Clare Kitson organised animation programmes at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the early 70s and in 1978 became programme officer for the National Film Theatre and London Film Festival. In 1989 she joined Channel 4, where she commissioned many award-winning animated shorts and series. She also launched schemes with the Arts Council and the Museum of the Moving Image, which aimed to encourage innovation and to give young animators their first professional opportunity. In 1999 Clare was awarded the ASIFA Special Award for her contribution to British animation. She left Channel 4 in September 1999 and completed the initial stage of research into Yuri Norstein’s Tale of Tales in the context of a readership at the Animation Research Centre of the Surrey Institute of Art and Design. Her book Yuri Norstein and Tale of Tales: An Animator’s Journey was published in 2005 and her subsequent book, British Animation: The Channel 4 Factor, appeared in November 2008. In 2008 she received the Animafest Zagreb award for outstanding achievement in animation theory. She has also translated two books about animation.
The closing Keynote address will be given by Paul Wells
Professor Paul Wells is Director of the Animation Academy at Loughborough University, UK. He has published widely in the field of Animation Studies, including ‘Understanding Animation’ (Routledge), ‘Animation : Genre & Authorship’ (Wallflower), ‘Animation and America’ (EUP), ‘Fundamentals of Animation’ (AVA Academia), ‘Halas & Batchelor Cartoons : An Animated History’ (with Vivien Halas) (Southbank Publishing), ‘Re-Imagining Animation (with Johnny Hardstaff) and ‘Drawing for Animation’ (with Joanna Quinn) (both AVA Academia).
Paul is also an established scriptwriter and director for theatre, TV and radio, and has conducted workshops worldwide based on his book ‘Scriptwriting’ (AVA Academia), and was a consultant for the BBC’s ‘Animation Nation’. His most recent book is ‘The Animated Bestiary’ (Rutgers) looking at representations of animals in animated films. In the last year, he has directed two short documentaries – ‘From Fab Four to Ethel & Ernest’, about John Coates, pioneering producer at TVC, and ‘Taking a Country Road’, about leading animation editor, Tony Fish.
Paul is at present preparing further publications, including a journal for animation practice, and a major exhibition. He is also involved with script development on a number of projects, and is part of a steering group for an initiative seeking to create a British Animation Archive.