AN animation festival is hosting a world premiere tonight.

The Animex International Festival of Animation will show Dream on Silly Dreamer at the Arc Cinema, in Stockton.

Two years in the making, the documentary marks the end of the hand-drawn artform that was the cornerstone of Disney animation.

It tells of the redundancy, in 2002, of more than 200 Disney artists at the company's Feature Animation Department at Burbank.

Nearly 1,300 skilled artists also lost their jobs at studios in Paris, Tokyo and Florida as the company abandoned hand-drawn animation in favour of computer-generated techniques.

The film's director, Dan Lund, and producer, Tony West, both former Disney employees, will introduce the film and answer questions after the screening, which will begin at 8pm at the Arc, in Dovecot Street.

Now in its sixth year, the Animex festival runs until Friday with events across the Tees Valley.

The festival will begin with the two-day Animex Game event, where videogames experts will debate the industry, followed by Animex Workshops, a one-day session of tips given by experts for aspiring and professional animators.

It will conclude with the main event, Animex Talk! -a two-day animation conference featuring some of the biggest names in the industry.

Published: 31/01/2005