AFA UK: The Wrong Trousers at 30, Nora Twomey Q&A and More

 

2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit short The Wrong Trousers. Originally released in 1993, it was the second film to feature Nick Park's dynamic duo, and introduced the world to the villainous penguin (or is it chicken?) Feathers McGraw. Aardman animation has announced their plans to celebrate this significant milestone. 

• Aardman is teaming up with fashion brand Olympia Le Tan to create a limited-edition Clutch bag. Featuring Wallace and Gromit alongside devious penguin Feathers McGraw, the bag is limited to just 77 units. Each bag can take up to 300 hours of work.
• An exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in London featuring the remaining clips, storyboards and other movie materials that exists for The Wrong Trousers, The exhibition will run from September of 2023 to April 2024. Cartoon Museum will also run multiple events for the public from August 2023.
• A Wallace and Gromit-themed Escape Room will open at Locked In A Room in Bristol. Titled A Grand Way Out sees the players teaming up with the much-loved duo in a race against time. With a little over an hour to the science village fete, fans will wear the Memory-O-Matic helmet to help Wallace remember the code to his workshop. 
• 30 performances of The Wrong Trousers with live orchestral accompaniment will take place across the UK.
• Various new Wallace and Gromit products and ranges from a wide variety of licensees will launch.
• Wallace and Gromit Wrong Trousers Day will be celebrated on Friday June 30. Held to raise money for The Grand Appeal children's charity,  people are encouraged to don their wackiest legwear.
• The annual ‘Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Ideas’ competition which this year has the theme "make the wrong trousers right." Budding inventors are tasked with reinventing Wallace's Techno-Trousers and making them something that will do good for our planet,
• Model-making workshops will take place at family festivals across the UK, where fans can learn how to model their own Gromit and Feathers McGraw out of modelling clay

Aardman also announced that an interactive, narrative-led, single player VR experience is currently in development for the Meta Quest headset. The Grand Getaway will allow gamers to step inside Wallace and Gromit's world and truly be part of their adventures for the first time.

Meanwhile, in Cardiff, there's an unmissable opportunity to see two titans of animation in conversation. Taking place at Chapter Arts Centre, Cartoon Saloon co-founder Nora Twomey will be chatting on stage with Joana Quinn, director of the Oscar-nominated Affairs Of The Art. In a Q&A, Twomey will be discussing her latest film My Father's Dragon as well as her other award-winning work such as The Breadwinner and The Secret Of Kells. Stick around after the event to meet other animation fans and colour in a frame of a collaborative animation. The event will take place on Saturday, January 28 at 2 PM. There will also be a free screening of My Father's Dragon at 11am. Click here for tickets and more information

Cardiff Animation Festival will also present a program of Queer Animated Shorts. The shorts celebrate queer characters and stories and the work of LGBTQ+ filmmakers. The program will screen at Chapter Arts Center on Saturday, February 4, and then be available streamed online on Thursday, February 9 at 8 PM GMT.

Cardiff Animation Nights will be back for their first screening in 2023. Taking place at Underdog on Thursday, February 16, it will feature another packed program of shorts from around the world. Register for free tickets here.

Finally, Cardiff Animation has announced the return of their 48-hour Quick Draw challenge. Returning for a sixth edition animators are invited (as individuals or as groups) to make a short film in just 48 hours. The Quick Draw runs from February 10-12, and all completed films will be screened online and at the mini Cardiff Animation Festival later this year.