Peter Baynton is a director of animated films. He has been obsessed with drawing pictures that tell stories since he was a kid. After a brief foray into architecture, where he learnt his buildings would be neither safe nor tasteful, he decided to learn the craft of character animation instead, studying at Central St Martin's in London. His first film after graduating, OVER THE HILL, won The McLaren Award for Best British Animation, and he was selected by Screen International as a UK Star of Tomorrow. He has been directing animated shorts, music promos and commercials for 14 years since then, and has picked up over 30 awards at film festivals around the world along the way, including an Annecy Crystal in 2013 and a couple of British Animation Awards.
After years of making shorts and commercials, in 2015 he decided to follow his heart and pursue longer form animation, working as a storyboard artist on the BAFTA winning CBeebies show SARAH & DUCK, and then as 2D Animation Director for PADDINGTON 2. In 2019 he was Animation Director for C4's Emmy award-winning THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA, directed by Robin Shaw.
From 2020 to 2022 he co-directed with Charlie Mackesy a film of Charlie's beloved book THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX, AND THE HORSE, at NoneMore Productions, starring Jude Coward Nicoll, Tom Hollander, Idris Elba and Gabriel Byrne. He also directed the BBC1 Christmas Idents featuring the characters and world of that film.
He is now in the early stages of directing a feature film for Lupus Films, to be released at Christmas in 2024.
