Festival Description:
Manchester Animation Festival is the UK’s largest Animation Festival dedicated celebration of the animated art form. Hosted at HOME in Manchester, the festival brings one of the UK’s biggest animation hubs together and invites the international community to join us to delight in all things animated.
Animation is everywhere, from the smallest smart phone screen to the largest cinematic projection. Manchester Animation Festival unites artists, practitioners, students and enthusiasts and all those in between to savour the many and varied achievements of the animated form.
FILMS:
You may submit your film to one category only. Films must be under 30 minutes in length.
All films must have been completed after 27 July 2019 and must be submitted and received by Friday 31 July 2020. All animation techniques are eligible.
Eligibility Rule Changes (Festival Statement):
We know that the lockdown is proving a challenge to filmmakers, who have in some cases have spent many years and thousands of pounds working on films which are now only able to be screened online meaning you may miss the buzz of attending the festival in person. Although we don’t yet know what form the 2020 edition of the festival will take, we want to reassure filmmakers that they are at the heart of what we do as a event. To help filmmakers we will be changing our film submission rules to ensure they can make the most of their film during this challenging time.
Usually films are only valid for entry for one year after completion, but we are enabling films completed from 27 Jul 2019 to be valid not just for this year’s festival but for next years too. To give greater flexibility to filmmakers.
If a film is selected to screen in 2020 and the festival has to become an online edition, we will commit to re-screen these films at the 2021 festival as an out of competition screening, and all those filmmakers will still receive a free filmmaker pass for the festival. This will give you the opportunity to win our competition in 2020 and still have your film celebrated in person on the big screen in 2021 – giving you the best of both worlds. If a film is submitted but not selected in 2020, you’ll be eligible to submit it again for another go in 2021 - so you have nothing to lose. It will be a big job re-watching animated films that are submitted two years in a row, but luckily, we love animation!
INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS
This award is for an individual person for their work in the fields of:
Nominations MUST have the permission of the rights holder of the project and the nominee to enter into this award. Supporting documentation will be requested in the submission process, ideally a copy of the storyboard, animatic or script, design work or a clip/showreel of clips of the nominees work on character animation.
Nominations must be for one person working on a project that has been commissioned by a third party or broadcaster (television or online). It can not be a student film or have been commissioned as part of advancement in an academic qualification process, nor is it an independent project created without the input of any third party commissioner. Applying for and receiving funding for a film preconceived by the filmmaker does not qualify as a commission.
Nominations MUST have the permission of the rights holder of the project and the nominee to enter into this award.
Deadline: 31 July 2020
2018 Festival Coverage (13-15/11/18)
Storyboarding
Oriol Vidal for Danger Mouse: A Fear to Remember
Krystal Georgiou for Luo Bao Bei: Footsteps of Others
Vince James for 70 MPH Tales: Jack and the Beanstalk
Scriptwriting
Evgenia Golubeva and Myles McLeod for Becca’s Bunch: Cute Lil’ Bug
Alex Collier for Danger Mouse: Grand Stressed Auto
Daniel Postgate for The Clangers: The Block
Character Animation
Duncan Rudd for Buy Any Part: Farmer
Mark Kilkelly for Danger Mouse
Rachel Thorn for Simon’s Cat: DIY
Fabrice Pieton for The Clangers
Character Design
Eimhin McNamara for The Western Spring
Valentina Ventimiglia for Labuntina
Aoífe Doyle for Aurora
Leigh Hodgkinson for Olobob Top
The winner will be announced during the MAF 2018: Awards Ceremony and the winner will receive one of MAF awards designed by Beth Jupe at Mackinnon and Saunders.