To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the creation of what was once the UK's biggest and most important animation company Halas and Batchelor, Encounters is delighted to present a digitally re-mastered version of the classic Animal Farm. The first feature-length British animated film to be given a theatrical release, this landmark 1954 adaptation brilliantly conveys all the horror and humour of George Orwell’s scathing satire on the corruption of Communist ideals and the Soviet Union’s slide into totalitarianism. Animal Farm remains an outstanding achievement for award-winning animators John Halas and Joy Batchelor. Actor and singer Gordon Heath narrates, and the characters are voiced by Maurice Denham.

This film remastered through the British Film Institute will be screened along with two of Halas & Batchelor's short films - Automania 2000 and The History of the Cinema. Encounters is delighted to welcome Vivien Halas the daughter of Joy Batchelor and John Halas to introduce the films.

halasandbatchelor.co.uk

The short films in this programme include:

• Automania 2000
  (1963) Dir: John Halas
  A multi-award-winning, uncannily prophetic satire imagining a future state of technological overkill; a vision of humanity as it adapts to life in a gridlocked world.
• The History of Cinema
  (1957) Dir: John Halas
  A century of screen history humorously recounted through a blend of fact and fiction in an award-winning piece which uses traditional cel animation to expose the foibles of the film industry.

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