Mark Simon Hewis

Mark Simon Hewis became Head of the Aardman Academy in 2020 after first joining Aardman 18 years ago as Pixillation Artist playing the body of the cult Aardman character “Angry Kid”. He subsequently spent 10 years in Aardman’s commercial department as a Director, Producer and 1st Assistant Director. His work outside of Aardman includes international award-winning films for the Arts Council, Channel 4 and BBC. His first feature film, 8 Minutes Idle was released in 2014 for BFI, BBC Films, Matador and Arthur Cox. The Life Sized Zoetrope (2008) made for Channel 4, Arts Council UK and Animate was nominated for eight awards at the British Animation Awards and won the Grand Prix at the London International Animation Festival and the Tampere Film Festival. It subsequently gained distribution deals worldwide and is regularly included in compilations, books and articles sighting key films in the history of alternation short animation.