FLIP was an animation festival that took place between 2004 and 2012, primarily hosted by the

Light House Media Centre Light House Media Centre, often simply referred to as Light House, was an independent cinema, gallery and media hub located within the historic Chubb Building, the former Chubb Locks Factory, in Wolverhampton city centre. It closed in November 20 ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

, UK. FLIP took place annually at the beginning of November and attracted submissions from more than 30 countries worldwide. As well as screening selected submissions, FLIP held talks from professionals from the animation world, workshops, industry panels and competitions. Between 2004 and 2011 the festival was set up and managed by Peter McLuskie. It grew out of the 'Animation Forum', also based at Light House, later rebranded as Animation Forum West Midlands, which found a home at

Birmingham City University Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 an ...

. In 2009, the festival was awarded a Black Country Tourism Award for Event of the Year.

The festival

Based in Wolverhampton, the festival began in 2004 and featured film screenings and retrospectives of short films as well as a range of events including educational workshops, experimental animation, industry led panels and spotlights on animation studios. FLIP was organised and hosted by Light House Media Centre in partnership with the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university in Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, England, located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire. Originally founded in 1827 as the Wolverham ...

's School of Art and Design and School of Computing & IT,

Wolverhampton Art Gallery Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in Wolverhampton, England. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman (1825–1890), and built on land provided by the municipal authority. It opened in May 1884. The buildi ...

. It was part funded by

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

(

National Lottery National Lottery may refer to: *National Lottery (Ireland), the state lottery of Ireland *National Lottery (United Kingdom), the lottery franchise in the United Kingdom *South African National Lottery, established in 2000 *A number of countries con ...

) through Screen West Midlands;

Wolverhampton City Council City of Wolverhampton Council is the local authority for the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, England. Wolverhampton has had an elected local authority since 1848, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has be ...

; University of Wolverhampton; Business Link West Midlands and Animation Forum West Midlands.

Exhibitions

FLIP had a partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery who showed works as part of the Festival. FLIP 2007 saw an exhibition of original puppets used in films such as The Corpse Bride,

Mars Attacks ''Mars Attacks'' is a science fiction-themed trading card series released in 1962 by Topps. The cards feature artwork by science fiction artists Wally Wood and Norman Saunders. The cards form a story arc, which tells of the invasion of Earth by ...

! and

Andy Pandy ''Andy Pandy'' is a British children's television series that aired on BBC Television in 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. This series was the basis for a co ...

. During FLIP 2008, the Light House building was home to large, moving, kinetic sculptures, by London-based artist Steve Hutton. There was also a screening of animated

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

episodes from the 1960s, followed by a talk on Doctor Who animation. 2009 saw the Glasgow-based Axis Animation and ArthurCox studios present examples of their work. 2010's festival hosted a presentation from the creators of the

LittleBigPlanet ''LittleBigPlanet'' (''LBP''; stylised as ''LittleBIGPlanet'') is a Puzzle video game, puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in th ...

games,

Media Molecule Media Molecule Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Guildford, Surrey. Founded in 2006 by Mark Healey, Alex Evans, David Smith, and Kareem Ettouney, Sony Computer Entertainment acquired the firm in 2010. It became part of SCE Worldw ...

, as well as a display from

's own animator in residence, Drew Roper, including his set for his award-winning film 'A History of Denim'. In 2011, FLIP's exhibitions included works by Barry JC Purves which included a display of the Tchaikovsky puppet, the Birmingham leg of GLI.TC/H festivals' submissions, as well as sketchbooks and artworks by

Tori Davis Tori may refer to: Places * Tori (Georgia), an historic province of the nation of Georgia * Tori Parish, Pärnu County, Estonia ** Tori, Estonia * Tori, Ghana, a village in the kingdom of Chumburung, Ghana * Tori, Järva County, Estonia * To ...

and work from the 2011 feature film ''

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

'', and maquettes from UK puppet makers

Mackinnon & Saunders Mackinnon & Saunders is a British traditional stop-motion animation studio. It is based in Altrincham in Trafford, Greater Manchester. The studio both produces its own animations and creates puppets for other studios' productions. The studio was f ...

. Events at 2012's FLIP included a collaborative project between web developers, animators and artists, an exhibition of artwork in vacant shops across the city and a model making workshop by

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited, known simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom. It is known for films and television series made using stop motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those fe ...

