Marking the start of a new academic year, Into Film and Aardman announce their new educational partnership which will see the creation and launch of an new animation course, Animate! with Aardman, aimed at primary school teachers and their pupils.
Additionally, the partners announced that Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget will close the Into Film Festival (intofilm.org) on November 24, with special preview screening events across the U.K. Festival bookings will go live, free to all U.K. educators, on Thursday, September 7.
From multi-Academy and BAFTA Award-winning Aardman (Creature Comforts, Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep) and Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated director Sam Fell (ParaNorman and Flushed Away, respectively), the new feature film is the sequel to the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time, Chicken Run. (See the just-released Netflix teaser trailer here.)
“Aardman has a rich history of world class talent working seamlessly together to create award-winning productions that entertain millions of people across the globe,” noted Aardman Managing Director Sean Clarke. “It is only fitting that as we approach the release of the studio’s most anticipated films, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, that we partner with Netflix and Into Film to engage and encourage the next generation of creatives into our industry.”
Paul Reeve, CEO of Into Film, said, “We’re thrilled to be building further on our long-standing relationship with Aardman, having made many of their films, and educational resources linked to them, available to schools for a number of years. This new partnership initiative will enable teachers and their pupils to become creators themselves and help to inspire a new generation of animators.”
Animate! with Aardman, delivered in partnership with Into Film and supported by Netflix, brings the magic of stop-motion filmmaking to the classroom, with experts from the studio behind animation classics, Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep providing a video-led step-by-step guide to creating simple, stop-motion masterpieces with young people.
The course, launching September 19, has been designed to help young people produce achievable animated projects using everyday equipment and free motion apps. Each video is complemented with educational resources and guidance to support teachers through the process — plus, there’s an opportunity to attend a live webinar with an Aardman director.
For enrolment and more information as to how animation can support learning across the curriculum, visit intofilm.org/animate.
Leading UK Education charity, Into Film, has been awarded new funding as part of the BFI’s National Lottery Funding Strategy 2023-2033 to ensure screen culture will have the greatest positive impact on educational outcomes for U.K. children and young people aged 5-18.
