Wallace and Gromit Co-Producer comes to Teesside

The 2005 Wallace and Gromit feature The Curse of the Wererabbit has been nominated for the best animated feature Oscar. The film’s Co-Producer, David Sproxton, will be visiting the Tees Valley this week as the keynote speaker of Animex, the University of Teesside’s International Festival of Animation and Computer Games.

In addition to its Oscar nomination, the film has also dominated Hollywood’s annual animation awards, the Annies, clinching nine prizes. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit was named best animated feature. The other awards were for: directing, music, writing, voice acting, character animation, effects, storyboarding and production design.

David Sproxton is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Aardman Animations Ltd. He will be a keynote speaker at Animex on the afternoon of Friday 10 February.

There will be an opportunity to photograph / interview David Sproxton the day before his talk, at 2.30pm on Thursday 9 February. Any interested media can meet Dave Sproxton in the reception, Europa Building, off Woodlands Road, Middlesbrough at this time. Photographs and interviews will follow in a nearby venue. For more information please contact Stephen Laing on 01642 342962, mobile 07810 658923.

Organised by the University of Teesside, Animex runs from Monday 6 February to Friday 10 February and is centred at the University with other venues across the Tees Valley. It is now in its seventh year. Together with co-founder Peter Lord, David Sproxton has overseen the development of Aardman Animations from a two-man partnership into one of the major animation houses. David Co-Produced Aardman's first feature film Chicken Run, made in association with DreamWorks and also Co-Produced the Wallace and Gromit feature The Curse of the Wererabbit in association with DreamWorks. In addition to its Oscar nomination, The Curse of the Wererabbit was one of five features nominated by BAFTA in the Best British Film category. The BAFTA results will be announced in London on Saturday 19 February, with the Oscars following on Sunday 5 March. Aardman also produce the highly popular ITV series Creature Comforts.

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