. The festival also helped schools develop a forum for animation shown during the festival. A recurring feature of FLIP was a curated programme hosted by guests from the animation world, including Professor Paul Wells (Director of Animation, Loughborough University),

The Brothers McLeod The Brothers McLeod are illustrator Greg McLeod and writer Myles McLeod. They are British filmmakers represented by Sheil Land Associates and specialising in illustration, writing and 2D animation. They have been nominated for two BAFTA Film Awar ...

and Clare Kitson, a former programmer at the

National Film Theatre BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the United Kingdom, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Ins ...

and who commissioned

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's animation from 1989 to 1999.

The awards

The festival included a competition between animated films created using various techniques (stop motion, animated drawings, cut out paper, modelling clay, etc.) classified in to various award categories. These have included the following: :* Best of Festival :* Best UK Film :* Best International Film :* Best Newcomer :* Best Experimental Film FLIP also ran competitions for student films, created by current university/college students and, from 2010, for animators under the age of 18 years as well.

FLIP Festival 2011

FLIP Festival 2011 took place on 27–29 October 2011. The Audience Choice winners of 2011's festival were: :* Bertie Crisp, Dir. Francesca Adams (UK) :* The Skeleton Woman, Dir. Sarah Van Den Boom (France) :* Dead Bird, Dir. Trevor Hardy (UK) :* Robin Hood, Dir, Ben Smith (UK) :* Caged, Dir. Ravi Maheru (UK) :* John and Betty, Dir. Alex Hancocks & Luke George (UK)

FLIP Festival 2010

FLIP Festival 2010 took place on 4–6 November 2010. The award winners of 2010's festival were: :*Best of Festival: Simon Cartwright & Jessica Cope with ''The Astronomer's Sun'' :*Best International Film: Blu with ''Big Bang, Big Boom'' :*Best Documentary: Samantha Moore with ''An Eyeful of Sound'' :*Best Experimental Film: Will Anderson with ''Another Day'' :*Best Sound: Elli Vuorinen with ''Tongueling'' :*Best New Talent: Julia Gromskaya with ''L’Anima Mavi'' :*Best Student Film: India Swift with ''Squid in Love'' :*Student Runners up: Matthew Duddington with ''By its Clover''; Ben Smallman with ''Tales of Beardyman''

FLIP Festival 2009

2009's FLIP Festival took place on 5–7 November. The award winners for 2009's Festival were: :* Best of Festival: Taku Kimura with ''Kudan''. :* Best UK Film: Steve Irwin with ''Black Dogs Progress''. :* Best International Film: Jake Armstrong with ''The Terrible Thing of Alpha 9'', USA. :* Best Newcomer: Kristian Andrews with ''Rabbit Punch'' :* Best Experimental Film: Virginia Mori with ''Il Gioco de Silenzio (The Play of Silence)''. :* Best Stop Motion: Bang Yao Lui with ''Deadline'' :* Special Jury Mention: Ed Barrett with ''Man Up'' http://www.flipfestival.co.uk/about/flip-festival-2009-5th-6th-november/

FLIP Festival 2008

2008's FLIP Festival took place on 6–8 November. The award winners for 2008's Festival were: :* Best Film: Blu with ''Muto''. :* Best UK Film: Luis Cook with ''The Pearce Sisters''. :* Best International Film: Jeremy Clapin with ''Skhizein''. :* Best Abstract Film: Blu with ''Muto''. :* Best Sound Design: Alexei Alexeev with ''KJFG No5''. :* Best Newcomer: Tom Senior with ''One Nice Family Photo'' :* Best Student Film: Reza Dolatabadi with ''Khoda''

FLIP Festival 2007

2007's FLIP Festival took place on 1–3 November. The award winners for 2007's Festival were: :* Best Film: Lizzy Hobbs with ''The Old, Old, Very Old Man''. :* Best Student Film: Paul O’Flanagan with ''Beauty Now''. :* Special Mention (Student Film): Julian Kok with ''Mimos and the Egg''.

Notes

External links

FLIP Festival’s website

Light House Media Centre's website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724223733/http://www.light-house.co.uk , date=24 July 2008 Animation film festivals in the United Kingdom Festivals in the West Midlands (county) Film festivals established in 2004 Film festivals in England Wolverhampton