‘Animated Womxn’ to Address Gender Imbalance in the Animation Industry at MANIPULATE Online
Skwigly
Puppet Animation Scotland presents a digital programme packed with performance, screenings and workshops, including an international celebration of womxn in animation on and off screen as MANIPULATE Festival returns in brand new form against the odds this January.
The innovative festival of international, award-winning visual theatre, puppetry and animated film will return for its 14th edition from 29 January – 7 February 2021. The programme will take place in digital form providing festival fans and new audiences with the opportunity to enjoy the line-up from the comfort of their own homes.
Animation Events
In animated film, we are delighted to welcome back the Edinburgh Short Film Festival to curate another dynamic and vibrant programme of award-winning international short animated films, which explore moments of connection and isolation in ANIMATED HIGHLIGHTS: 2021. Featuring works from Slovenia, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, USA, New Zealand and the UK, each explores an aspect of the things which draw us together or pull us apart.
Featured as part of this programme is NIGEL by Nataszna Cetner, alongside works by Pieter Coudyzer, Segolene Romier, Izzy Gibbs, Milanka Fabjancic, Damon Mohl, Gabriel Bohmer, Martin Romero and Paul James.
And for the first time, MANIPULATE presents Animated Womxn – a womxn led showcase of extraordinary stop-frame and VFX work from the animated film industry. Featuring 12 animated shorts from Ali Aschman (England), Amanda Aiken (Scotland), Aurélie Gauthier (Ireland), Camile Kater (Brazil), Eleanor Stewart (Scotland), Ellie LaCourt (USA), Erentia Bedeker (South Africa), Kate Jessop (England), Kelli Williams (USA), Martyna Koleniec (Czech Republic), Vanessa Sweet (USA) and Victoria Watson (Scotland), the programme is made by and for womxn. The programme is curated by Puppet Animation Scotland and supported by Animated Woman UK, Scotland (AWUK) and the PANIMATION Network.
After the screening, AWUK will lead a creative panel discussion with 5 animators from the Animated Womxn programme to discuss their creative practice and to reflect on their experience as a womxn in the animated film industry.
PANIMATION is a multi-platform community of womxn, trans and non-binary people working within animation and motion graphics. The founders of the network will host a DRINK ‘N’ DRAW WITH PANIMATION workshop, an evening of chats and games, exploring how to combat gender stereotypes through character development when generating new stories.
Tickets for the 2021 digital festival programme are on sale now, visit MANIPULATEfestival.org.
In the challenging circumstances that the pandemic has thrown up for our sector, the immediate priority for myself and the Puppet Animation Scotland team was finding a way to generate work for as many artists as we could. Commissioning, hosting installations and digital theatre – all these represent uncharted territory for Puppet Animation Scotland, but we have been overwhelmed by the creativity and ingenuity of artists in meeting this brief, said Dawn.
“It’s clear that there are challenges to come for us as a society this winter, and so we also wanted to create something exciting and concrete that audiences can put in their diaries and look forward to. We’re thrilled to be able to keep providing boundary-pushing creative experiences through MANIPULATE in 2021.
Dawn Taylor, Puppet Animation’s new director
Other MANIPULATE Highlights
DIGITAL FESTIVAL / MANIPULATE Festival #14 will take place from 29 January to 7 February, with a visually led performance programme of 15 events, featuring exciting international and Scottish artists spanning puppetry, visual and physical theatre, animated film, aerial and contortion, alongside workshops, social events and discussions.
In international work Chicago-based Edinburgh Fringe favourites Manual Cinema will make their MANIPULATE debut presenting the UK digital preview of the acclaimed work The End of TV – set in a post-industrial Rust Belt city in the 1990s, told through a collection of 70’s R&B inspired art pop songs; and Boxed by Berlin-based Israeli puppeteer Ariel Doron presents a one-man masterclass in minimalist puppetry; a funny, sensitive and scary fantasy about a lonely man trying to get in touch with himself and the world.
A dynamic collaboration, The Lonely Sailor Weather Report is the result of a partnership between South African animator Meghan Judge, theatre designer Craig Leo and the Ukwanda Puppetry and Design Collective. This exploration of amphibious living was commissioned by the National Arts Festival in South Africa.
In UK performance Sita Pieraccini returns to MANIPULATE with Crunch – a companion piece to 2017 show Bird, designed especially for a digital platform in response to the current moment, exploring themes of isolation and connection with nature. Emergent theatre-maker Sarah Cosgrove makes her festival debut with new work, Today I Bake – a visually compelling, exploration of themes sourced from Grimm’s Rumpelstiltskin; and following on from their highly successful cabaret performance of Draculala at MANIPULATE in 2020, physical theatre and cabaret collective LARDS are back with Drackattack – a brand new music video.
The digital format of the festival also provides some opportunity for some sneak preview snapshots and works in progress, of UK based artists including:
Performance maker Tashi Gore’s The Yellow Canary – an epic true story and leap into the imagination of a young child fleeing from their home to escape the horrors of war; visual theatre makers MHz and circus artist Hannah Finn combine AV design, somatic choreography and the art of contortion to create [dream]ENGINE offline memory processor inspired by neuroscience, memory and surrealism; and Kasia Zawadzka makes her festival debut with ILL LIT – a powerful aerial and physical theatre performance exploring mental health, cycles of repetition and the struggle to break out.
Once again MANIPULATE has partnered with Surge Scotland to identify two exciting new indoor physical theatre projects for development. This year these works are: tank by Zoe Bullock and Alice Langely – a physical theatre exploration of how we cope when everything gets too much set in a UV fish tank, and BALLAD OF THE CRONE by Scottish-based Peruvian artist Leonor Estrada Francke – an autofiction performance lecture about the child-mother relationship, cannibalism, cooking, and community.
MANIPULATE will provide further opportunities for creatives to develop their artistic practice, through a series of workshops specially designed to respond to artists’ needs in the current climate including Rene Baker, with Bringing the Metaphor to Life, Ariel Doron with Object Theatre & the Virtual Stage. A discussion event Building Back Better: Puppetry and Visual Theatre in a Post-Covid Landscape will also provide the opportunity to dream big together about how we might build back a puppetry and visual theatre sector which better serves everyone within it and the communities around us after Covid-19.
Tickets for the 2021 digital festival programme are on sale now, visit MANIPULATEfestival.org.