Animex promises biggest names in games, animation and VFX
T
here’s a treat in store this coming
May for all movie, animation and
games fans when Animex returns to
the North-East.
Run by Teesside University, Animex
features a series of talks giving behind-the-
scenes insights into some of the biggest
recent games and movies.
Each year, Animex flies more than 20
speakers in from around the world to the
North-East to talk about their work.
Recent speakers include directors and
leads from Pixar, Walt Disney Studios,
Industrial Light & Magic, Framestore and
Aardman Animations.
On the games side of things, Animex has
featured speakers from Valve, Naughty Dog,
Bungie, Insomniac Games, Santa Monica
Studios, Frontier Developments, Sony
London Studios, Activision and Bethesda.
Animex kicks off with Animex Game,
which consists of two days of computer
games talks from an eclectic mix of big AAA
studios and the hottest smaller indie studios.
Animex Game is followed on the Thursday
with Animex AVFX, another two days of
talks but this time focussing on Animation
and Visual Effects
(VFX).
Nestled in-between
Animex Game and
Animex AVFX on the
Wednesday is a series of
workshops where ticket
holders can learn from
the industry speakers
Will Becher,
Animation director
directly.
for Early Man
Animex, which
by Aardman
has been running
Animations.
for 20 years, initially
started out as a one-day event for Teesside
University students but has steadily grown in
to a week-long event.
In recent years the demand for tickets
from digital businesses in the region as well
as the general public has grown significantly,
so the university has now opened the box
office to all. This means anyone can buy a
ticket for Animex.
Tim Brunton, project manager for the
Animex Festival, said “One of the stand-out
talks from last year had to be from Robert
Allman, where he discussed the VFX work in
Avengers: Endgame.
“Rob is a CG supervisor at Framestore
and it was fascinating to hear how machine
learning is being used to make VFX in
movies even more believable. His behind-
the-scenes talk about his work on Mark
Ruffalo’s Smart Hulk performance was
riveting.”
Tickets for Animex 2020 are available
now from animex.tees.ac.uk
Expansion for ‘steak holders’
T
HE last three years have been a
whirlwind for the remarkably
successful Tomahawk Steakhouse
brand…
Tomahawk’s flagship outlet, which opened
in 2017 in Potto, proved such a success that
the team, led by North-East entrepreneurs
Howard Eggleston and Tom Sturman,
quickly identified further venues and opened
their sixth restaurant in Darlington in
September 2019.
Not ones to let the grass grow under their
feet, the latest plan is to open in York before
the end of the year, and further sites have
been identified in Beverley, Knutsford, Hull
and Wilmslow for 2020.
Sarah Pike, head of PR and marketing,
says: “We have a great business model which
we apply to each site. We’re careful not to
overstretch ourselves, and we maintain the
high standard of our steaks by using the
same suppliers, wherever we’re trading.
“The quality of the food is paramount and
we know we have a great product. Before we
move forward, we talk to our suppliers to
make sure they can keep up with us.”
12
Apart from the now well-established
Tomahawk name, Howard and Tom have
dipped a toe into the Churrascaria dining
experience with the opening of their Rio
Brazilian steakhouse in Jesmond and two
‘steakaway’ outlets – Tomahawk Roasthouse
– in Jesmond and Yarm.
About the Rio brand, Sarah says: “We’re
offering a different concept to the usual style
of ordering individual meals from the menu.
Huge skewers are loaded with three or four
cooked joints of either beef, pork, lamb
or chicken, and specially trained Gaucho
chefs are on hand to carve exactly what the
customer wants, at the table, in a traditional
Rodizio style.
“Customers know it will be good quality,
because it’s from Tomahawk - but it’s a bit
more fun and casual.”
The rollout of these two new brands
will depend on how well the Jesmond and
Yarm sites perform but, if past success is
anything to go by, there will be many more
Rio restaurants and Roasthouse ‘steakaways’
popping up around the country before too
long.
For more about Tomahawk, visit
tomahawk-steakhouse.co.uk