Brighton students enjoy work placements to get animated about

Haniyyah Nauzeer, Vince Mosti and Lexie Rhys-Jones added to their Animation BA(Hons) studies with hands-on experience at PigBird studios based in Worthing, who specialise in stop motion animation. The work placements were arranged by course lecturer Kate Jessop after PigBird's Trevor Hardy did a Q+A session at the inaugural Brighton International Animation Festival, which Kate created and ran earlier this year.

Two of the BA Animation students who volunteered at the Festival - Haniyyah Nauzeer and Ivy Dillon – also so impressed one director at the event that they have been invited to help select films for the Short Sighted Cinema film festival taking place in London on 3 September.

Lexie Rhys-Jones, Haniyyah Nauzeer, and Vince Mosti

Kate Jessop with Haniyyah Nauzeer and Ivy Dillon

Lexie Rhys-Jones, who has just completed her first year studying Animation BA(Hons) at University of Brighton, said: "The placement was great. It was fascinating to see inside PigBird's studio, and know that I helped work on a real professional animation. I am very grateful to the university for giving us this opportunity, and excited to do more things like that in the future!"

Kate Jessop, meanwhile, will be spending time over the summer working with three leading European festivals. First up is being among the festival judges at Fest Anca in Slovakia, where she will also deliver a lecture on women in animation based on her research at University of Brighton – alongside a screening of one of her films.

Kate will then deliver a programme from the Brighton International Animation Festival at the Anibar Festival in Kosovo, starting on 13 July. Finally, she will be on the jury at the prestigious Viborg Animation Festival in Denmark in September.

Kate Jessop, senior lecturer in the School of Art and Media at the University of Brighton, said: "Community and connections are everything in the animation industry, as they are in most creative industries. It's been a delight to bring people together and see the students blossom. I am also excited to widen my network further this summer with the international opportunities setting up the Brighton International Animation Festival have brought me."