A FORMER Okehampton College student has landed her dream job — working on a new feature length Wallace and Gromit film, just four months after graduating from her course in film and animation.

Kate Munkenbeck has just landed her big break with Bristol-based Aardman Animations, the team behind the award-winning adventures of the cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his long-suffering dog Gromit.

Kate is set to begin working as a third assistant director on Aardman's new feature-length Wallace and Gromit film.

'It is my intention to stay with Aardman, and work my way up the production ladder in the field of 3D model animation,' Kate said.

Kate graduated from the Arts Institute in Bournemouth in June with a first-class degree in film and animation studies.

Since then she has been working for a television company called Twofour Productions based in Plymouth as a trainee, working on a range of shows for the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and Discovery.

Kate wanted to say a 'huge thank you' to the Devon Educational Trust, Okehampton United Educational Foundation, the Holditch Trust, Devon and Cornwall Girls' Trust and her family for supporting her throughout her degree and helping her to develop her career in film production.

Production has just begun on the long-awaited new Wallace and Gromit film, which has the working title of 'The Curse of the Were Rabbit', but fans will likely have to wait until September 2005 before the film hits the big screen.

This will be the first full-length Wallace and Gromit animation, the previous three outings by Nick Park's most famous creations have all been short films.

Helena Bonham-Carter and Ralph Fiennes will be among the big names lending their voices to the project.