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Helen Piercy

Lecturer

Computer Arts and Technology

Helen Piercy is a multidisciplinary filmmaker, award-winning animator, and published children’s author whose practice intersects visual storytelling, education, and feminist media. She holds a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design from Norwich University of the Arts and an MA in Animation Direction from the National Film and Television School (NFTS). Her professional career began in London as a freelance animator, before establishing her own educational practice dedicated to accessible and inclusive filmmaking pedagogy.

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Helen has contributed to higher education as a lecturer at the NFTS and as a student mentor for the MA Character Animation programme at Central Saint Martins. Her academic and industry work is underpinned by a commitment to equity and representation in screen-based media. She currently serves as the Educational Director for Animated Women UK, a non-profit organisation advocating for the support, celebration, and advancement of women in the UK’s VFX and animation sectors.

As a practice-based researcher, I explore how animation can function as a feminist interpretive lens, reimagining the work and ideologies of feminist artists through the expressive capacities of movement, abstraction, and temporality. My practice investigates how animation can make visible the often unseen or intangible aspects of feminist experience, such as emotional labour, memory, and trauma. Through experimental and material-led approaches, I examine how animated form can engage symbolically and visually with themes central to feminist thought, including the body, identity, care, resistance, and domesticity. In doing so, my work positions animation not only as a medium of expression but as a critical, situated method for feminist inquiry.

My films have been selected to showcase at acclaimed animation festivals, such as Edinburgh International Film Festival, Encounters Film Festival and the London Short Film Festival.

Interviews/ Panels/ Projects

  • 2023 LIMITLESS Exhibition, London College of Communication & Norwich East Gallery –
  • Co-Director / Exhibitor
  • 2021 LIMITLESS Exhibition, Virtual Exhibition – Co-Director
  • 2021 Visible in Visuals – Women’s Panel (Online)
  • 2021 She Drew That – Podcast co-presenter
  • 2021 Star Dance Animation Festival – Guest Speaker (Online)
  • 2020     Animist Animation Festival of Istanbul – Guest Speaker (Online) 2019 Dublin Animation Film Festival – Student Short Film Jury
  • 2019     Children’s Media Conference Animation Skills Fund – Panel Speaker
  • 2019     Watersprite Film Festival – Best Student Award Film Jury
  • 2018     International Women’s Day, The Mill London – Panel Speaker
  • 2018     Inspiring Females Stem Conference, John Innes Centre, Norwich – Panel Speaker
  • 2016     Norwich Flint Magazine – Artist Interview
  • 2015     Zu3D Animation – Printed Handbook, ZuLogic Ltd – Author
  • 2013     Animation Studio – Walker Books (UK) Candlewick Press (US) – Author

Films

  • 2009     Sonnet No.12, Open Shutter Productions – Director, selected for;
    • Encounters Film Festival – UK
  • 2009     Goodbye Mr Pink, National Film and Television School – Director, selected for;
    • Animex International Animation Festival – UK
    • Atlanta International Film Festival – USA
    • Edinburgh
    • International Film Festival – Scotland
    • Falstaff International Film Festival – UK
    • Festival BD de Bruxelles – Belgium
    • Festival Internacional de Cine de Huesca – Spain
    • NeXt film festival – UK
    • Regensburger Kurzfilmwoche – Germany
    • Rencontres Henri Langlois Film Festival – France
    • Stuttgarter Filmwinter – Germany
    • Tricky Women International Animation Festival – Vienna

Awards and Nominations

  • 2013 First Light Awards – Best Animation Nomination
  • 2012 First Light Awards – Best Animation Nomination
  • 2009 McLaren Award Nomination – Goodbye Mr Pink
  • 2009 Animex Stop Motion Award Runner Up – Goodbye Mr Pink 2005 Promax Student Award Winner

Other academic activities

  • 2024 – 2026 External Examiner Escape Studios (Coventry)
  • 2024 – 2026 External Examiner Escape Studios (Kent)
  • 2024 – 2025 Integrated Planning Project Group Member (Employability & Enterprise)

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