Dick Arnall
animate! is very sad to report the death of Dick Arnall on 6th February 2007.
Dick was closely involved with animate! from the very beginning when he was approached by David Curtis, Keith Griffiths and Clare Kitson, then head of animation for Channel 4, to set up animate! in conjunction with the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1990. He worked as its independent production adviser until 1998, steering 35 films to completion and numerous prizes, and was himself voted top producer in Creation magazine's 50 Hottest Names in British Animation in 1999.
He took a break, to return to producing films in his own right, including Jo Ann Kaplan’s Anatomy of Melancholy for animate!, and Robert Bradbrook's multi-award winning Home Road Movies.
From 2001, Dick's company Finetake ran the project, taking it in new directions, setting up animateonline and the animate! artists award, and developing animate!'s extensive exhibition programme, taking the work to unexpecting audiences in new contexts.
More than anything, he'll be remembered as the artists' staunchest champion, supporter, and friend.
“the patron saint of alternative animation”
Samantha Moore
“the Personal was Political with him - he lived it”
Jo Ann Kaplan
“the man was truly an inspiration and visionary”
Andrew Kotting
“he was a marvel and a diamond and will be sadly missed”
Stuart Hilton
“it hard to accept that his singular character, ebullience and energy are gone now”
Paul Bernays
“The world truly will be diminished without Dick...his vision and energy, but also quite fundamentally his goodness.”
Adam Pugh
“We could do with a few more Dick Arnall's and we sure can't afford to lose the one we had.”
Malcolm Turner
“Dick really was the Godfather of animation.” Damian Gascoigne
Animation is so much more than... live-action
If you enjoy challenging your eyes and mind... if you are eager to transcend the ordinary and re-vision the world with unexpected tools... animate! wants you.
The animate! project trailblazes fresh narrative and aesthetic possibilities in the moving image, way beyond live-action and the frame-by-frame confines of conventional animation. No easy 'how to' cartoon manuals here, or tips on making & selling series for kids.
animate! has commissioned 84 risk-taking films since 1990 – dynamic and diverse, pure and hybrid, celluloid, tape and digital. Synthesis is what it's about.
Spirited, radical content...
New forms, tools & processes...
Refreshing, extending and redefining animation.
Read on for the back-story, discussion and inspiration.
The animate! Book on sale
Illustrated with 870 full-colour film images and graphics, The animate! Book: Rethinking Animation takes the animate! project as a starting point for a wide-ranging exploration of animation and its concepts in contemporary art practice. Complete with a DVD of ten seminal films commissioned by animate!.
animate! tv 2006 commissions in production
Six new projects were selected in May for animate! tv's sixteenth annual slate. The productions are funded by Arts Council England and Channel 4 for completion in summer 2007 and broadcast by Channel 4 in the autumn.
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animate! is produced by Finetake
funded by Arts Council England and Channel 4 Television
