Details on The London International Animation Festival
The organisers of The London International Animation Festival have issued a press release detailing the events at the festival which launches next month.
THE LONDON INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL (LIAF 14)
24 Oct – Nov 2
Barbican Cinema, Barbican Centre UK
barbican.org.uk/film
Box Office 0845 120 7527
The London International Animation Festival (LIAF14) returns to the Barbican with a whopping 10-day celebratory feast of forums, workshops and over 200 of the best recent, historical and retrospective animation from around the world. This year’s uncompromising programme promises to inspire and delight – and also challenge the notion that animation is merely for the 3D-CG blockbuster genre. Indie animation is an artform that continues to thrive and develop as a breathtaking medley of styles, materials, techniques and production – from hand drawn, paint on glass, collage, sculpture, cut outs, puppets, abstract, sand/salt, solely digital to some of the more interesting developments in 3D – all of which can be seen at this year’s LIAF.
LIAF 2014’s opening night gala on Fri 24 Oct celebrates the centenary of Scottish-born Canadian animator Norman McLaren with a special programme entitled McLaren’s Influences – to be introduced by fellow animator and Canadian Steven Woloshen. Norman McLaren’s pioneering techniques led him to become one of the world’s most influential animators, whose works were added to the UNESCO Memory of World Programme in 2009.
Steven Woloshen will also deliver a workshop event during the festival as will other world-renowned animators: Andreas Hykade (Germany), Priit Tender (Estonia) and Ulo Pikkov (Estonia).
LIAF14 will also screen the UK Premieres of the acclaimed feature films Rocks in My Pockets – Signe Baumane (USA) and The Boy and The World – Ale Abreu (Brazil) which scooped top awards at this year’s Annecy, France and Ottawa, Canada animation festivals.
As well as the usual competitive collections of the best, most recent short animated films from every corner of the world, LIAF14 will feature two specially curated shorts programme 3 Days in Paris – which stake a claim for Paris as the animation capital of the world. Paris New explores the best recent work, while Paris Historical digs a little deeper to reveal a diverse line-up of films that have put these production studios on the animation map.
Animated Documentaries is a selection of stylish, persuasive and compelling short form narratives mixed with some of the most stunning visuals of the festival, and the Abstract Showcase is animation in its purest form – LIAF’s annual collection of the most impressive and expressive experimental animated films from all over the world.
LIAF will also present three programmes of animation specifically for children – Amazing Animations for 0-6 year-olds and Marvellous Animations for 7-15 year-olds – and German animator Andreas Hykade will introduce his award-winning series of short films ‘Tom and the Slice of Bread with Strawberry Jam and Honey’.
Children and adults also get the opportunity to take part in a drop-in animation workshop and the LIAF Flipbook challenge lead by acclaimed animator Elizabeth Hobbs during the afternoon of 25 October.
At the two-day LIAF Industry events taking place on 31 October and 1 November, local and international guests will present talks and workshops on how to break into animation for television, the techniques of cameraless animation, how to make a living abstractly living outside of the commercial sphere, the nuts and bolts of how to make an independent animated film and the surrealist roots of Estonian film.
The festival ends with the Best-of-the-Festival on Sunday 2 November featuring the best films chosen by our panel of judges and audience votes.
Full programme listings available at Barbican Film
Ticket prices:
barbican.org.uk/film Box Office: 0845 120 7527
Standard: £11.50 Barbican Members: £9.20 Concessions: £10.50 Young Barbican: £5
On top of the press release the festival website has been updated with the full schedule which reveals a number of Japanese entries in the various programmes like Mirai Mizue’s 8 minute film, Wonder, which is played in the Abstract Showcase alongside Koukou by Takashi Ohashi. It was screened at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Other examples of Japanese animation is Anomalies by Atsushi Wada which plays in the international competition programme, Looking for Answers.
Kids get to delight in Mari Miyazawa’s Twins in Bakery, a 5 minute story about the mischief that occurs when a baker closes the store for the night. People more interested in surreal and visual adventures can venture Inside the Mind where people can watch Land by Masanobu Hiraoka. Even more strange are the titles in Absurd and Zany like Wee Willie Winkie and Na Ni Nu Ne No No where the human form is warped into some rather unique shapes.
There are many more titles on offer. For a taste of what will play in the festival, check out Snow Hut by Yoriko Mizushiri which plays in the Being Human strand.
For more information visit the site.
