The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Valerie from the British Animation Awards (BAA – hence the sheep logo they use), kindly updates me to events relating to the 2010 BAA. The BAA happens every two years in the UK and again in the run up to the announcement of the winners in April the public will get their chance to view some 35 animations in cinemas around the country and be able to vote for their favourites. Regular readers will know I usually follow the BAA and that there are often some real animation gems to be found – they cover work created for advertisers and for band’s music videos, which some of us will have seen (without knowing who actually made the animation usually) to work from fresh, new talent which rarely gets seen in cinemas these days, outside of film festivals, and that’s such a shame, because I’ve seen some lovely work, from old hands and very young total newbies on some of BAA’s DVDs and wish they would get a wider screening. Its like reading a great work from one of the independent presses and thinking, this is clever, inventive, imaginative and dammit, a lot of folks will never see it.

(Black Dog’s Progress by and (c) Steve Irwin, one of the contenders for this year’s British Animation Awards)

Well at least this year that problem will be addressed somewhat – there are no less than 27 venues taking part in screening a programme of BAA 2010 contenders throughout February: “The Public Choice awards allow the film-loving public to have a say about which animations have captured their imaginations. We’ve put together a shortlist which reflects the best and most innovative talent that the British animation industry has to offer,” BAA director Jayne Pilling. Entries range from Rhiannon Evans’ Heartstrings – “if falling in love means being tied together, what happens when you discover the length of string?” – to Manchester’s Philip Bacon with the wonderfully titled Yellow Belly End (”a man who meticulously records the deaths from an enormous cliff edge”), alongside animations created for bands like Coldplay and Gravenhurst.

(a frame from Philip Bacon’s Yellow Belly End, another of the contenders for this year’s British Animation Awards, (c) the artist)

The screenings start today and will be shown throughout February in 27 cinemas across the UK, including Belfast (Queen’s Film Theatre), Bradford (National Media Museum), Bristol (Watershed), Cardiff (Chapter Arts), Derby (QUAD), Dundee (DCA), Edinburgh (Filmhouse),  Glasgow (GFT), London (BFI Southbank), Liverpool (FACT), Manchester (Cornerhouse), Norwich (Cinema City), Wolverhampton (Lighthouse) and more. The screening dates and times will vary from cinema to cinema so check with your local venue for screenings – a full list of the various programme strands can be found here on the BAA site and there’s also a full list with links to the participating cinemas around the nation, so do consider going along and supporting some interesting Brit artists. Who knows, you may get the first glimpse of our next Nick Park. The British Animation Awards will be announced in London on April 8th.