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Burning Down the House - A Stop-Motion Spectacular (15*) + ScreenTalk with Paloma Baeza

London International Animation Festival

An animated man in somebody's arms

Since the dawn of cinema puppet animation has provided some of the most mesmerising films ever made and puppet animators have been among the most revered.

Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef are a stop-motion animation duo from Belgium who specialise in making witty, intriguing and disturbing films using felt, wool and other fabrics. The films of Niki Lindroth von Bahr, from Sweden, feature animal puppets working in dead-end jobs.

Mexican-English filmmaker Paloma Baeza’s BAFTA winning short is a sublime film about a Polar Bear (voiced by Helena Bonham-Carter) and a brown grizzly bear immersed deep within a world impacted by global warming.

These are four of the worlds’ most striking and unorthodox stop-motion filmmakers working today. LIAF is very excited to present a programme of these filmmakers imaginative, exquisitely crafted and endlessly thought provoking multi award-winning films, including a discussion after the screening with Paloma Baeza, director of ‘Poles Apart’.

Tagged with: Cinema

Running Time: 88 minutes plus 30 minute talk

Oh Willy
After his mother's death, Willy returns to the nudist community where he grew up. He is saddened by his memories and decides to head out into the countryside, where he finds the maternal protection of a big hairy animal.
Belgium/France/Netherlands 2012 Dir Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels 17 min

The Burden
A motel, a self-service restaurant, a call centre and a supermarket on the motorway are the setting for this apocalyptic musical. The songs tell of freedom, of the empty promises of the consumer world, and of the desire for an existence without worry.
Sweden 2017 Dir Niki Lindroth von Bahr 14 min

Poles Apart
A tough female polar bear and an enthusiastic male grizzly bear are brought together by their changing habitats.
UK 2017 Dir Paloma Baeza 12 min

This Magnificent Cake!
An anthology film set in colonial Africa in the late 19th Century telling the stories of 5 different characters: a troubled king, a middle-aged Pygmy working in a luxury hotel, a failed businessman on an expedition, a lost porter and a young army deserter.
Belgium/France/Netherlands 2018 Dir Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels, 45 min

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