre in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton‘s School of Art and Design and School of Computing & IT, Wolverhampton Art GalleryWolverhampton Art Gallery
Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman , and built on land provided by the Council...
. It is part funded by UK Film Council
UK Film Council
The UK Film Council was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and was funded through sources including the...
(National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
) through Screen West Midlands
Regional screen agencies
Following a major review of the film infrastructure in the United Kingdom during 2000, the UK Film Council set up nine Regional Screen Agencies, one in each regions of England, to deliver support for film-making, exhibition and related media activities....
; Wolverhampton City Council; University of Wolverhampton; Business Link West Midlands and Animation Forum West Midlands
Animation Forum West Midlands
Animation Forum West Midlands is a business network for animation professionals in the West Midlands region of England, UK. As of December 2010, the group has 881 members....
.
Exhibitions
The exhibitions curated for FLIP tend to communicate the animation message through different media/outlets. They have a continuing partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery who programme specific works on site as part of the Festival. FLIP 2007 saw an exhibition of original puppets used in films such as The Corpse Bride, Mars AttacksMars Attacks
Mars Attacks is a science fiction trading card series released in 1962. The cards feature artwork by science-fiction artist Wallace Wood and tell the story of the invasion of Earth by cruel, hideous Martians. The cards depicted futuristic battle scenes and bizarre methods of Martian attack, torture...
! and Andy Pandy
Andy Pandy
Andy Pandy is a British children's television series that premiered on BBC TV in June or July 1950. The original series of programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series was made. A third series was made in 2002...
, and the puppet designer Nick Roberson answered questions from the audience. During FLIP 2008, the Light House building was home to large, moving, kinetic sculptures, by London based artist Steve Hutton. As well as this, there was a screening of animated Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episodes from the 1960s followed by a talk on Doctor Who animation led by industry experts. 2009 saw a studio spotlight on the Glasgow-based Axis Animation who showcased some of their work and then answered questions from the audience. The other studio spotlight that year was from ArthurCox studios who also presented some of their work and then held a discussion with the audience.
2010's festival hosted a presentation from the creators of the LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet
LittleBigPlanet, commonly abbreviated LBP, is a puzzle platformer video game, based on user-generated content, for the PlayStation 3 first announced on 7 March 2007, by Phil Harrison at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California...
games, Media Molecule
Media Molecule
Media Molecule is a British video game developer based in Guildford in Surrey. The studio was founded in January 2006 by former Lionhead Studios employees Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney...
, as well as a display from Light House Media Centre
Light House Media Centre
Light House Media Centre, often simply referred to as Light House, is a cinema, gallery and media hub for Wolverhampton and the surrounding area. Light House is located within the historic former Chubb Locks Factory in the city centre...
's own animator is residence, Drew Roper, including his set for his award winning film 'A History of Denim'.
Recurring Themes or Programmes
FLIP offers visitors a chance to engage in ‘Big Screen Gaming’ in the smaller of the two cinemas. In 2009 Flip held a competition for participants to experience the Xbox 360Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and one of its core games, Halo 3
Halo 3
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2...
. This has then led to it becoming a regular feature at Light House with games such as the Fifa World Cup 2010
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (video game)
2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is the official video game for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, published by EA Sports.The game was announced on 26 January 2010 during a GameSpot interview with Simon Humber, one of the producers of the game, and released April 27, 2010 in North America...
game and a Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
game. ‘Big Screen Gaming’ returned for FLIP 2010 with one of the year's most hotly anticipated releases, Halo: Reach.
Another feature of FLIP Festival is the curated programme hosted by a guest curator from within the animation world. Previous years have been curated by Professor Paul Wells (Director of Animation, Loughborough University) and The Brothers McLeod
The Brothers McLeod
The Brothers McLeod are illustrator Greg McLeod and writer Myles McLeod. They are English filmmakers of 2D animation, predominantly in the comedy genre....
whereas 2010 was curated by Clare Kitson, who is a former programmer at the National Film Theatre and between 1989 and 1999, commissioned Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
’s animation.
The Awards
The festival is a competition between animated films created using various techniques (stop motion, animated drawings, cut out paper, modelling clay, etc) classified in to various award categories. These have included the following:- Best of Festival
- Best UK Film
- Best International Film
- Best Newcomer
- Best Experimental Film
FLIP also runs competitions for student films, created by current university/college students and, starting in 2010, for animators under the age of 18 years old as well.
FLIP Festival 2010
FLIP Festival 2010 took place on the 4-6 November, 2010.The award winners of 2010's festival were:
- Best of Festival - Simon Cartwright & Jessica Cope with The Astronomer's Sun
- Best International Film - Blu with Big Bang, Big Boom
- Best Documentary - Samantha Moore with An Eyeful of Sound
- Best Experimental Film - Will Anderson with Another Day
- Best Sound - Elli Vuorinen with Tongueling
- Best New Talent - Julia Gromskaya with L’Anima Mavi
- Best Student Film - India Swift with Squid in Love
- Student Runners up - Matthew Duddington with By its Clover; Ben Smallman with Tales of Beardyman
FLIP Festival 2009
2009’s FLIP Festival took place on the 5-7 November.The award winners for 2009’s Festival were:
- Best of Festival - Taku Kimura with Kudan.
- Best UK Film - Steve Irwin with Black Dogs Progress.
- Best International Film - Jake Armstrong with The Terrible Thing of Alpha 9, USA.
- Best Newcomer - Kristian Andrews with Rabbit Punch
- Best Experimental Film - Virginia Mori with Il Gioco de Silenzio (The Play of Silence).
- Best Stop Motion - Bang Yao Lui with Deadline
- Special Jury Mention - Ed Barrett with Man Up
FLIP Festival 2008
2008’s FLIP Festival took place on the 6-8 November.The award winners for 2008’s Festival were:
- Best Film - Blu with Muto.
- Best UK Film - Luis Cook with The Pearce Sisters.
- Best International Film - Jeremy Clapin with Skhizein.
- Best Abstract Film - Blu with Muto.
- Best Sound Design - Alexei Alexeev with KJFG No5.
- Best Newcomer - Tom Senior with One Nice Family Photo
- Best Student Film - Reza Dolatabadi with Khoda
FLIP Festival 2007
2007’s FLIP Festival took place on the 1-3 November.The award winners for 2007’s Festival were:
- Best Film - Lizzy Hobbs with The Old, Old, Very Old Man.
- Best Student Film - Paul O’Flanagan with Beauty Now.
- Special Mention (Student Film) - Julian Kok with Mimos and the Egg.
Best of FLIP
FLIP Festival also does several small screenings throughout the year of either just the award winners or all the selected submissions. The ‘Best of FLIP’ is usually shown at various venues throughout the West Midlands. For the 2010 season, FLIP had 'best of' screenings at both the Stoke Film Theatre and the Wem Town HallWem Town Hall
Wem Town Hall is a building in the market-town of Wem in Shropshire, England. It is currently used as a venue for music and dance concerts, films, stage shows and exhibitions....
and there was also a special screening at Artsfest
ArtsFest
ArtsFest is an annual arts festival held in September in Birmingham, England.Since 1997 ArtsFest has brought together free short demonstrations of dance, music, film and theatre to concert halls, theatres, and open-air stages in various parts of central Birmingham...
’10 in Birmingham, UK.