THE LARGEST animation festival in the UK will return to the region in February.

Animex, the five day long international festival of animation and computer games will take place in Middlesbrough from Monday, February 18 to Friday, February 22.

The event, which attracts people from all over the world, will play host to some of the industry’s leading names.

Guest speakers include writer and creator of the Blade comic book character, Marv Wolfman, Walt Disney layout supervisor Rob Dressel and artist and designer Bay Raitt, who built Gollum’s facial animation system for the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films.

Now in its 14th year, the festival will feature a blend of talks, master classes, workshops, film screenings and exhibitions. A new strand to the festival, Animex Comics, will also be launched.

Gabrielle Kent, Animex Director, said: “We are very proud to announce the line-up for Animex 2013, once again attracting some of the biggest names in the industry to the university.

“The arrival of Animex Comics will bring even more appeal to the festival and we are thrilled to be able to celebrate ten years of Animex Game: it’s set to be the biggest Animex yet.”

Find out more and book tickets at animex.tees.ac.uk/tickets.cfm.