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Figures in Focus - The Magical World (15) + panel discussion

London International Animation Festival

LIAF Figures in Focus

“I've always had access to other worlds. We all do. Because we dream.” Leonora Carrington (1917-2011)

A selection of shorts inspirited by the esoteric art of Leonora Carrington, whose work was influenced by Irish folklore, psychoanalysis, the alchemical imagery of Hieronymus Bosch, and much more.

These works share her love of experimentation, symbolism, the spirit world, and its creatures, as well as touching on the violence ever present in the human world.

As with many previously overlooked female artists, Carrington’s standing as an eminent artist is now more widely celebrated. In 2022, her work has been exhibited in ‘Surrealism Beyond Borders’ at Tate Modern, and the Venice Biennale’s title ‘The Milk of Dreams’.

Following the screening, a panel discussion will take place with filmmakers Anna Bunting-Branch, Renee Zhan and Reka Bucsi, academic Carmen Hannibal and programmer Abigail Addison.

Total Runtime 120 mins

The screening has been locally classified.

Please note: Depictions of violence, blood and pregnancy

Figures in Focus, (previously called Female Figures) was devised in 2017 by Abigail, in recognition of the under-representation of female and non-binary animators and their stories within the independent animation sector. The programme showcases incredible work crafted by contemporary animators, both in the UK and internationally.

Abigail Addison
Abigail is a Producer and Programmer. She is a Director of Animate Projects, an agency working at the intersection of film, art, and animation, that produces award winning, innovative and experimental films. 

Anna Bunting-Branch
Anna is an artist and researcher based in London. Moving between painting, writing, and animation, her work explores science fiction as a methodology to re-vision feminist practice and its histories.

Carmen Hannibal
Carmen is a PhD Candidate in Animation Studies at the Royal College of Art. She has published in mediaesthetics – Journal of Poetics of Audiovisual Images, Animation Studies, and the online educational resource platform Fantasy/Animation.

Renee Zhan
Renee is a Chinese-American director and animator. In her films, Renee is primarily interested in exploring topics of the body, nature, sexuality - all things beautiful, ugly, and squishy. Renee is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents and the Sarabande Foundation.

Reka Bucsi
Reka is a Hungarian animator who graduated from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in 2013. Her graduation film ‘Symphony No.42’ was shortlisted for the Oscars in 2014. Her films have screened at many film festivals worldwide and have been awarded prizes several times.

Programme

Eager
A riotous, fantasy world, populated by a cast of human and non-human creatures, united in a state of continuous transformation as they dance, slice each other open, and wear one another’s bodies.
USA 2014 Dir: Allison Schulnik 8 min

The Linguists
Inspired by Láadan, the constructed ‘women’s language’, developed by Suzette Haden Elgin in her sci- fi trilogy ‘Native Tongue’ (1984-94).
UK 2017 Dir: Anna Bunting-Branch 8 min

Impossible Figures and Other Stories II
While rushing around the house, a woman falls and trips. Getting up, she discovers that her home has unusual features - it is built from paradoxes, filled with illusions and covered with patterns.
Poland 2016 Dir: Marta Pajek 15 min

Tears of Inge
When a mother camel has a painful childbirth, she rejects her newborn baby. Mongolian nomads sing and play sad songs to the camel who, touched by the melody, cries just as a human might do.
Canada 2013 Dir: Alisi Telengut 5 min

Kamakura (Snow Hut)
The snow in Yoriko’s hometown is soft and innocently beautiful. This film is calm and clean as much as the snow she remembers. There is no questionable or hidden meaning. All the movements and expressions are simple and universal.
Japan 2013 Dir: Yoriko Mizushiri 6 min

Hell Hath No Furie
It’s the early 1990s, and after a millennial slumber, three Classical Ancient Furies are resurrected and re-imagined living in a flat somewhere within the Bowels of Hell.
UK 2018 Dir: Kitty Faingold 6 min

LOVE
A short film describing affection in 3 different chapters, through its impact on a distant solar system.
Hungary 2016 Dir: Réka Bucsi 15 min

Histoire pour 2 Trompettes
An initiatory and intimate story in which the author tells, in the form of a tale, the key stages of her construction as a woman and an artist.
France 2021 Dir: Amandine Meyer 5 min

O Black Hole!
A woman who can't stand the passing of time sucks everyone and everything she loves inside herself to keep them with her forever. Eventually, she turns into a black hole. A thousand unchanging years pass inside her dark embrace until one day, the Singularity wakes.
UK 2020 Dir: Renee Zhan 16 min

Cinema 2

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