LIAF 2023: Stop-motion Panorama

FILM SCREENING

LIAF 2023: Stop-motion Panorama

The London International Animation Festival (LIAF 2023) - the UK’s largest and longest-running animation festival is back with 10 days of amazing screenings, talks, discussions and events from November 24 to December 3.

The full festival programme is available at www.liaf.org.uk

We are especially excited to return to the Puppet Theatre Barge with a special screening showcasing the best stop-motion films made in the last year.

Age 15+

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. Breathing a kind of life into inanimate puppets is a very special form of magic and this programme showcases the continuing vibrancy of this technique.

Puppet films should always look like they were handmade. The movements are not always clean, super smooth and flawless. The characters in the films should ‘feel’ real…. because they are! It is these quirks and wonderful little imperfections that make these films so special and define some of the most important elements of a puppet film.

These 8 thought-provoking, moving and downright bonkers short puppet films have been made by some of the most talented independent animators in the last few years from their different bunkers around the world, in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Poland and the UK, proving that tangible and physical stop-motion and puppet animation is alive and well and in rude health in the 21st century. Long may it prosper!

Total running time: 83 minutes

All is Lost

The Pérez family are an almost normal family, although their behaviour is somewhat dysfunctional. The couple plans to fertilise an egg she laid last night.

Spain 2022 Dir: Carla Pereira, Juanfran Jacinto 7’00

Falling For Greta

When love comes knocking Greta’s world is turned upside down.

As her passion grows things get tangled but there is hope in the shape of water.

UK 2023 Dir: Gustavo Arteaga 11’15

Ana Morphose

A little girl reads herself to sleep. As she dozes off, the physical world starts melting into an alternate reality where the contents of a book rule over the laws of physics.

Portugal 2023 Dir: Joao Rodrigues 9’45

From the Top

Things haven’t gone quite the way Robin expected them to, so she decides the time has come to get rid of her drum kit. But giving up her passion might not be as simple as she anticipates.

UK 2023 Dir: Rich Farris 8’10

Ready

A peek into the unseen world inside the grand Greek Parliament building and the people who work there, finding the comedy in mundane, bizarre, hilarious everyday, and throwaway moments – aren’t we all human after all?

Greece, Belgium 2023 Dir: Eirini Vianelli 11’00

Tiny

The heartwarming story of ‘Nakwaxda’xw Elder Colleen Hemphill’s childhood. Modern day Colleen reflects on her past as a young girl growing up on a float-house in the wild Pacific Northwest and its waters.

Canada 2022 Dir: Ritchie Hemphill, Ryan Haché 16’15

An Ostrich Told me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe it

When a young telemarketer is confronted by a mysterious talking ostrich, he learns that the universe is stop motion animation.

Australia 2022 Dir: Lachlan Pendragon 11’40

This will not be a Festival Film

This time, Julita decided to make a film not for the festival laurels, but for her family. Although the task seemed simple, something went wrong.

Poland 2022 Dir: Julia Orlik 8’00