The Tate Movie

In 2010, Tate set out to encourage 5-13 year olds across the country to engage with art and get excited about the possibilities of their own visual creativity. So the Tate Movie Project was born: an animation film made by kids, for kids, using great art as inspiration.

A year in the making, the Tate Movie Project's 'The Itch of the Golden Nit' premiered on 29 June, 2011 in Leicester Square. Thousands of drawings, sound effects and story ideas by children from across the UK make up the action-packed, half hour animation.

How We Did It

The film was brought together by Tate and the creative magic of Aardman Animations, with celebrity voiceovers from David Walliams, Vic Reeves, Catherine Tate and Miranda Hart amongst many others. A surreal and spectacular adventure, it follows 11-year-old hero Beanie on his mission to save his parents from Evil Stella and to return the Golden Nit to its rightful place at the heart of the sun, thereby saving the universe.

Children were able to participate in two ways. Online, the Tate Movie Project lived through a virtual film studio where children could upload drawings, sound effects and ideas; with over 25,000 children joining the online Movie Crew. On the ground, over 9,000 children took part in workshops held across the UK. The project set a new Guinness World Record for most individual contributions to an animated film.

The Results

'The Itch of the Golden Nit' was broadcast on the BBC and shown at galleries and in Vue cinemas over the summer. It was also screened in Trafalgar Square and on London 2012 Live Sites (big screens) in cities across the UK, as part of London 2012 Open Weekend. An exhibition about the project opened at Tate Modern on 6 July, running until 4 September 2011.

Visit the Tate site to but The Itch of the Golden Nit DVD and book

The website will be reguarly updated with new film-making challenges and tools, keep coming back to find out more.

Part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, The Tate Movie Project is funded by Legacy Trust UK and BP, with additional support and resources from the BBC.