Vintage Disney animation discovered

(CBC) - A collection of vintage Disney animation cells, sketches and background pictures has been uncovered in a warehouse at a Japanese university.

About 250 pieces including works from Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, Fantasia and Cinderella were discovered at the building at Chiba University near Tokyo.

Also found was an original picture for Flowers and Trees, released in 1932 as the world's first Technicolour animated film and winner of the first Oscar for an animated short.

Disney spokesperson Erika Nakajim said the company was "truly surprised."

Walt Disney Co. of the U.S. donated the pictures to the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo after they were on exhibit at some department stores in Japan around 1960.

According to university officials, in 1963 the museum gave the collection to Hidesabura Genta, a professor of engineering who was studying animation. After Genta's death, only a handful of faculty knew of the collection's existence.

The cache was re-discovered at a warehouse used by the university's engineering department. Chiba University officials said they are considering exhibiting the collection.

The Department of Information and Image Science at the university hopes to digitize the images.