The Brighton International Animation Festival: An Interview with Founder Kate Jessop

Brighton has long been known for its vibrant arts scene, so it’s no surprise that it has become home to a flourishing animation festival. The Brighton International Animation Festival (BIAF), founded by Kate Jessop in 2021, has rapidly grown in both reputation and scale, even earning BAFTA accreditation in 2024.

With an emphasis on inclusivity, community-building, and innovation, BIAF has carved out a unique space in the animation world. MetStudios is proud to be among the festival’s headline sponsors this year, so we were thrilled to sit down with Kate to discuss the festival’s origins, its exciting 2025 edition, and the evolving landscape of animation.

As the founder and director of the Brighton International Animation Festival, what inspired you to establish the festival?

When I first moved to Brighton in summer 2021, I wondered why there was no animation festival here so within 6 months had set one up.

Initially, I was just going to set up a meetup for animators and did end up running Brighton Animation Club for two and a half years after setting up the festival.

Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the capacity to keep that going alongside the monthly pop-ups and life drawing as well, which is where a lot of animators come together anyway.

I guess my objective was about community building; there’s a really active global community in animation, mostly through festivals, which brings a lot of joy and I wanted to bring that joy to Brighton.

The festival has been recognised as BAFTA-qualifying since 2024. How has this accreditation influenced the festival’s profile and the opportunities it offers to participating filmmakers?

Yes, it was a bit of a surprise when I was approached by BAFTA, to be honest – usually you have to have run seven editions to even apply. By this point, I had run three and they approached me to be endorsed.

What this means for selected filmmakers is that it enables them to apply for a BAFTA after screening at BIAF (you can only apply after screening in BAFTA-endorsed festivals).

For me, I guess the recognition and validation was encouraging as I run this on a shoestring, so it is nice to see it appreciated. It also meant my submissions went through the roof – last year I had around 350, this year was 688, which is nearly double!

 

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The 2025 festival is scheduled for April 4th to 6th at Fabrica in Brighton. What are some of the highlights attendees can look forward to this year?

We have some new programme themes, including ‘Fantastical Worlds’ and ‘East Asian Panorama’, which are exciting additions. I’ve always enjoyed fantastical worldbuilding and sci-fi themes and I managed to have enough submissions on this theme this year to develop a new programme based on this.

Similarly, with the ‘East Asian Panorama’, there were some stunning submissions from China, Korea etc. this year and I wanted to do a focus on this.

In addition to the film programmes, we have the Festivus meetup again on the Friday night, which is a chance to network with animation industry professionals and creatives. And then there’s also the talks, workshop, and AR exhibition.

It looks like about 50 of the filmmakers and AR artists will be in attendance this year, including celebrated animation artist Richard Reeves, all the way from Canada, making it an inspiring animation hub!

In addition to film screenings, the festival offers a hands-on workshop and talks from industry speakers. Could you share a bit more about these?

For the first time, there will be a painting on glass erasure animation workshop. Painting on glass was pioneered by Canadian legend Caroline Leaf, who’s often referred to as the Godmother of Animation.

The last couple of years, we’ve done charcoal erasure animation workshops, so it’s is nice to branch out into another technique.

In terms of talks, we have local animation studio, Brighton Zoo, which works on children’s television animation, such as Supertato.

We had the story of Halas and Batchelor last year, so this year I wanted to focus on something more contemporary. On the Friday we have Chris Shephard, who is a BAFTA-nominated animation director, writer and artists and will be sharing his new graphic novel, Anfield Road, with us.

The AR (augmented reality) exhibition and Best AR award is a recent addition to the festival line-up. Can you elaborate on the theme for this year’s AR exhibition and what we can expect?

The AR exhibition is another way to engage with animation and is available between the programmes for audience members to enjoy. It uses the free app Eyejack so it’s accessible to all – if anyone needs any assistance, they can ask the front of house staff to assist.

This theme is ‘Heroes’ and includes an array of subjects – from bees to plumbers – so you’ll have to come down and see!

Every year, I use the exhibition to raise money for a different charity. Audience members can contribute a ‘pay what you can’ donation to a different allocated charity every year and take home the print with them at the end of the festival. This year, we’re raising money for Big Moose, a mental health and suicide prevention charity. Previously, we have raised money for ReThink and Grassroots, both local Brighton charities.

