FLIP is an animation festival primarily hosted by the

Light House Media Centre Light House Media Centre, often simply referred to as Light House, is a cinema, gallery and media hub for Wolverhampton and the surrounding area. Light House is located within the historic former Chubb Locks Factory in the city centre. They descri ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, UK. It is one of two festivals hosted by Light House, the other of which is

Deaffest Deaffest is the UK's only deaf-led film and television festival that celebrates the talents of deaf filmmakers and media artists from all over the world. Hosted by Light House Media Centre in Wolverhampton, Deaffest provides access to both deaf an ...

. Official literature for the festival says that FLIP occurs annually at the beginning of November and attracts submissions from more than 30 countries worldwide. As well as screening the selected open submissions, FLIP also consists of special screenings, talks from professionals within the animation world, workshops, industry panels, portfolio reviews and competitions. The festival was set up, managed and programmed by Peter McLuskie between 2004 and 2011. It grew out of the 'Animation Forum', also based at Light House and which was later rebranded as

Animation Forum West Midlands Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

and 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 and gai ...

. 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 features a range of events from educational workshops for young people to experimental animation for grown ups; from industry led panels to feature film screenings and from international showcases and retrospectives of short films to spotlights on animation studios. FLIP is organised and hosted by Light House Media Centre in partnership with the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mech ...

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

Wolverhampton Art Gallery Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman (1825–1890), and built on land provided by the municipal auth ...

. It is 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) through Screen West Midlands; Wolverhampton City Council; University of Wolverhampton; Business Link West Midlands and

Exhibitions

The exhibitions curated for FLIP tend to communicate the animation message through different media/outlets. They have a continuing partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery who programme specific works on site as part of the Festival. FLIP 2007 saw an exhibition of original puppets used in films such as

The Corpse Bride ''Corpse Bride'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's Corpse Bride'') is a 2005 stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton with a screenplay by John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler based on cha ...

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 c ...

! and

Andy Pandy ''Andy Pandy'' is a British children's television series that first appeared on BBC Television in summer 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. A revival of the s ...

, and the puppet designer Nick Roberson answered questions from the audience. During FLIP 2008, the Light House building was home to large, moving, kinetic sculptures, by London-based artist Steve Hutton. As well as this, there was a screening of animated

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

episodes from the 1960s followed by a talk on Doctor Who animation led by industry experts. 2009 saw a studio spotlight on the Glasgow-based Axis Animation who showcased some of their work and then answered questions from the audience. The other studio spotlight that year was from ArthurCox studios who also presented some of their work and then held a discussion with the audience. 2010's festival hosted a presentation from the creators of the

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

games,

Media Molecule Media Molecule Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Guildford, 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 S ...

, as well as a display from

's own animator is residence, Drew Roper, including his set for his award-winning film 'A History of Denim'. In 2011, FLIP's exhibitions consisted of works by Barry JC Purves which included a book signing and 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 * ...

and work from the 2011 feature film ''

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

'', and maquettes from UK puppet makers Mackinnon & Saunders.

Recurring themes or programmes

FLIP offers visitors a chance to engage in ‘Big Screen Gaming’ in the smaller of the two cinemas. In 2009 Flip held a competition for participants to experience the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

and one of its core games,

Halo 3 ''Halo 3'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the ''Halo'' franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in 2001's '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' and continued in 2 ...

. This has then led to it becoming a regular feature at Light House with games such as the

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game and a

Street Fighter , commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...

game. 'Big Screen Gaming' returned for FLIP 2010 with one of the year's most hotly anticipated releases, Halo: Reach. Another feature of FLIP Festival is the curated programme hosted by a guest curator from within the animation world. Previous years have been curated by Professor Paul Wells (Director of Animation, Loughborough University) and The Brothers McLeod whereas 2010 was curated by Clare Kitson, who is 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 UK, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Institute. Hist ...

and between 1989 and 1999, commissioned

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's animation.

The awards

The festival is 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 runs competitions for student films, created by current university/college students and, starting in 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''.{{Cite web , url=http://www.flipfestival.co.uk/2007/11/08/flip-winners/ , title=Flip Winners | Flip Festival , access-date=12 July 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728075157/http://www.flipfestival.co.uk/2007/11/08/flip-winners/ , archive-date=28 July 2011 , url-status=dead , df=dmy-all

Best of FLIP

FLIP Festival also does several small screenings throughout the year of either just the award winners or all the selected submissions. The "Best of FLIP" is usually shown at various venues throughout the West Midlands. For the 2010 season, FLIP had "best of" screenings at both the Stoke Film Theatre and the Wem Town Hall and there was also a special screening at

Artsfest ArtsFest was an annual arts festival held in September in Birmingham, England. Between 1997 and 2012 ArtsFest brought together free short demonstrations of dance, music, film and theatre to concert halls, theatres, and open-air stages in vari ...

'10 in Birmingham, UK.

Notes

External links

FLIP Festival’s website

Light House Media Centre's website
Animation film festivals in the United Kingdom Festivals in the West Midlands (county) Film festivals established in 2004 Film festivals in England Wolverhampton