BAF Game '09

www.baf.org.uk

Tickets have gone on sale today (21 September) for BAF Game ‘09, Bradford Animation Festival’s splinter strand dedicated to exploring the connections between video games, animation, and film which takes place on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 November. Now in its fifth year, BAF Game is dedicated to all things gaming and is delivered by the NationalMediaMuseum in strong partnership with the University of Bradford and Screen Yorkshire’s GameRepublic.

Talks, discussions, screenings and workshops will take place at the Museum and the University and will be led by industry experts exploring the creative side of gaming in all its forms. Themes for discussion this year include independent gaming and the challenges of setting up your own studio.

Confirmed guests for BAF Game include Ian Livingstone of Eidos Interactive, Erik Svedang creator of BlueberryGardenand Tara Saunders from Sony London Studios.

A leading pioneer in interactive entertainment, Ian Livingstone co-founded Games Workshop in 1975, launched Dungeons & Dragons in Europe and authored the Fighting Fantasy books before moving into the videogames industry in 1992. As Creative Director of Eidos, Ian has developed world conquering franchises Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Hitman.

Game designer and lecturer, Erik Svedang is sole-creator of BlueberryGarden; a new game that lets players loose in a fairytale world with an ever changing ecosystem. BlueberryGarden was winner of the Seamus McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival 2009. Tara Saunders, lead animator and art manager at Sony London Studios, will be talking about developing EyePet for the Playstation 3. Sure to be the ‘must-have’ Christmas present this year, this interactive virtual pet reacts to the player through the EyeToy camera.

BAF Game is also set to welcome internationally renowned chip tune musician Pixelh8 / Matthew C. Applegate to Bradford for a unique live performance. Pixelh8 makes his music from reprogramming vintage computer systems such as the ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, Game Boy and more. The event will take place in the NationalMediaMuseum’s Pictureville Cinema. Big Screen Gaming also returns to Pictureville where gamers can play the latest games on the cinema screen in glorious high-definition and surround sound.

For retro-gaming fans key figure in the British games industry for over 25 years, Charles Cecil will be attending. Charles formed Revolution Software in 1989 and is the creator of acclaimed PC adventure games Lure of the Temptress, Beneath a Steel Sky and the multi award-winning Broken Sword series. Charles redeveloped and extended Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – The Director’s Cut in 2009 for the Nintendo DS and Wii. BAF Game will also welcome Aron Durkin and Ravi Govind, animators who both worked on the title and graduates of BradfordUniversity.

Tom Woolley, director of BAF Game said: “BAF Game continues to go from strength to strength, attracting key speakers who reveal the stories and challenges behind the games we play today. I’m particularly excited about the Pixelh8 performance which will take place in the NationalMediaMuseum’s Pictureville Cinema, a fantastic venue for this live event.”

As well as speakers from Sony, Amanita Design, Rare and Fluid Pixel Studios, Sarah Quick from Sheffield-based games studio, Tuna Technologies will lead an exclusive hands-on workshop showing how she makes the models for the soon to be released Cletus Clay interactive adventure. Tickets for the workshop are priced at £5 per person.

Tickets for BAF Game are on sale now from the National Media Museum Box Office (call 0870 7010200 or visit www.baf.org.uk). Passes for both days are priced at £55 (£50 concessions) and day passes cost £40 (£30 concessions). Early bird and group discounts are available. Bradford Animation Festival runs from 11 – 14 November at the NationalMediaMuseum.

The Department of Creative Technology at the University of Bradford, development partner for BAF Game 09, organises the festival strand in conjunction with BAF and provides venues for a selection of events and talks. Creative Technology offers a high quality student learning experience on dynamic, dedicated and industry focussed Animation and Games courses. Blending their extensive teaching experience as one of the earliest Departments to offer courses in Animation and Games and working with an extended family of professional partners, Creative Technology are also members of the Yorkshire and HumbersideSkillsetMediaAcademy. Information on the Department and its courses can be found at www.scim.brad.ac.uk.

