Flip Animation Festival is happening on 4 – 6 November in Wolverhampton. The festival is organised by Light House Media Centre and hosts a programme of educational workshops for young people, along with experimental animation for grown ups, plus industry led panels, feature film screenings, international showcases, retrospectives of short films and spotlights on animation studios.

While there are still plenty of events yet to be announced, here’s a peak at a few of the highlights announced so far;

Workshops in Introduction to Animation and Writing an Animated Comedy with The Brothers McLeod, both on 4 Nov.

Gaming themed workshops, including an Introduction to Building a Game with XNA and Big Screen Gaming on Halo: Reach, also on 4 Nov.

Young animators aged 14 – 16 are invited to the free Film Nation: Shorts Animation Workshop on 5 Nov.

Plus Wolverhampton Art Gallery are also running an exhibition entitled RE-animate which will be on until 27 Nov.

Tickets have yet to go on sale for this year’s festival, so keep an eye on the Flip website for the latest announcements.

Hi8us Midlands will be hosting a series of free workshops for 14-19 year olds in association with the Film Nation: Shorts competition.

The workshops will give young film-makers the chance to meet professional film-makers and acquire new skills in film-making techniques using the latest state-of-the-art Panasonic equipment.

Film Nation: Shorts was launched by eminent film producer Lord David Putnam and actors Nicholas Hoult and Georgia Groome at BAFTA in London and invites 14-25 year olds to create short films that celebrate the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games: respect, courage, excellence, friendship, equality, determination and inspiration.

The workshops will be held on 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th and 19th August from 10am to 4pm at The Bond and participants should be able to attend all dates.

Workshops for the 19-25’s will be popping up across the country, so check back to the Film Nation site if you’re interested.

Submissions for the first round of the competition are open until 1 October 2010.

Anyone interested in attending should contact Vicki at Hi8us on 0121 753 7700 or email vicki@hi8us.co.uk.