Inclusivity is a key aspect of the festival, with all films subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing, and BSL interpreters at events. Could you discuss the importance of these measures and any feedback you’ve received from attendees?

I like to work with venues that have gender neutral toilets and are wheelchair accessible, as well as providing deaf accessibility.

Part of that is to do with the mission statement and vision of the festival being to making animation as accessible to as many people as possible. Partly, it’s also from my own personal experience. I used to have a deaf partner and, when they came to my film screenings, I realised nothing was subtitled so it was really boring for them to sit through.

I started subtitling my own films years ago based on this experience and wanted to bring that to this festival. Also, when I set it up, I looked to good practice I had experienced as a filmmaker. It was the queer film festivals that were really on it with accessibility, having BSL years ago when animation festivals never did.

I actually feel like animation festivals have got a lot to catch up on, so when I was setting up BIAF, it was more the queer festivals such as Fringe! in London that I sought inspiration from. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from both attendees and participating filmmakers, some comments being that I’m changing animation culture for the better. You can read festival reviews here.

The festival features an annual Queer-focused programme. How has this segment evolved over the years, and what significance does it hold within the broader festival context?

As a filmmaker, whenever I went to queer film festivals I was always the only animator, and when I went to animation festivals the only person making queer films. I must say a lot has changed in the last 5 years or so, but a few years ago it was a really hard to find queer animation.

BIAF is the only animation festival in the UK that has a specialist LGBTQ+ programme and the second in the world after AnimaSyros in Greece.

Reflecting on the festival’s growth since its inception, what challenges have you encountered, and how have they shaped the festival’s development?

There’s been quite a few challenges but also lots of successes. One of the problems has been in finding a good screening venue in Brighton, there seems to be a bit of a dearth of them!

Unfortunately, the first venue I worked with I had to leave after the second year as they made up a previously unagreed £400 charge in the aftermath of the festival so effectively took £400 from the ticket sales. However, that forced me to move on and find a new venue – so here we are at Fabrica!

Other challenges are the usual funding challenges we have in the UK for arts and culture, which European animation festivals would gasp at. I had an 80% funding cut this year; the amount I was awarded didn’t even pay for the venue hire which is why I had to look at other income streams. Hence looking for sponsors and setting up the monthly pop-ups, which are ‘pay what you can’ and all goes towards putting together the annual festival (BSL interpreters and photographers don’t come cheap!).

Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for the future of the Brighton International Animation Festival, and how do you envision it evolving in the coming years?

I went from 2 days to 3 days last year – maybe next year can make it a 4-day festival?

This all depends on income streams of the festival though, of course. It would be great to expand the team as well. The festival is basically me and a part-time assistant who comes in in prep for the programme launch, and a handful of volunteers.

I really enjoy the international partnerships with other festivals and cultural organisations – the programmes have gone to festivals in Kosovo, Czech Republic, a gallery in Iceland, and I’ve hosted a programme from Stoptrik festival in Slovenia.

How do your monthly pop-up events and classes align with the broader goals of the BIAF, and what role do they play in supporting the annual festival?

The monthly pop ups are rescreenings of programmes from previous festival editions. Part of the reason I set them up was that I kept meeting people who had only just found out there was an animation festival in Brighton and asked where they could see the past programmes, and I kept having to say that they couldn’t.

So, instead of waiting until next year, you can now go once a month and see a past programme. This also helps as an income stream to fund the annual festival. I put the programmes on a ‘pay what you can’ basis, starting at a very generous £2 given the scope of quality of the work shown.

The Draw Dancers and Draw Drag life drawing classes were similar to when I set up the festival – I moved to Brighton and couldn’t find the type of class I wanted to do, so I set it up. Draw Dancers focuses on movement and dynamic poses, which is good for animators; we’ve previously drawn a pole dancer and belly dancer, for example. Draw Drag is about to start and focuses on makeup and fashion and is a clothed class.

As BIAF continues to grow, it remains a testament to the power of creativity, community, and resilience in the arts.

Kate Jessop’s passion for animation and her dedication to accessibility and inclusivity have shaped a festival that not only celebrates animated storytelling but also fosters meaningful connections among artists and audiences. With ambitious plans for the future and a strong international presence, BIAF is set to remain a highlight of Brighton’s cultural calendar for years to come.

You can stay up to date on news and events by following Brighton International Animation Festival on Instagram – @brightonanimation – and you can sign up to a monthly e-newsletter here.

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