Sam Fell

After animating and directing short films for renowned studio Aardman Animation, Sam Fell went on to work on features including "Flushed Away." The British director graduated from Nottingham University and subsequently won a spot in the Channel Four/MOMI animator-in-residence program, giving him the means to make his short film "The Big Cheese." Continuing to hone his skills, he created animation for Aardman, the studio best known for the adventures of "Wallace & Gromit," an eccentric, cheese-loving inventor and his brilliant dog. Fell struck up a strong relationship with studio co-founder Peter Lord, leading to his role as key animator on the Oscar-nominated short "Wat's Pig." After a couple more shorts, Fell stepped up to features, sharing directing duties with David Bowers on the Aardman-Dreamworks collaboration "Flushed Away," the story of a classy rat (Hugh Jackman) who gets sucked into the sewer and learns to survive with the assistance of a clever scavenger rodent (Kate Winslet). This marked the first fully computer-animated film by Aardman, better known for their stop-motion work. Fell next co-directed "The Tale of Despereaux," weaving together the adventures of a castle mouse, a bitter rat, and a lonely princess, with voice work by Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Watson.