A creative chief behind the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit films will be a special guest at this year’s Bradford Animation Festival.

Also appearing at the festival, at the National Media Museum next month, is a leading member of American studio LAIKA, which made this summer’s hit family movie ParaNorman.

Aardman Animations, creators of the much-loved Wallace and Gromit series and the film Chicken Run, jointly headline this year’s festival alongside LAIKA.

Will Becher, who joined Aardman as a trainee animator on Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit and has since established a reputation as one of the company’s top freelance animators, will offer an insight into his career and his work as lead character animator on Aardman’s latest movie, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Mr Becher has worked with Aardman on commercials, TV shows Shaun the Sheep and Creature Comforts and films such as Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.

LAIKA’s Mark Shapiro will present a behind-the-scenes look at the studio’s latest feature animation, ParaNorman, the tale of a misunderstood boy who takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse. Mark, marketing and brand manager at LAIKA, will also take part in a question and answer session before ParaNorman is shown in 3D.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will be given posthumously to John Halas, co-writer/director of the first British animated feature film Animal Farm. The award commemorates the 100 anniversary of the birth of the animator. A documentary on his achievements, Animated Utopia: The Life and Achievements of John Halas, 1912-1995, will have its final-cut world premiere and his daughter, Vivien Halas, will sit on the BAF jury.

Other festival guests include award-winning film-maker Robert Morgan, writer-director of The Cat With Hands, a dark tale of a cat that wants to be human, and stop-motion horror animation Bobby Yeah, which was screened at Bradford International Film Festival and Fantastic Films Weekend earlier this year.

Animation legend Chuck Jones’s granddaughter Valerie Kausen will talk about her recollections of working with her grandfather, highlighting a BAF screening of classic shorts from the man behind cartoons such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

The festival will showcase more than 140 films from around the world, including this year’s hit animation Brave.

Headline speakers for the BAF Game strand include Neil Thompson, director of art and animation at Canadian studio BioWare, creators of Dragon Age and Mass Effects series.

Festival director Deb Singleton said: “This year we have one of our most diverse line-ups ever, featuring one of America’s most vibrant and cutting-edge studios, established and new British talent and two of the most legendary figures in animation from the past century. We’ll also be showcasing a brilliant programme of films, from undiscovered gems to some of the most acclaimed feature animations of 2012.”