76 | Tees Business
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WORLD-LEADING ANIMATION FESTIVAL
T
he impact of graduate talent from
Teesside University’s School of
Computing and Digital Technologies
has been felt far beyond the Tees Valley.
From helping to start up some of the
region’s most innovative businesses to
providing Oscar-winning expertise on
Hollywood blockbusters, alumni from the
university are leading the field across the
world in the creative industries.
Teesside was the first university to offer
the ground-breaking MSc in Computer
Aided Graphical Technology Applications
(CAGTA) in 1989, which blazed a digital trail
for what was then the School of Computing
and Maths.
Since that time, the school’s reputation
for animation and visual effects has become
world-renowned and this year it was
ranked as one of the top 20 places to study
animation in the world by Animation Career
Review.
World-leading animation festival
One of the high points on the animation
industry’s calendar is the annual Animex
Festival, which is hosted by the School of
Computing and Digital Technologies and this
year celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Over those two decades, the annual festival
has brought a global line-up of animation and
game industry experts to Teesside University
every year.
Movie legend Ray Harryhausen, the Oscar-
winning stop-motion pioneer behind film
effects seen in Jason and The Argonauts, Clash
of the Titans, One Million Years BC and Sinbad
and the Eye of the Tiger, has visited Animex on
several occasions to talk about his work.
Other major names attracted to speak at
Animex have included Nancy Cartwright,
the voice of one of the world’s best known
animated characters, Bart Simpson.
Instantly recognisable names such as Walt
Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, which
are synonymous with box office animated hits
such as Finding Nemo, Frozen, Monsters Inc,