An Oscar nominee, the creator of children's classic Henry's Cat, the men behind the classic music videos by artists such as Radiohead, Coldplay and REM will be heading to Bradford next month.

Many of Europe's top animators are to descend on the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television for the city's annual animation festival.

The festival which runs from Wednesday, November 12 to Saturday, November 15, will offer three days of screenings, masterclasses, seminars and lots of special events.

Bob Godfrey - one of England's most respected animators - will be introducing his forthcoming film Shakespeare for Beginners alongside the cream of the music video industry.

The festival is organised by the museum in conjunction with touring media festival onedotzero which is a project run by the Arts Council of England.

Europe's leading animation houses will be represented at the festival including Oscar-winning production company, Passion Pictures.

The company is the talent behind videos for Coldplay, Gorrillaz and Radiohead and REM's new music video, released this week.

A spokesman for the Passion Pictures said: "We are very honoured that onedotzero chose to include some of our work in their touring programme, and especially pleased that they are screening at BAF (Bradford Animation Festival), which we submit films to every year."

Creators of the Pepperami ("Its a bit of an animal") adverts, Loose Moose, will be showcasing their latest work as will award-winning Studio AKA and Brown Bag Films.

Also present will be Oscar-nominated American animator, Bill Plympton, famous for his work in The New York Times, Vogue, House Beautiful, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and MTV.

Mr Plympton will be holding a masterclass, speaking about his career, from cartoonist to one-man animation studio and introducing a showcase of his movies.

Other events at the museum include a script-writing workshop, a model-making class and an introduction to two-dimensional animation software.

The festival will also be premiering the latest clay-model feature by 3 Bears Animation, The Godson.

Museum festival director Adam Pugh, pictured with Bob Godfrey's animations, said: "This is Bradford's tenth animation festival so that's cause for celebration.

"We hope to attract more students and industry professionals and turn Bradford into the hub of animation in Britain.

"It's already one of the biggest animation festivals, if not the biggest.

"And we hope to start creating an industry in Bradford because it has a strong creative heritage which would be ideal."

The event will be preceded by the Northern Premiere of the latest offering from the creator of this year's winner of the Oscar for best animated feature film Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki.

The new feature, The Cat Returns will be shown on Sunday, November 9.

The festival will coincide with the opening of the museum's revamped animation gallery and the announcement of the winner of the Animator in Residence scheme.

The scheme, known as AIR, is run by Channel 4 and offers four animators the chance to develop their own original idea for a short animated film into a proposal for television.

Bill Lawrence, head of film at the NMPFT, said: "We are very excited about the AIR scheme coming to the museum.

"We have been committed to British animation since we started the Bradford Animation Festival in 1994.

"This is a fantastic present for our tenth birthday and we look forward to many more years working with up-and-coming animators and helping to strengthen Britain's place on the world map of animation."

Channel 4's animation consultant Ruth Fielding said: "The AIR scheme offers a fantastic opportunity for graduate film-makers to make their first film for Channel 4.."

Further information about the event is available from the Box Office on 0870 70 10 200 or from the festival website www.baf.org.uk.