USW graduates work on BAFTA-nominated films Wallace & Gromit and Kensuke’s Kingdom

Alumni from USW’s Animation and Film courses have worked on some of the most successful films of the past year, including Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which has won two BAFTAs, and Kensuke’s Kingdom, nominated for Best Children's and Family Film at the awards.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl won the BAFTA for Animated Film and Children’s and Family Film, and was nominated for Outstanding British Film. It tells the story of top dog Gromit, who springs into action to save his master when Wallace's high-tech invention goes rogue and he is framed for a series of suspicious crimes.

A total of 16 USW graduates worked on the sixth Aardman Animations film, which saw Wallace and Gromit return 16 years after A Matter of Loaf and Death, released back in 2008. The crew included Computer Animation graduates Mathew Rees and Lee Bowditch, Animation alumni Deborah Price, Alison Evans, Ed Jackson, Jody Meredith, Paul Thomas, Sean Gregory, James Carlisle, Rhodri Lovett, Jon Bousfield, Philip Davies, Film graduate Aidan Thomas, Media Production graduate Paul Crossland, and Visual Effects & Motion Graphics alumni Peter Phillips and Nicole Palucsis.

Kensuke's Kingdom, which is up for Best Children’s and Family Film, was worked on by Cardiff-based animation studio Bumpybox, set up by three Computer Animation graduates – Sam Wright (pictured above), Toke Jepsen and Leon Dexter – during their time at USW. Fellow Computer Animation alumni Natalie Knight, Aled Matthews and Danie Parness also worked on the film, alongside Animation graduate Darren Farraday.

Based on the best-selling Michael Morpurgo novel, and adapted for screen by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Kensuke’s Kingdom features the epic adventure of Michael, a young boy shipwrecked on a remote island, who discovers he is not alone when he encounters an old Japanese soldier who retreated there after World War Two.

Sam, who co-produced Kensuke’s Kingdom, said: “It was really exciting for Bumpybox to have worked on our first feature length film – not just seeing our finished work on the big screen, but also having the opportunity to put more time and care into each shot. Feature films allow for a more bespoke approach than TV series, which often require a quick turnaround and a more structured workflow.

“Kensuke’s Kingdom is told with very little dialogue, which is why it works so well as an animated film. Animation offers complete creative freedom to bring worlds and characters to life in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible – the only limits are imagination and budget!”