The game’s afoot as the 18th Bradford Animation Festival gets the city animated from tomorrow – with a special emphasis on games kicking off the proceedings.

As video games achieve cinema-quality levels of lifelike animation, a special two-day strand at the beginning of the National Media Museum-centred week-long festival gets under way.

BAF Game, taking place at the museum tomorrow and the University of Bradford on Wednesday, shows up-to-date computer games technology and animation.

Festival director Deb Singleton said: “We are delighted to bring such big names from the worlds of animation and gaming to Bradford. The programme offers something for everyone, from fans of animated films and gam-ing to students and industry professionals.”

For the rest of the week, lead animators from Pixar, the American studio responsible for such movies as Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, will be among the guests.

They include Andy Schmidt, lead animator at Pixar – who has worked on animated blockbusters including Up, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc – and Pixar and Disney layout and set designer Scott Caple, who has worked on The Incredibles, Tarzan and Mulan. Scott will join Fraser MacLean and Roy Naisbitt, who both worked on the cartoon classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to give a masterclass on animation layout.

There will be screenings of more than 120 films from around the world, workshops and the BAF Awards, celebrating the best in new animation.

And stop-motion animation giant Ray Harryhausen will also be the subject of a retrospective.

Oscar and BAFTA-nominated animator and director Barry Purves, puppet animator on television classics such as Postman Pat and Chorlton and the Wheelies and Hollywood blockbusters King Kong and Mars Attacks!, will be screening new films Plume and Tchaikovsky, and presenting the BAF Awards on Saturday night.

BAF Kids offers a day of family films and new animation on Saturday and there are opportunities for budding young animators to get creative.

For the full festival programme, visit nationalmediamuseum.org.uk.

Tickets for Bradford Animation Festival events are available on 0844 856 3797.

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