About us

Sand animation is the key aspect and focus of the company’s work, and the development of this into new areas including animated feature films, interactive media and factual programmes as well as using sand animation as an educational tool with young people through our partner organisation Gritty Films Ltd.

The company has developed a unique graphic style and is taking animation into new areas including animated documentaries and animated films for a wider audience. We are currently developing a feature project as an international co-production alongside a number of other film projects that tackle a wide range of topics.

I am very impressed by the original sand technique and overall look, feel and style. Given that the book is so well known, I think this project has great potential for the grown up animation market.

Michael Rose, producer Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were Rabbit, commenting on Heart of Darkness an Animated Feature

Gerald Conn

Gerald Conn, managing director of Gritty Realism/Gritty Films, is an award winning animator and filmmaker with over twenty years of experience whose films have been broadcast on Channel 4 and BBC and shown at numerous international festivals.

Gerald at work in the studio

Gerald at work in his animation studio

He specialises in sand-on-glass animation and won the 1998 BAFTA Cymru best animation for his film The Comet’s Tale (1998). Gerald has taught animation for a number of years in schools and colleges and has travelled to France, India and Japan to run workshops and to talk about his work.

Many of his films are directly choreographed to music and he has made music videos that have been screened on MTV in the UK and abroad. In 2009 Gerald represented the Welsh animation industry at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC and in 2010 his feature animation project Heart of Darkness, based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, was selected to be presented in development at the Cartoon Movie forum in Lyon.