The BFX Festival, a festival bringing the best of the visual effects, animation and gaming worlds to the South Coast, is returning for its fourth year.
Running between 8-16 October 2016 at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) the Festival promises to bring insight into some of the best games, films and animations from the last 12 months.
In previous years delegates have been treated to behind the scenes footage from films such as Interstellar, The Lego Movie, Mad Max: Fury Road and Big Hero 6, and films set to feature in 2016’s Festival will be released shortly.
Festival Director Sofronis Efstathiou said, “Every year BFX just keeps growing, we have involvement from the biggest studios in the world, superstars of the visual effects industry who want to be a part of the Festival, share their work and give insights into some of the biggest and best movies and games – there will be something for everyone, from hands-on activities for children right the way through to visual effects professionals.”
The BFX Festival is one of the only events in the UK that brings together key players from the visual effects industry and last year over 1,000 delegates, ranging from students, graduates and industry professionals to families and local residents came to enjoy some of the film screenings, hands-on activities and industry talks and workshops.
The Festival will compromise a Pro day, run in collaboration with The Foundry and aimed at visual effect professionals, where the latest techniques and softwares will be discussed, as well as the Festival activity with talks and workshops from industry professionals on how the best films and games of 2015 and 2016 have been made. The Festival will end with a family weekend, where children and adults can try their hand at doing their own animations, watch films and engage with the visual effects industry.
Sofronis Efstathiou continued, “If you have been to BFX before then you will know we have a brilliant time, always learn something new and celebrate the best in in visual effects from some of the world’s biggest names – this year will be no different. If you’ve never been before, then keep looking out for information, this is an event in Bournemouth, on your doorstep, that you won’t want to miss.”
In addition to the Festival, a BFX Competition for students also takes place, with winners announced at the Festival itself. The Competition, sponsored by Kingston Smith, is open to all students and this year teams will be competing to create a bespoke animated short film for one of two charities, which this year will be Create and Refuge.
The two charities were announced as winners of the Kingston Smith Creative Vision Award, which means both charities will now have visual effects films created for them by the BFX Competition entrants.
Nick Brooks, Head of not for profit at Kingston Smith and a member of the judging panel, said: “We are delighted with the response to our second annual Creative Vision Award with over 150 entries received. The feedback from our last year’s winners has been extremely positive, and we are thrilled with the meaningful impact that this initiative has had. We’re making a difference, and we’re intensely proud of this which is why Kingston Smith is committed to making this an on-going award to support the sector and enable more charities to benefit from the medium of film.”
The competition was launched at BAFTA in 2012 and invites students and recent graduates from around the country to compete against briefs to create animated videos under the watchful eye of industry practitioners from some of the best visual effects companies in the world, including Framestore, MPC and Double Negative.
For more information about the BFX Competition, and the BFX Festival, visit www.bfxfestival.com.
