Manchester Animation Festival: All the films showing this year, including the new Chicken Run

Manchester Animation Festival is returning for its ninth year in November, bringing an exciting program of UK and international animated films – including the local premiere of the highly anticipated Chicken Run sequel.

Taking place at HOME cinema and the Bridgewater Hall on 12-17 November, the festival includes over 100 events ranging from screenings, panels, workshops, masterclasses, making of sessions and studio talks.

General sale tickets are released on Friday 29 September, but pre-sale tickets are now available to purchase for subscribers to the festival’s Patreon. There are different ticket options to choose from, including a full festival pass for £110 and online passes for £40.

Which films will be shown?

The big film to be shown at this year’s festival will be Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2000 claymation film by Aardman Animations – the studio that created Wallace and Gromit. Although the film is released on Netflix in October, this screening will be the first opportunity for Mancunians to see it on the big screen.

Another highlight of the festival is sure to be an advanced screening of the first three episodes of Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, an animated series based on the 2010 film by Edgar Wright, who adapted it from a popular graphic novel of the same name. The cast members from the film are all returning to voice the characters in this new series, including Michael Cera, Aubrey Plaza and Kieran Culkin.

Elsewhere on the program, there is an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s novel Kensuke’s Kingdom, starring Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins and Ken Watanabe; White Plastic Sky, a film set in post-apocalyptic Budapest; Mars Express, a French future noir about a private detective and her android partner; The Peasants, a Polish film about a peasant woman who married an older rich man; A Chicken For Linda, a French film about a mother who promises to cook a meal for her daughter even though she cannot cook.

Other highlights

Another event to look out for during the festival will be the Making of… session that will take a peek behind the scenes at some of the most recent animations, including the new Chicken Run film, Nimon, the recent fantasy adventure from Netflix starring Chloe Grace Moretz and the new Disney film Wish.

There will also be special event to celebrate 20 years of the famous animation studio Magic Light Pictures, who created The Gruffalo and Stickman. The festival will also be continuing its tradition of highlighting animation from a particular country and this year it is Croatia. This will include screenings of both classic and contemporary Croatian animation, as well as a talk with Kata Gugić of Bonobostudio.

The festival will also show a program of short animation films under the two themes of ‘Divert, Delight, Defy: Animating Trans Identities’ and ‘Animated Africa’. And there will be a panel discussion on ‘The Art of the Music Video.’

This year, the festival’s industry day has been renamed The Animation Nation Forum and will take place on 16 November, featuring a yet-to-be-announced keynote speaker.

The culmination of the festival is the award ceremony on 17 November, which will once again be hosted by comedian Amy Gledhill.

For kids

As ever, there is also plenty for the kids to get involved at Manchester Animation Festival, including BBC Box Set, dedicated family screenings and events, as well as workshops from Claymation and LEGO Stop Motion. They will have the chance to see how their favourite shows are made and get a chance to learn how to draw and make them themselves.

There will also be an award for Young Animator of the Year UK, for animators aged 11-18 from all across the country.

More information can be found on the Manchester Animation Festival website. 

What have the organisers said?

Festival Director Steve Henderson said: “It’s been a big, exciting year for MAF with news of our Oscar Qualifying status and the momentum hasn’t stopped! Myself and the team are delighted to be bringing the world of animation to Manchester this November and presenting some of the best films from across the world and giving our audiences the chance to hear from the best people in the world of animation! We look forward to welcoming audiences to Manchester to see something amazing.”