BFI gets Halas & Batchelor animation archive

"the husband and wife-run Halas & Batchelor, sometimes called the British Disney – which for more than 50 years produced adverts, public information pieces, feature films, TV cartoons and serious award-winning animation respected the world over.

Today, 15 years after the studio's last release, the British Film Institute will announce that it has been given the Halas & Batchelor archive, including film prints, stills, scripts, correspondence and original cells. It is the largest ever single donation of British animation and was welcomed as 'an extraordinarily rich gift' by the BFI director, Amanda Nevill. 'We look forward to working on ensuring these films and artefacts are enjoyed by the widest possible group of people in years to come,' she said. ...

Curator Jez Stewart hopes that the BFI will be now be able to open up Halas & Batchelor to new generations of animation fans and practitioners. Aardman Animation's Nick Park said he had fond memories of watching the company's animated educational films at school. 'They have always been part of my life,' he said. 'John Halas was the judge on the first animated competition I ever entered – I didn't win, but admired him and looked up to him as a great figure in British animation.'"

(Mark Brown, 3 December 2010, The Guardian)

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