Jonathan Hodgson
Animation Director
Jonathan Hodgson is an internationally renowned, award winning animation director based in London. He was educated at Liverpool Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. His most recent commission was to direct the animation for Franny Armstrong’s climate change documentary feature The Age of Stupid which went on UK cinema release in March 2009.
His first commission after leaving college was to make an animated short about nuclear disarmament for the United Nations with co-director Susan Young. He went on to be a director at Felix Films, a founder member of Bermuda Shorts and a director at Speedy Films before setting up Sherbet with producer Jonathan Bairstow in 1996. Here he directed several short films and numerous high profile advertising campaigns including Saab USA, Bell Atlantic, United Bank of Switzerland, Vanguard, the Home Office and Persil. His short films have won many awards including a BAFTA in 2000 for The Man with the Beautiful Eyes and a BAFTA nomination in 2002 for Camouflage. In 2003 he set up Hodgson Films as an outlet for his personal films and continues to be represented by Sherbet for commercials. In 2005 he was featured on the BBC4 Documentary series Animation Nation. He has presented retrospectives of his work at Norwich Animation Festival; Hull Short Film Festival; Anima Mundi Animation Festival, Brazil; Eksjo Animation Festival, Sweden; London International Animation Festival and in 2006 presented master classes in three Canadian cities for the National Film Board of Canada. His work is featured on several DVD compilations and in many books, most recently Clare Kitson’s British Animation: The Channel Four Factor. He has lectured extensively including the Royal College of Art, London; Surrey Institute, Farnham and the Film Akademie Barden Wurtemburg, Germany. He was a mentor for the A.I.R. Scheme, the Channel 4 MESH scheme and the London Animation School, an external examiner at Norwich College of Art and Design and the illustration and animation department at Kingston University. In 2008 he became programme leader for BA (Hons) Animation at Middlesex University.