Figures in Focus: Wanderlust at LIAF 2024
For this year’s ‘Figures in Focus’ programme at the London International Animation Festival, we are going on an adventure. The selected films examine the urge to explore the world, to travel, to feel the delight to roam. Hand in hand with this sense of wanderlust is the restlessness felt by some, the need to escape their situation, or to return to places in their memories. Our daring explorers find the courage to take a leap into the unknown and to seek something better.
The artists featured in this programme and who will speak to the theme and their process in the post-screening discussion will be Jessica Ashman, Efa Blosse-Mason, and Silvana Roth.
Figures in Focus was a programme I devised in 2017 in recognition of the under-representation of female and non-binary animators and their stories within the independent animation sector. The programme serves to spotlight the incredible work being crafted by contemporary animators, both in the UK and internationally.
Programme:
- Childhood Memories, Mary Martins, UK, 4 min, 2018
- In Her Boots, Kathrin Steinbacher, UK, 6 min, 2019
- Takie cuda się zdarzają / Such Miracles Do Happen, Barbara Rupik , Poland, 14 min, 2023
- Waldeinsamkeit, Silvana Roth, UK, 4, 2023
- Via Dolorosa, Rachel Gutgarts, France, 11 min, 2023
- Our Bed is Green, Maggie Brennan, USA, 7 min, 2021
- Utopia Portals, Jessica Ashman, UK, 4 min, 2022
- Cwch Deilin / Leaf Boat, Efa Blosse-Mason, UK, 8, 2020
- La Mujer Ilustrada / The Illustrated Woman, Isabel Herguera, Spain, 8 min, 2023
- Maybe Elephants, Torrill Kove, Norway/Canada, 17 min, 2024
Content warning: Flashing imagery, strong language, nudity, ableism, mental illness, drug use, racism, misogyny
Childhood Memories, Mary Martins, UK, 4 min
Combining 16mm colour footage of Lagos, Nigeria from the 70s with stop-motion and 2D hand-drawn animation, this multilayered, autobiographical animation explores personal memories and the cultural elements of our earliest childhood reminiscences. This film goes on a journey, both beautiful and enlightening, back to where it all began.
In Her Boots, Kathrin Steinbacher, UK, 6 min
Heidi is experiencing strange things. While her granddaughter is visiting, she suddenly embarks on a hiking journey, to the deepest parts of the Alps, revealing the reason for her devoted attachment to her hiking shoes. A story about Heidi’s attempt to retain her identity and autonomy.
Takie cuda się zdarzają / Such Miracles Do Happen, Barbara Rupik, Poland, 14 min
One day, all the statues come to life. They leave the roadside shrines and pedestals and calmly set off straight ahead, all in the same direction. People watch the phenomenon with growing anxiety. None of them knows why and where they go. They walk without muscles, though they should not be able to walk. How strange!
Waldeinsamkeit, Silvana Roth, UK, 4 min
An old lady feels alienated from modern city life, but when she embarks on a magical dreamlike journey, she finds wonder and a newfound appreciation for the place she lives in. Waldeinsamkeit is a German word describing the feeling of spiritual connection one can experience when alone in a forest.
Via Dolorosa, Rachel Gutgarts, France, 11 min
Between drug addiction, first discoveries of sexuality and a permanent state of war, the filmmaker searches for her lost youth by wandering the streets of Jerusalem.
Our Bed is Green, Maggie Brennan, USA, 7 min
Realm, a virtual reality facility, is quite transparent about the erotic potential of its services. With the help of powerful data-mining technology, customers can create virtual facsimiles of real-life places and people. This hyper-personalization is what attracts clientele like Cecily, a young woman wavering between repression and obsession.
Utopia Portals, Jessica Ashman, UK, 4 min
Utopia Portals explores utopian concepts of belonging and ‘unbelonging’. Inspired by Ashman’s first trip to her ancestral homeland of Jamaica, with a mix of animated loops, mobile phone footage and soundscapes recorded on the island. Ashman creates a series of short filmic ‘glitches’ of reality that reveal various, surreal hidden worlds.
Cwch Deilin / Leaf Boat, Efa Blosse-Mason, UK, 8 min
Learning to love someone can be scary, but it can also lead to the most marvellous adventure. Heledd and Celyn navigate the undiscovered and murky waters of entering a new relationship. Through the bewitching power of animation, this film explores the internal worlds of the characters visualised through stormy seas.
La Mujer Ilustrada / The Illustrated Woman, Isabel Herguera, Spain, 8 min
In Ahmedabad, Isabel gives an animation workshop to a group of temporary tattoo artists, the Mehndi. She interviews them about their dreams: to fly, a women’s parliament, travel to Switzerland, and claiming independence through rap.
Maybe Elephants, Torrill Kove, Norway/Canada, 17 min
Three rebellious teenage daughters, a restless mother, a father struggling with potatoes, and maybe some elephants, find themselves in Nairobi. What could possibly go wrong?
Speakers:
Jessica Ashman – a multi-disciplinary artist working in animation moving image, music (under the name Spirit Sigh) performance and installation. Ashman combines traditional drawn, collage and multi-plane animation techniques with digital animation and mobile phone footage in her work, creating frenetic, textured and abstract narratives that explore gender, identity and race. She is a BAFTA Scotland award winning animator, and MA Animation graduate from the Royal College of Art. Her work has been supported by Focal Point Gallery, New Art Exchange, Animate Projects, Jerwood Visual Arts Bursary, Arts Council England, UK Film Council and Channel 4’s Random Acts. https://jessicaashman.com
Efa Blosse-Mason – a Welsh speaking animator and illustrator. She graduated from Bristol School of Animation and her graduation film ‘Earthly Delights’ won The Royal Television Society Award for best student animation film in 2019. Efa has worked on projects with Winding Snake Productions, a documentary about The Female Voice in Wales, and a community based projects celebrating artists from India and from Wales. She has also collaborated with creatives making music videos, poetry films and doing animation for theatre productions. http://www.efabmanimation.com
Silvana Roth – a German animation director and illustrator based in Edinburgh. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2023 with a BA(Hons) in Animation. She loves creating 2d animation – especially textural and atmospheric hand drawn animation. When Silvana is not hunched over a lightbox you can find her sketching her surroundings or planning her next road trip. Currently she works on her second short film which explores the relationship of a young woman with her phone. https://www.silvanimation.com
Header image: La Mujer Ilustrada / The Illustrated Woman, Isabel Herguera.