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About Us

Led by BAFTA nominated Allison Brownmoore, our female led creative team comprises exceptionally talented and experienced individuals. With strong social values underpinning our studio, we prioritise people and creative over profit, and regularly run a Diversity Placement Program aimed at empowering illustrators and animators from under represented groups.

Working exclusively in film and episodic, our extensive experience has seen us collaborating with over 100 films, including over twenty four Sundance films, and multiple Oscar, BAFTA and Emmy winning films. Our devotion to the craft of storytelling permeates every aspect of what we do.

Our work is specific and unique to each project we undertake, ranging from bespoke stylistic animation sequences supporting key narrative, to exceptionally crafted title sequences, and establishing cohesive threads for typographical elements.

We adopt a friendly and engaging approach, working closely with our clients to understand their vision and bring it to life. Collaborating across the pond is also our speciality, we regularly deliver for projects in LA, NY and London.

Over the years we have collaborated with a multitude of high profile directors, producers and artists. Our dedication to excellence has earned us numerous awards and nominations, including a BAFTA nomination.

 

We specialise in deep diving into our subjects and working closely with our clients on crafting narrative solutions. We’re not interested in quick gimmicks or thoughtless imagery – our work is crafted from each individual story. Exploring the intricacies, complexities, and emotional tone which we can then build into a strong visual language which threads throughout the film seamlessly.

At Past Curfew – we are a community of passionate and inclusive storytellers. Through design, graphics, and animation, we craft extraordinary narrative experiences that captivate and inspire audiences across the globe.

We have had the pleasure of working on over 100 films + episodic, including twenty four

Sundance films, and multiple Oscar, BAFTA and Emmy award winning films. We also work regularly on high end series for Netflix and Apple.

Team

 

Founder / Creative Director, Allison Brownmoore (She/Her)

Allison is a BAFTA nominated Creative Director, with over twenty years experience in design and animation. Working for both UK and US clients on award winning films, she develops and delivers for a range of filmic needs -from title sequences to end cards (and everything in between), to developing the look of the film. She loves creative problem solving and is exceptionally well versed with tight deadlines. Allison is an active member of BAFTA and the Australian Directors Guild.

For further details on her film experience, please take a look at Allison’s IMDb profile.

She recently produced, wrote and directed a hand illustrated animated short film, The Amazing Adventures of Awesome, about a young autistic girl at the heart of a quiet revolution. The award winning film premiered at 2020 Brooklyn Film Festival, and has screened at a variety of festivals internationally. For more information and to watch the film, visit www.aaoa.co.uk

AWARDS

  • Winner, SXSW Excellence in Title Design Film Jury Recognition Award
  • Winner, Broadcast Tech Award, Best Title Sequence
  • Nominated, BAFTA Craft Award, Title Design
  • Nominated, SXSW Excellence in Title Design Film Award 
  • Winner, Broadcast Tech Award for Best Title Sequence
  • Art of The Title’s top ten Women in Title Design
  • Winner, SXSW Excellence in Title Design Audience Award
  • Nominated, Outstanding Graphic Design and Animation, Cinema Eye Honor Awards.

INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES

GUEST SPEAKER & JURY APPEARANCES 

  • Jury President, D&AD Awards, VFX Category
  • Juror, BAFTA Craft Awards, Titles and Graphic Identity
  • Juror, Irish Film and Television Awards, VFX Category
  • Panelist with Aesthetica Film Festival, Animated Dreams; Challenging Perspectives  
  • Panelist with Encounters Film Festival, Filmmakers Lounge, “Dealing with difficult issues within short film”
  • Panelist with San Diego Shorts Film Festival, Animation
  • Finalist Judge, Motionographer Awards
  • Judge, D&AD Awards, VFX category
  • Session Leader, BFI/Synergy Theatre, working with ex-justice system participants in Film/TV
  • Finalist Judge, Motionographer Awards
  • Panelist, London Metropolitan University, Film/TV students
  • Panelist with Women in VFX event at The Mill
  • Juror, BAFTA Craft Awards, Titles and Graphic Identity
  • Mentor for The Dots VFX/Animation Masterclass
  • Panelist, DOC NYC Masterclass in Design and Animation

EDUCATION & MENTORING

  • Mentor, Animated Women’s E-Mentoring Scheme
  • Sundance Collab, Directing
  • Skillset workshop, Post Producers: Client Relationships & Negotiating
  • Production Managers Association Budgets Workshop
  • Mentor/Participant, Animated Women’s Achieve Programme
  • Participant, Women in Film & TV’s Mentorship Scheme
  • MA Design Studies, Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London
  • Beijing International Artist Residency, Platform China, Beijing, China
  • Artist Residency, St Norberts Art Centre, Manitoba, Canada
  • BA Media and Theatre Studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Production Manager, Mark Hughes (He/Him)

Mark joins us fresh from three seasons on BBC & HBO’s “His Dark Materials”, and was part of the production team that won two Best Visual Effects BAFTA’s. Prior to this, he studied Visual Effects & Motion Graphics at the University of South Wales. In his spare time he enjoys reading, writing, watching quiz shows and catching up with the latest cinematic releases.


