Film / animation
Aardman celebrate 40th birthday at Encounters
Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton celebrated the world famous animation company’s 40th birthday with a special event at the opening night of the Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival at the Watershed.
At the event hosted by Bristol24/7 Editor Martin Booth, the pair looked back at their four decades in business since opening above a shop in Clifton in 1976.
While looking at the history of the company, Lord made a model of Morph, one of Aardman’s most popular characters, before Sproxton introduced the world premiere of the remastered video for Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel.
There followed questions from Booth, before a Q&A from the audience threw up titbits such as some of the voices for Oscar-winning Creature Comforts were the owners of the corner shop near Aardman’s first Bristol home in Wetherell Place near the University of Bristol student union.
Lord and Sproxton also touched on the future of the company, currently in the middle of production for the Nick Park helmed feature film Early Man, including advances in virtual reality animation.
Here’s to the next 40 years.
All photos by Jon Craig
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