The return of Puppet Masters, delivered by CIT and the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive.
Tickets £25 Full Price, £15 Concession, £5 Students/Pupils
Book online here or call 0161 912 5616.
Meet The Puppet Masters is a one-day event featuring a series of masterclass sessions and panel discussions with leading animators, creative artists and figures from the film and TV industry.
The event is ideal for animators, filmmakers, cinematographers, artists working with animation and fans of hand-drawn and stop-motion animation.
Hosted by Ric Michael, this year’s event features in-person talks and discussions with Grammy-winning animator Em Cooper, BAFTA-nominated animator Lizzy Hobbs, SXSW Special Jury award winner Sophie Koko Gate and award-wining animation cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett, along with a new video interview with Mexican animator and director Nayelli Ojeda, following up on her wonderful talk at Waterside back in March.
About Our Speakers
Em Cooper
Em Cooper is an Emmy nominated and Grammy winning British film director.
Her distinctive style of continuous motion in oil-paint combines psychological insight with an intuitive method of working the paint: each frame is painted by hand, and composed instinctively into sequences in a process she calls choreographing.
She is the 2024 winner of the Grammy for Best Music Video for The Beatles, I’m Only Sleeping. In 2018 she was nominated for an Emmy for her animation in the film Deej. In 2024 she created the two oil-painted sequences in Paddington in Peru, and recent commercial clients include Burberry, Prada and Stella Artois.
In 2023 she won the Jury Award for a Commissioned film at Annecy International Animation Festival; Gold at the UK Creative Circle Awards, and Best Animation at the Shark Music Video Awards. Her film 30% premiered at Sundance in 2013, and her experimental film works have been exhibited at Turner Contemporary and The Freud Museum.
Em is a graduate of the Royal College of Art and Sheffield Hallam University (Fine Art).
Em Cooper photo credit: Dasha Tenditn
Instagram @em.cooper.studio
Lizzy Hobbs
Elizabeth Hobbs is a traditional animator who has been making films under a rostrum camera since 1999. In the production of her animated films she has used relief print on 35mm film, butterfly prints, images created with a typewriter, paint on a bathroom tile, collage and paint and ink on paper.
The films are often based on historical figures or literary adaptations and they can be rude or funny. Elizabeth is senior tutor on the Directing Animation MFA at The National Film & Television School, and Associate Lecturer on the MA in Animation at London College of Communication.
Instagram @hobbslizzy
Sophie Koko Gate
Sophie is a writer and animation director from Bath, England. She’s represented by Fourth Wall Management for TV and film and Jelly for commercial work.
Her RCA graduation film Half Wet (2014) screened in over 200 festivals worldwide including SXSW, BFI, AFI and the Tate Modern.
She has made short films for Hulu, FX, Adult Swim, MTV, BBC and BFI. Her film ‘Slug Life’ (2018) screened at Sundance 2020 and won awards at SXSW, Ottawa and GLAS Animation festival.
Her latest short Hotel Kalura (2021) was televised on Hulu and won 10 awards including 2 at Ottawa and ‘Best Animation’ at Indie Lisboa. She has also curated animation for Adult Swim’s Off The Air programme entitled ‘Moon’ and Eternal Family’s monthly programme.
After being nominated for the Arts Foundation Award and recognised as a fine artist, she was the first animator ever to be nominated for the prestigious Jarman Award in 2023. This led to a solo exhibition ‘Milk Bath‘ at East Gallery in the UK in 2024. She has been working in development for animated feature films and series including her own animated TV series with Sony Pictures Animation and Adult Swim ‘Evil Queens’.
Sophie is currently in production with her new 3D animated short ‘Not On My Watch’ funded by the BFI, due to be released end of 2026. She is also a regularly performing stand up comedian and clown. She’s a finalist of the Berlin new stand up award 2024 and has critically acclaimed reviews from Edinburgh festival, Pen theater and Mezrab.
Instagram @sophiekoko
Nayelli Ojeda
Nayelli is a Mexican director and stop motion artist whose work explores the poetic relationship between humanity and nature. She blends animation, fine art and environmental sensitivity to craft visually immersive narratives.
She trained in animation and further developed her stop-motion practice through specialised programs across Mexico, the United States and Canada. Her work as an animation director has been selected and supported by international development platforms such as Talents Guadalajara (Berlinale), Bogotá International Film Festival (Colombia) and Animarkt (Poland).
Nayelli is the founder of Wisdom House Films, an independent creative studio dedicated to stop motion and experimental storytelling. With the support of Mexico’s national film fund IMCINE/FOCINE, the studio produced her stop motion short film Yugen, a piece crafted from Mexican ceramics and inspired by the natural world.
Instagram @wisdomhousefilms
Dave Alex Riddett
Award-winning cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett BSC has been involved with Aardman Animations since the mid 1980s.
He has worked as Director of Photography on all of Nick Parks' celebrated Films since the 'Wrong Trousers' as well as many 'Shaun the Sheep" projects, countless short films , commercials and the Netflix xmas special 'Robin Robin".
Instagram @davealexriddett
Note: Both Lizzy Hobbs and Em Cooper feature in Waterside’s new animation exhibition, Camera Obscura (24th Oct 26 - 11th Jan 27). Full details here.