manifest 2012

We had 2 locally made films in this years festival, The first was by "Gadzooks animation" - a small company that I'm invovled with.  It's a very short piece commissioned by "Do the green thing" to try and encourage people not to fly.

manifest 2012

I'm begining to lose count of how many French films are getting into my festival's.  This one's a graduate film from "Gobliens" which was nominated for an Oscar in 2009.  It's an all time favourite of mine and one of the leanist most streamline stories you'll ever see.

manifest 2012

Pixaliation is one of the simplist forms of animation - you don't need to be a great drawer/sculpture or know your way round a computer programme.  Your film will be as good as your imagination and those uber cool boys at "Partizan" have ton's of that!

manifest 2012

I don't get many films that aren't already on the internet, but Bradley Schaffer was kind enough to let us show his new film "Thumb Snatchers from the Moon Cocoon".  Plenty of gore and violence here, as well as the best alien death sequence you'll see this side of the moon!  Since its still doing the rounds at the festivals and not on the net, I'm only putting the trailer up.

manifest 2012

Cool and stylish "Looks that Kill" has a retro 60's feel that combines James Bond, Man from Uncle and Charlies Angles in 2 minutes of slick animation.

manifest 2012

Spike Jonze joined with Olympia Le-Tan to create this stop motion short.  It seemed to be one of the less popular films of the night.  I liked it though and thats why I put it in.

manifest 2012

Those "great" Dane's at the "The Animation Workshop" in Denmark have been constantly producing excellent films.  They were in last years festival and their back again this year with an army of slugs!

Manifest 2012

"Bad Toys II" was a big hit and seemed to be this years festival favourite.  Itss a master class in editing, incorporting live action, drawn and computer animation into one high adrenaline  car chase.  A must see - enjoy!

manifest 2012

I've first saw Mikey Please's work a few years ago when I came across "Crone" and "Glen's gloves" and I've been a fan of his work since.  He won a BAFTA with this amazing short so I was dead chuffed to be able to include it in the festival.

Manifest 2012

Well Manifest 2012 has been and gone, so here are this years films.  We kicked off with Pythagasaurus from Aardman director "Peter Peake", whose probably best known for his stop motion short "Pib and Pob".  This time he's moved into CG and made this fantastic piece, which contains my favourite ever animated swear.  Ace!

cool stuff

This is a great little sting for cartoon network from meinbender studios.  I didn't include it in the festival because its not really a film.  But I think its an ace mash up of different styles, so I'm putting it here.

2011 open screening

At the end of my selections we open up the floor for any local animators to show there work.  2011 saw Jono Candlish-Wilson of studio distract bring along his abstract short "judgement day"

manifest 2011

And to finish off we come full circle and go back to Denmark and the "Animation Workshop" for "Elk hair Caddis".  Made using a mixture of real miniature backgrounds, cg characters brilliant comic timing.  Check it out

manifest 2011

From "Il Luster" comes a cool and stylish thriller in the shape of "Pivot", it has a kind of low res render look about it, but don't be fooled - it's a slick and smart piece of work.

manifest 2011

The Brothers Mcleod got a BAFTA nomination for this quirky and surreal short, unfortunatly they haven't put the full film online yet.  So here's the trailer.

manifest 2011

Strange goings on in Kevin Parrys "The Artic Circle".  Some gorgeous stopmotion animation, thoughtful direction and the simple but effective design will hook you into this odd little story. 

manifest 2011

A couple of years ago each region selected an animator to make a short film for channel 4.  Phil Gray and I were lucky enough to be selected for the North West.  John Dunleavy made "Crash, bang, wallow" for Screen East.  It was short and funny, I liked it a lot, so I put it in the festival

Manifest 2011

"Pixels" by "Patrick Jean" is an little computer/live action piece showing all your favourite 8 bit characters taking over New York.

manifest 2011

"Meet Buck" an ordinary guy. Well, if you accept the "deer head" thing.  This was a festival favourite thanks to its oddball humour and one hell of a chase sequenec. Produced at SupInfocom.

manifest 2011

Some slick confident camera moves in this one from "Caleb Wood".  I like the fact that it's short and punchy, but if I'm being picky I think the ending needed more of a kick - just a final big "roar" from the monster would have been enough.  But made in one month, by a young student at risd - shows promise!

manifest 2011

Type "beautiful animation" into google and "Ryan Woodward's" "Thought of you" will probably come up.

manifest 2011

To start off I'm here's a great little stopmotion film from "The animation workshop" in Denmark.  It's called "Out of a Forest" and was directed by Tobias Gundorff.

It kinda takes a minute to really kick in, but stick with it, its an excellent piece of work.

manifestation

Manifest is a mini animation festival in Manchester UK.  I started Manifest in 2011 as a way of getting together everyone involved in the local animation industry for a catch up, a few drinks and a chance to watch some great films from around the world.

The main emphersise is to show films that entertain and inspire.  Films with great stories, designs, or ideas.

I'm going to use this blog site to document the films that have been shown and show a few others that weren't, but are still worth seeing.

Manifest Manifesto

To show films which entertain and inspire

To provide a platform for local animators to showcase their work and create a better animation community

To motivate and encourage animators to keep making films, exploring different styles and techniques, and keep Manchester a creative place