Norwich International Animation Festival returns for 2006 from Wednesday, October 18, to Saturday October 21 with a programme which includes plenty of cutting-edge animation but also live events at Norwich Arts Centre.

Norwich International Animation Festival returns for 2006 from Wednesday, October 18, to Saturday October 21 with a programme which includes plenty of cutting-edge animation but also live events.

This year's festival, with the theme of Re-vision, takes place in venues across Norwich, and is expected to be bigger and better than ever.

With guests and delegates expected from across the world, the city will be playing host to a key event in the international animation calendar that last year screened more than 170 films over four days, and recorded more than 7000 admissions.

This year's festival is planned to be the boldest yet, with a trailblazing programme which ventures further still from “traditional” film festival territory to embrace live art, generative work and artists' film, eroding yet further the myth that animation is about cartoons alone.

Highlights include retrospectives of leading animation directors Igor Kovalyov, Priit Parn and Koji Yamamura, a wide-ranging tribute to auteur Walerian Borowczyk, featuring rarely-screened films alongside special events with the Brothers Quay, Andrzej Klimowski and others, and a unique one-day symposium with filmmakers Bill Morrison (Decasia), Frank Mouris (Frank Film) and Robert Bradbrook (Home Road Movies); generative artists Leonardo Solaas and Marius Watz; and leading theorist Steve Reinke.

To take over where film screenings finish installation work, including Leonardo Solaas' Dreamlines, Ben Rivers' House and The Harrachov Exchange, shows throughout the festival.

Alongside the film screenings, this year the Norwich Arts Centre is hosting the Lounge - live performance, music, animation and more - into the small hours of each festival night, with the Rhythmic Image Live! festival within a festival.

On Wednesday (9pm) The Light Surgeons present an evening of AV Self Help, original footage, photography and audio sewn together in an expressionistic production. Tickets are £8 or £5 concs.

On Thursday (8pm, £8, concs £5) multimedia artist Jürgen Reble joins forces with the sound artist Thomas Köner for the mesmerising audio-visual show Quasar, an experience where the audience is at the heart of an audio and visual surround sound system.

On Friday (8pm, £5 adv) its the Big AV Feast featuring Rude Mechanicals and Dan Geesin from 8pm as part of the Norwich International Animation Festival. The event is a collaboration between Wombatwombat and Slow. Rude Mechanicals play severely theatrical, highly visual, absurd rock with musical influences that include Captain Beefheart, The Tiger Lilies and Velvet Underground. Dan Geesin sings intimate, mellow songs to his own visual backdrops, including animation pieces and short films. Plus Slow in the café/bar with down-tempo electro, disco, acid and dub sound and vision with live sets from Luke Abbott, Paul Taxi, V.Acid and DJ JB MQP.

Then on Saturday October 21 (9.30pm, £8, concs £6), Eye-Fi, which brings together the worlds of video and sound and live-gig visuals starring Norwich's 2 Bit TV. Bookings for NAC Lounge events on 01603 660352.

For more information on the Animation Festival check out 01603 756280 www.niaf.org.uk