The principal sponsors of BAF 09 are The WOW Academy and Bradford College. Housed within the Innovative Technologies Centre at BradfordCollege the WOWAcademy is a unique educational training facility aimed at inspiring young people, students, graduates, trainees, and employees to develop an interest in digital and creative media using state-of-the-art technology. Find out more at www.wowacademy.org.uk or take a special guided tour during the Festival. In addition, BradfordCollege provides facilities for Games Technology in both Further and Higher Education and an extensive range of art, media and graphics programmes in the renowned Bradford School of Arts and Media – www.bradfordcollege.ac.uk

For full BAF Game and BAF listings and prices visit www.baf.org.uk.

Please note, all speakers are subject to change

BAF Game, 16thBradford Animation Festival

Tuesday 10 – Wednesday 11 November 2009

National MediaMuseum, Bradford and Bradford & Department of Creative Technology, University of Bradford

Full Game pass £55 (£50 concessions), day passes £40 (£30 concessions), early bird and group discounts available

Box office 0870 7010200 www.baf.org.uk

(16thBradford Animation Festival, Wednesday 11 - Saturday 14 November 2009)

-ends-

For further information, interviews, images or press passes please contact:

Caroline Joynson, Senior Press Officer, NationalMediaMuseum

01274 203305 caroline.joynson@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

Sophie Choudry, Marketing and PR Assistant, NationalMediaMuseum

01274 203334 sophie.choudry@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

Notes to Editors

BAF Game prices 09

Early bird full Game pass:

Full price £50 / Concession £40 / Group pass £30

Full Game pass:

Full price £55 / Concession £45 / Group pass £35

Day Pass:

Full price £40 / Concession £30 /Group pass £20 (No early bird rate available)

Tuna tech workshop: £5

Individual tickets for the Pixelh8 performance will be priced £5.75/3.90 and will be released as pass holders state whether they’ll be attending or not.

Delegate packs will only be given to Full Game pass holders.

Groups:

The group rate applies for groups of 10 or more. Includes 1 free pass for the group leader for every 10 passes sold. (i.e. If you buy 50 passes you’ll receive 5 free passes. 55 in total)

About the Bradford Animation Festival:

The 16th Bradford Animation Festival (BAF) takes place from Wednesday 11 to Saturday 14 November 2009 at the NationalMediaMuseum. BAF Game is a splinter strand of BAF and takes place on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 November at the NationalMediaMuseum and University of Bradford.

The NationalMediaMuseum

The NationalMediaMuseum in Bradford, West Yorkshire, opened as the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford in 1983, with a remit to explore the art and science of the image and image-making, and has since become one of the most visited UK museums outside London.

The Museum is devoted to film, photography, television, radio and the web and looks after the National Photography, Photographic Technology and Cinematography Collections. Its Television Collection incorporates an unrivalled collection of objects relating to the history and development of television, including John Logie Baird's 1923 experimental apparatus.

The Museum organises four major film events every year – Bradford International Film Festival and Bradford Animation Festival, plus Bite the Mango and Fantastic Films Weekend. It also hosts three cinemas – Pictureville, Cubby Broccoli and the first IMAX screen in Europe. The Museum shows films in all of the major formats from Cinerama three-strip, to digital, to IMAX 3D.

The Museum is home to two temporary exhibition spaces and recent programme highlights include the Museum securing the only UK venue for Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Scrapbook, Photographs 1932-46, and the Museum-generated shows Don McCullin – In England and Live by the Lens. Die by the Lens: Film Stars and Photographers. Entry to exhibitions at the NationalMediaMuseum is free.

Other attractions at the Museum include a host of galleries including permanent galleries Experience TV, a hands-on visitor experience about the history, present and past of television, featuring TV Heaven, the Kodak gallery charting the history of photography, the Animation gallery, and the Magic Factory for the young and young at heart. Learning activities for families and schools bring the Museum’s subject matter to life and there are regular cultural events for adults to complement the Museum’s changing programme.

For more information visit www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk