Newcastle's global animation festival returns

Thursday, 1 November 2018

A line-up of the world’s best bite-sized animations will be featured at this year’s Newcastle International Animation Festival (NIAF), with audiences being served up six awe-inspiring sessions across the 9th, 10th and 11th of November.

Dante Zaballa's parking attendant
Dante Zaballa's parking attendant

As in previous years, Newcastle animators have held their own on the international animation circuit with two University of Newcastle students making it into the festival program curated by parent festival Melbourne International Animation Festival.

Reid McManus’s surreally weird Food for Fraught and Dan Cooper’s hilarious The Nutcase Mindshield were both selected for the festival’s wacky adults only session Late Night Bizarre, with their films created as projects during their studies.

Study graphic design or illustration and animation

This year the festival introduces 'Local Produce' - a session dedicated to showcasing the talents of local animators who live in Newcastle or have moved further afield.

As part of this session NIAF will be screening the work of UON alumnus Ivan Dixon who co-created SIMPSONS PIXEL, which has 11 million views on YouTube and was picked up by The Simpsons for use.

Local Produce will screen SIMPSONS PIXEL as well as the world premiere of Dixon’s TV pilot ‘Muscles McQuack’.

Local Produce will then be followed by a Q&A session with animators and industry insiders. A must- see for budding animators or people interested in getting behind-the-scenes.

The adorable Kids' Program and mind-bending Late Night Bizarre will also return alongside the Australian and International programs. Prepare for gravity-defying stories from the Earth's orbit and beyond.

This year NIAF is proudly a part of Festival X presented by The University of Newcastle School of Creative Industries.

You can catch the Newcastle International Animation Festival at Tower Cinemas, King St, Newcastle from Friday 9 - Sunday 11 November 2018.

Tickets are only $10 per session or $25 for a weekend festival pass. Single session tickets are available online via the Event Cinema website. Weekend festival passes must be purchased from the box office at Tower Cinemas, Newcastle.


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