Finance Producer, Marlen Tallett (She/Her)

With over 14 years of experience in the TV & Film industry, Marlen spent several years running the longest standing freelancer agency in London. Incredibly efficient and enthusiastic at all she lends her hand to, she works tirelessly in overseeing our projects financially and liaising with clients to ascertain we’re working closely with clients to make the most of those infamous bottom lines.

Animator, Sylvain Doussa (He/Him)

Sylvain is an exceptionally talented French 2D animator/director, who we’ve been working regularly with for the past eight years. He studied animation at Emile Cohl school in Lyon, France, and specialises in music driven projects with bands and music festivals, and works on motion design and animation for film and episodic.

Motion Designer/Animator, Kevin Smy (He/Him)

With a strong background in traditional animation, Kevin graduated with a First-Class Honours Degree in animation at Norwich University of the arts. Exceptionally creative with an incredible sense of timing, Kevin’s desire to continue to learn and experiment led him to work as a freelance animator and motion graphics artist. In his down time, he is an avid musician and enjoys a little roller derby.

Freelance Motion Designer/Animator, Callum Welch (He/Him)

In 2022, we launched our first Diversity Placement scheme, offering a paid placement working on one of our film projects. Read more about the scheme on our Ethos page.

Our three participants in the Placement Scheme thus far are Yu-Ching Chiu, Ellie Bannister, and Lucie Colborne.

“As a recent graduate, a placement with Past Curfew was so invaluable for learning more about the animation industry as well as growing myself as an artist. The team was so encouraging and always giving me the feedback I needed to improve! I felt at home immediately and so much more confident by the time I left.” Lucie Colborne

Animator, Lucie Colborne (She/They)

Lucie recently graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with a first-class honours in animation. She can usually be found sketching or painting, which she blends together to create hand-drawn characters in worlds inspired by both the fantastical and the mundane. When not animating, Lucie enjoys sci-fi films and story writing.

Junior Illustrator, Ellie Bannister (She/Her)

Ellie is an exceptionally talented queer northern Illustrator & Designer who recently graduated from Falmouth University with a first-class honours degree in Illustration. She enjoys exploring conceptual solutions and visual metaphors in her work and is influenced by imagery that requires detail and precision.

After her placement, Ellie joined the team as Junior Illustrator. She has since sprouted her wings Canadian side and we’re pleased she still finds time for moonlighting with us.

Testimony

“Allison and her team are an integral part of every production I work on. She is always responsive to the directors vision and never fails to deliver extraordinary work”

George Chignell, Ex- Head of Production, Passion Pictures

“We won an Oscar. And a BAFTA! We did it. I’m left with a deep well of gratitude…
All the graphics in this movie look amazing and I’m grateful for the love and care you guys put into this film.
Sending you a million thank you’s!”

Daniel Roher, Director, Navalny

 “Working with Allison and her team at Past Curfew is a professional and creative joy. I’ve returned to collaborating with PC on a number of projects because of the diligence, insight and emotional intelligence that is core to their process. They’ve executed with excellence on a range of animation styles, distilling a singular and fitting aesthetic each time.”

Daniel Cowen, Director

Ethos

Small in size, big on purpose

The Big Picture

In every project we take on, we believe in the project wholeheartedly. Once we’re in, we are hook, line and sinker. Committed. Often we’re coming on board years after those initial development stages, and we are inhaling those well-thumbed treatments. We actively want to immerse ourselves. We’re not looking to create surface meaningless bubble gum imagery, there’s enough of that floating around instagram, usually in soft pastels. We’re looking to deep dive. We want to get passionate. Commit. Be horrified. Lost. Enamoured.

Joyous Artists = Joyous Clients

And while our passion to our work is unbridled, we actively maintain that our employees are just as important as our clients. Our studio is purpose-driven and we are committed to our position as a socially responsible mission-led company. Our primary focus is effectively balancing people, planet and profitability.

We believe in work/life balance, and breaking the glorification of over working. At six daily, our mice retire and our wacom pens are lowered. Competent planning, effective client relations and thorough work practises allow us to maintain this balance without compromising on delivering exceptional work.

We believe in transparent work practises. We don’t offer thinly veiled corporate strategies like free lunches so that artists work through their lunch break. We insist on substandard cheese toasties (okay let’s admit, work from home lunchings need a little inspiration). In addition to this, we recognise the requirements of life. We don’t dictate your lunch breaks, and then over run them with meetings. Your life, this work, our balance.

