Who We Are
Welcome to the Animation Dingle website, glad to see you here.
You may be a past guest, visitor or attendee, or you may not. But for whatever reason, you have landed here on our ‘Who We Are’ page, so here is a bit of history on who Animation Dingle are, how we came to be and what exactly it is we do….
Animation Dingle came about as the brain child of Maurice Galway and John Rice – back then, Maurice was running a Film Festival in Dingle and John, together with Alan and Mark from JAM Media, came as guests to make a presentation at the festival. We always laugh and remember that nobody showed up to the event, think they couldn’t find the building! However, we all had a conversation about the success of animation in Ireland and the following year, we had an animation day long event in St. James’ Church. The following year more came, the year after more again….until eventually Animation Dingle needed a place and home of its own. Animation Dingle was born.
To this day, Animation Dingle is the product of Maurice Galway and JAM Media and every year a Festival is pulled together by a unique Kerry-Dublin team.
Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Dingle Town, Animation Dingle is a 2-day Festival taking place each March. The event includes Conference, Awards, Workshops and Screenings, all within the town of Dingle. What makes Animation Dingle Different? High caliber guests, animated animation students from around the country and beyond…but above all Animation Dingle prides itself on its ability to create an atmosphere of camaraderie and sharing…..Animation Dingle is vibrant and a symbiotic melting pot of ideas and exchanges….it is a space and place where professionals and industry experts make time for the new, upcoming young people in the field…..opportunities abound…..the synergistic ether is magical. Our programme is demonstrative of that – where else can you take a Studio Pub Trail and find animation studios who have adopted a pub of the weekend, where you can pop in for a chat and a pint? Check out our programme for a bigger picture.
Animation Dingle has as its mascot the mythical monster An Phaist….he epitomises all that Animation Dingle work hard to nurture and create. If An Phaist is the mascot of fun and mischief, then Dingle is the backdrop and central character. Together with the attention to detail, hard work and imagination of the team, this combination makes Animation Dingle the unique experience it is.
We are proud to say,
The Difference is Dingle
WHO IS MAKING IT HAPPEN
Maurice Galway is the Festival Director and co-founder of Animation Dingle. Maurice has over 30 years of festival experience and he brings this each year to Animation Dingle. As a festival director, programmer, exhibitor and as an artist and filmmaker himself, Maurice has a deep understanding of what works, what needs to be seen, what audiences want to see, how to exhibit that and, ultimately, what is good! Animation Dingle is an Academy Award® Qualifying Festival.
Maurice has presented Irish Animation at Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Toronto Irish Film Festival & Soho House Festival.
In recognition of his work, Maurice was presented with an Ambassador Award by Fáilte Ireland; Gregory Peck’s family presented him with The Gregory Peck Award for Excellence in The Art of Film and he is the recipient of The Founding Kerry Ambassador Award.
As a visual artist & filmmaker, his feature film documentary Pauline Bewick: Yellow Man Grey Man screened on RTÉ & Sky Arts. His short films have been exhibited in Ireland, London, New York & China.
He is also the founder of Dingle Film Walks: Follow in the footsteps of iconic Hollywood filmmakers on the Dingle Peninsula.
As part of Dingle IFF, Maurice invited JAM Media to contribute to the Festival Programme and from that small beginnings, Animation Dingle was born.
JAM Media, with operations in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, is one of the leading creators and producers of multi-award winning animated and live action content for the children’s and pre-school audience. Priding itself on delivering high quality, innovative, story-driven brands, across multiple platforms, revolving around engaging characters with humour at its heart. The company fully controls and exploits all commercial opportunities arising from its intellectual properties through strategic relationships with all parties, including broadcasters, digital platform providers, publishers, and licensing & merchandising partners across the globe.
The company has produced a number of original television series including the BAFTA® winning, Roy, Baby Jake, PICME, Funky Fables, Tilly & Friends and enjoys excellent collaborative relationships with key broadcasters and ‘like-minded’ partners around the globe.
JAM current properties in production, Little Roy, Zig and Zag and Becca’s Bunch have been very enthusiastically received by the children’s broadcast community, in addition to its latest slate of development projects.
