Manchester Animation Festival (MAF), a three-day festival celebrating animation in all its forms, returns to Manchester’s HOME from 13-15 November. Manchester Animation Festival (MAF), a three-day festival celebrating animation in all its forms, returns to Manchester’s HOME from 13-15 November.
MANCHESTER ANIMATION FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS Must-see screenings include UK Premieres of Funan and Virus Tropical, a special preview of This Magnificent Cake! and Aardman: An... Manchester Animation Festival (MAF), a three-day festival celebrating animation in all its forms, returns to Manchester’s HOME from 13-15 November.

MANCHESTER ANIMATION FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Must-see screenings include UK Premieres of Funan and Virus Tropical, a special preview of This Magnificent Cake! and Aardman: An Epic Journey – Book Signing

The event, now in its fourth year, is the largest animation festival in the UK, and its packed programme includes animated short competitions, feature films, retrospective screenings, workshops, networking events, panel discussions, masterclasses and screen talks from some of the brightest and best talent in the industry.

There are lots of exciting events at this year’s festival; tickets are selling fast and some are already sold out so we’ve put together a selection of those that you can still get tickets for including the UK premieres of A Man is Dead, Funan and Virus Tropical, and a preview screening of This Magnificent Cake! followed by an exclusive director Q&A. Other screenings include a Barry Purves Retrospective, Small Films on the Big Screen and Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs.

Smallfilms Stories will also be conducting a panel celebrating the wonderful work of Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate and if you missed out on tickets for the sold out film screening, Meet The Trampires is a chance to see the puppet stars of Chuck Steel’s Night of the Trampires and ask questions from the film’s experts.

Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton will be signing their brand new autobiography Aardman: An Epic Journey (Published by Simon & Schuster) on the day of its release as part of the MAF Market.

 

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

A MAN IS DEAD

Tue 13th November 20:10

Approx Runtime: 110mins

Cert: CTBA

£9/£7

Brest, 1950. The city is in midst of post-war re-construction. Workers are on strike calling in vain for higher wages. P’tit Zef, Edouard, Désiré and Paulette are four friends, all factory workers. Like everyone else in Brest, they take part in the demonstrations organized by labor union when the situation suddenly becomes quite violent. The police shoot into the crowd and a bullet hits Edouard smack in the forehead. The labor union calls upon the filmmaker René Vautier to film the events. P’tit Zef and Désiré accompany Vautier throught the devastated city. Having at his side a man whose only weapon is a camera, P’tit Zef is consumed with anger. He wants revenge for the death of his friend.

FUNAN

Wed 14th November 19:05

Thu 15th November 20:20

Approx Runtime: 84mins

Cert: 15

£9/£7

Winner of the Feature Film Cristal at Annecy Animation Festival, Funan is the incredibly powerful story of a young woman who must learn how to stand up for herself, survive in the regime of the Khmer Rouge and find her son who was kidnapped during their forced exile from Phnom Penh.

VIRUS TROPICAL

Wed 14th November 20:40

Approx Runtime: 97mins

Cert: 15

£9/£7

Adapted from the graphic novel memoir by Colombian-Ecuadorian cartoonist Powerpaola, Virus Tropical is a coming-of-age story from a girl’s perspective. Born in a not-so-conventional family, Paola grows up between Ecuador and Colombia and finds herself unable to fit in any mold. With a unique feminine vision of the world, she will have to fight against prejudice and struggle for her independence while her universe is struck by a series of crises.

THIS MAGNIFICENT CAKE! + Q&A

Tue 13th November 16:45

Approx Runtime: 75mins

Cert: 15

£9/£7

From the creators of festival favourite Oh Willy… comes an anthology about the colonisation of Africa at the end of the 19th century. It is divided into five tales which present a perturbed king, a pygmy working in a luxury hotel, a ruined businessman, a lost porter, and a young deserter.

Co-director Marc James Roels who will join for a Q&A after the film. Marc James Roels is both an animation and live-action director, making award winning shorts Mompelaar in 2007 and A Gentle Creature in 2010.

AARDMAN: AN EPIC JOURNEY – BOOK SIGNING

Thu 15th November 15:15

Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton will be signing their brand new autobiography Aardman: An Epic Journey (Published by Simon & Schuster) on the day of its release Thursday 15 November at 15:15 as part of the MAF Market in the Event Space at HOME Manchester.

BARRY PURVES RETROSPECTIVE

Wed 14th November 18:10

Approx Runtime: 75mins

Cert: TBC

£9/£7

After a career spanning 40 years we take Barry’s selections of his own work and play them back to back. These internationally acclaimed films are the director’s personal favourites and all display all the wit and ingenuity of one of the UK’s best loved animators.

ISLE OF DOGS

Thu 15th November 18:10

Approx Runtime: 101mins

Cert: PG

£9/£7

 

Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, the 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey. Wes Anderson’s return to stop motion animation is a visual treat and will captivate viewers of all ages.

SMALLFILMS STORIES

Wed 14th November 15:30

Approx Runtime: 75mins

£9/£7

Ivor the Engine, The Clangers, Bagpuss – just three of the shows that defined a generation and filled childhood with wit and wonder were the work of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, two extraordinary pioneers of animated television who worked under the name of Smallfilms. The warmth of Postgate’s narrative coupled with the craft of Firmin’s designs, created timeless television from the ‘out buildings on Firmin’s farm in Kent. In an age before industrially produced television series, Smallfilms helped define all British children’s animated television that followed it. Join a panel of experts as we pay a visit to all those creative wonderlands that the studio created.

Daniel Postgate is the son of the filmmaker Oliver Postgate. He started his career as a cartoonist and strip cartoonist for The Sunday Times, The Radio Times and Loot and produced a syndicated ‘fact cartoon’ – Did You Know? He has written and illustrated over fifty children’s books, has won the Nottingham and Norfolk Children’s book awards and was shortlisted for the Stockport and Sheffield Children’s book awards.

Dr Chris Pallant, Canterbury Christ Church University, is the author of Demystifying Disney (2011), Storyboarding: A Critical History (2015) and editor of Animated Landscapes: History, Form and Function (2015).

SMALLFILMS ON THE BIG SCREEN

Wed 14th November 14:10

Approx Runtime: 60mins

Cert: U

£9/£7

A selection of Smallfilms classics. Filmed in ‘out buildings on Firmin’s farm in Kent and enjoyed by children and adults across the nation, this selection of films represents some of British televisions most beloved characters and stories.

MEET THE TRAMPIRES

Tue 13th November 13:00

Approx Runtime: 120mins

£9/£7

Straight outta the eighties the puppet stars of Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires will be on display at MAF. See the puppets in person and pose your questions to the experts in this unique meet and greet opportunity.

Mike Mort is a Director, Writer and Producer with over 25 years’ experience in the Animation industry.

Mike has created some of the most iconic stop motion commercials, title sequences, series work and short films earning multiple BAFTAs and many other prestigious awards. In 2017, Mike completed his debut feature film Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, a passion project based on a character created during his school days. The $20,000,000 animated feature was filmed at Animortal Studio, a state of the art stop motion studio in South Wales which Mike co-founded in 2014.

Manchester Animation Festival takes place at HOME on from 13-15 November 2018.

Tickets and passes are on sale now, for more detail see www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk

 

 

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Jon Dingle Editor

A film journalist, writer and a filmmaker in business for over 20 years. I am passionate about movies, television series, music and online games.