We also don’t believe in employee segregation. As a boutique, we are gifted without borders between departments. When we’re idea generating, or considering proposals – we believe in all voices, where we can have a truly valuable discussion without ego and hierarchy.

Creative Commitment 

Alongside working on contributing to the narratives of films globally, we are also committed to the creation of telling our own compelling stories to audiences across cultures. Our first film, The Amazing Adventures of Awesome, screened at a multitude of international festivals, including Oscar and BAFTA qualifiers. 

We dedicate a percentage of our profits into the creation of these stories, and are currently in development on another beautiful 2D animated short film. 

The film is titled In, Out and is an animated short documentary that explores sexual fluidity, emphasising the impact of moving beyond labels to embrace human connection.

Our mission is to continue telling stories that have the capability to inspire change, growth and new understandings within audiences globally. More about our film, here.

In, Out – Social Reel

Moving Forward 

Our longer term strategies are ambitious. We’re looking to enhance our diversity commitment, specifically in internships and mentoring.

We’re also aligning ourselves with B Corp philosophies with the longer term endeavour of certifying. We would love to certify, to give us the opportunity of quantifiable improvements and holistic goal setting with accountability. We believe passionately in the transformation of standardised industry practises which put clients needs above all else, at all costs to human physical and mental well being.

We’ve started this process by choosing to bank with a B Corp bank, re-invest profits into creating stories with strong social themes and running our Diversity Placement Scheme (more on this below.)

We want to be actively part of facilitating this change, and that starts with us. Here. Now.

Our pledge to Socially Minded films 

Over the years we have worked on many films with issues pertaining to social justice, and we’ve absolutely loved doing so. We would like to continue supporting film makers in the creation of these critical films, which, for many reasons, often do not receive adequate funding to support graphics budgets.

In our ongoing commitment to social justice films, we pledge to work on a socially minded film for a reduced rate, every twelve months. If your film is low budget and socially minded, please do reach out as we’d love to discuss.

One of our recent Social Justice Commitment Films was the critical film: Chocolate Milk.

“Chocolate Milk explores racial inequities in birth and breastfeeding in the US by following the stories of three Black mothers in South Los Angeles over multiple years – a new mom, a WIC employee and a homebirth midwife.” For more information: chocolatemilkdoc.com

And for more information about our involvement, please see the following post.

In 2026, we are currently working with a fantastic team on their film which centres on an incredibly important topic. We look forward to being able to share more about this project in due course! 

Diversity Placement Scheme 

Four years ago we launched our Diversity Placement scheme, offering a paid placement working on one of film projects.

We created the scheme because we believe in diversity. Diversity of thought, identity and lived experienced is fundamental in creating a rich collection of voices who can drive meaningful creations. 

We were so overwhelmed by the incredible quantity of talented individuals whom applied, our initial offering of one placement quickly extended to two!

We were thrilled to have Yu-Ching Chiu and Ellie Bannister join our team, illustrating for one of our films. After the placement, Ellie then joined us for several months as a Junior Illustrator and we continue to work with her (when she’s not busy designing!)

Last year we ran our second Diversity Placement scheme, working with the incredibly talented Lucie Colborne. She’s a Scottish based animator with a strong visual storytelling approach to her work. She’s been with us for the past three months crafting one of our stories for our short animated documentary: In, Out. We sat down with her post placement to get her thoughts on the scheme, and had the following to say:

“I think the Diversity Scheme really good for giving people confidence. My gut instinct when I see a typical job application is; am I the right fit? Am i the sort of person they are looking for? And then when I see a job like the Diversity Scheme where you’re looking for someone who’s good at the job, and then maybe a woman, or LGBT, or of colour – it creates a very comforting sense of like this is not a place where I need to worry about being myself. This isn’t a job I need to hide parts of myself during the interview.”

“I really liked working with you guys. The feedback to my work during the placement was excellent. I felt very comfortable very quickly. You were all really welcoming. I thought the work matched what I already liked to do in some ways, and it pushed me in other ways, but I feel like you guys looked at my portfolio and knew this was the person you needed for this job, so it made me feel very confident in what I was doing. I had a great time and would love to work with you again.”

Our diversity commitment also extends to our wider hiring process. We encourage applicants who identify as minoritised ethnic, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent and/or are from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a female led company, we also encourage individuals to apply who identify as women, including cis, trans and non-binary. Furthermore we encourage individuals who are parents/carers returning to the workforce and/or single parent/carers. 

 

For several years we have been financial supporters of the fine folk over at Art of Title. We are also involved in the Women in Film and TV E-Mentoring scheme and Cross Borders Mentoring Scheme.