Edge Hill University: CAKE (Creative Animation Knowledge Exchange) Festival

14 – 18 July 2014

Ticket information – see below

A film premiere and second wave of world-renowned animators have been announced by organisers of a pioneering animation festival at Edge Hill University called CAKE (Creative Animation Knowledge Exchange) Festival. It will nurture long-term relationships between UK and Chinese animation industries and education sectors, with students and industry professionals attending the week-long festival.

Violet City, a steampunk animation created over the last four years at Liverpool’s LJMU Screen School and set in the city will be screened for the first time ever at CAKE, on the evening of Tuesday, 15 July. Watch the trailer.

New speakers announced for the festival include BAFTA winner and EMMY-nominated Geoff Dunbar, the iconic animator and director of The Cunning Little Vixen, Tuesday and Daumier’s Law. Geoff has worked and continues to work closely with Sir Paul McCartney collaborating on stories and musical content. Geoff will present insight into his animation career and projects and will run a student workshop.

Peter Saunders, Director of the world’s leading puppet animation designers and manufacturers Mackinnon and Saunders Animation Ltd, responsible for an exhaustive list of favourite television and film stop-motion characters, will also deliver a presentation as will Vivien Halas of Halas & Batchelor. Over 50 years Halas & Batchelor became the largest and most influential animation studio in Western Europe, making over 2000 films including the classic Animal Farm. Vivien Halas will introduce a documentary on their achievements and a retrospective piece about her mother, Joy Batchelor on the centenary of her birth.

These newly confirmed events will join an already impressive programme of presentations, workshops and screenings – plus an awards ceremony honouring the best animation submissions from both UK and Chinese entrants – taking place at Edge Hill University’s new state of the art Creative Edge building.

The CAKE event has been developed as a part of an ongoing British Council initiative linked to CICAF, the China International Cartoon and Animation Festival. A CICAF Forum will take place as part of the festival, where Chinese and British students will exchange and discuss animation works.

Professor George Talbot, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Dean of Arts and Sciences said: “The CAKE Festival will not only feature contemporary and classic leaders of the international animation industry, it will also highlight the North West of England as a national centre for animation, championing both emerging and established work from the region as well as welcoming new friends and partners from China.”