Iain Gardner Steps Down After 10 Years of Animation Championing at EIFF – Interview
The Edinburgh International Film Festival is the world’s longest running film festival and with that the festival has maintained a respectable presence on the international stage. As with most film festivals, animation finds itself celebrated among the festival offerings. After 10 years of championing the art form at the yearly event Animation Programmer Iain Gardener has decided to step down to concentrate on his own projects. An animator in his own right, directing Akbar’s Cheetah and The Tannery Gardner naturally found himself at home promoting his fellow filmmakers in his role to great acclaim, from celebrating Norman McLaren during his centenary in 2012, bringing the Scottish born animator to wider public attention to showcasing new talent in Scotland, highlighting up and coming indie animators such as the now firmly established Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson and Ross Hogg.
Gardner has overseen a decade of the coveted McLaren Award, an accolade which saw its 30th recipient celebrated at the festival which has steadfastly shone a spotlight on the wealth of talent produced in the UK on a yearly basis.
L-R Neil Boyle, Mo Sutton, Richard Williams, Roy Naisbitt, Iain Gardner
Perhaps Iain’s greatest achievement at the festival is making the animators feel special. This isn’t easy when a huge international film festival has gala premieres and red carpet previews of live action films plastered across the city, but in Gardner the festival had an individual who took the time to ensure that the animators felt at home, taking them on hikes up Arthurs Seat (the only way to network!) or working with projectionists to ensure that the screening of Richard William’s The Little Island was displayed, for the first time, how the director intended with the screen expanding during the film. Iain has also welcomed a who’s who of animation talent to the festival such as Don Hertzfeldt, Richard Williams, Barry Purves, Adam Elliot and many others. The Edinburgh International Film Festival now finds itself with big boots to fill if it is to maintain that inclusive atmosphere and destination for animators in the calendar.
A lineup of McLaren Award nominees
We caught up with Iain Gardner to reflect on his tenure at EIFF and to find out what he is up to next.
A decade ago you became the Animation Programmer at Edinburgh International Film Festival – how did that come about?
Various threads came together. At the time, I was Chair of the Scottish Animation Network and through that I was being invited to Chair panels at EIFF. The role also saw me lobby on behalf of the sector in relation to the Festival’s shift from August to June and how that effected Graduate entries – especially from Edinburgh College of Art. So the team at EIFF quickly became impressed with my passion and knowledge of animation, in addition to my confidence as a public speaker.
You have found yourself juggling the role with your job as an animator, running Animation Garden, has your role at EIFF inspired the day job?
Partly! The EIFF role for me is seasonal – so submissions start trickling in around November, and we need to lock the programme by early March. There’s the scramble over copy deadline for the brochure and then into hosting duties during the event in June. So time management can be tricky some years if you’ve service work as a company spilling over the film review period, which as you know Steve, takes forever! This has actually been one of the reasons my gut told me it was time to step down, as I really need to 100% focus on my film career.
When it comes to being an animator and a curator is it difficult being both an observer and a participant?
I’ve never found it difficult, because I’ve never felt that curating a film programme should be, or is, about the curator. You’ve got to park your own personal practice, agenda or taste and be receptive to what it is each individual film maker is aspiring to do within their work. I’ve enjoyed the art of animation long enough to appreciate innovation and excellence within the infinite potential of the medium to recognise excellence even when it’s not particularly to my own taste in aesthetic or film making.
Over the past ten years you have fostered a lot of Edinburgh based talents and brought many people up to Edinburgh to be celebrated. How has the job helped you promote a community?
During the past ten years, I’ve tried my best to put a spotlight on the flourishing animation sector in Scotland. With so many individual interests to serve, I’ve not always being able to join up all the dots. I came closest during 2014 with the McLaren Centenary. I’ve regularly spoken to graduating years from Edinburgh College of Art about Festival Strategies, how to navigate BAFTA entry etc, and I think it’s fair to say that my overview from the Festival helped give some film makers the added push to enter for those awards. But there are so many Animation related events springing up now in Scotland – like the MOVE SUMMIT in February – that Scotland’s presence on the World stage is being well represented.
Iain Gardner and Lizzy Hobbs
You maintained the McLaren award, was that a struggle given the dip in UK animation short production at the beginning of your tenure?
Oddly, the biggest struggle was an unusual year near the beginning of my tenure where the Festival experimented with having no Awards at all – I was slightly worried that the McLaren Award was ending there, but I did my own private poll that year anyway to record the winner (who has since been notified!) and managed to get it up and running again the year after. That had worried me, as I already was planning for McLaren’s Centenary at that point and knew that the 25th Award was due that year. Fortunately for me, there had been a ‘double win’ McLaren Award prior to my tenure, so we were still on track to have 25 winners by 2014!
In terms of the output of films, student films have always been a staple of our programme content (surely must be the same elsewhere?), and I did cut back the number of McLaren programmes from three to two due to the lack of production – but who knows? Could the British Animation Industry sustain three programmes under the next programmer? With the potential of a new BFI fund, that could happen.
In 2014 you curated the McLaren centenary, that must have been proud moment?
McLaren 2014 was not only the highlight of my EIFF tenure, but a true highlight of my life. I planned that Centenary for over six years, joined up cultural organisation across Scotland and the rest of the UK and Canada, had BBC Scotland commission a documentary on McLaren to be broadcast the month of his birth, influenced the restoration of his rarely seen stereoscopic films at the NFB (which we premiered at EIFF that year), placed a heritage plaque on the home of his birth, had thousands of children creating abstract animation, and hosted a reception on his 100th Birthday at Stirling Castle with guests from Canada. It was pretty incredible.
McLaren Exhibition Launch
Best bit of the last ten years
The friends I’ve made through programming films and meeting other people in the Festival world, such as yourself Steve, and Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson, young Ross Hogg and his wife Megan and not to mention the incredible team behind EIFF such as Diane, Niall and Mark. And my good friend Sabrina Leruste, who came to Scotland to coordinate McLaren 2014 from France and has stayed ever since. Oh – and the Animator’s Walk over Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh – as one participant tweeted this year, it’s the best way to network ever!
Animators Seize the Seat 2019
Worst bit of the last ten years
Aside from the result of the Brexit referendum mid 2016 Festival (we’re such an International Festival with staff and volunteers from around Europe), which was a real body blow to us all, I think the worst moment may have been one of the films screening in animatic form – the producers had sent the wrong tape, and with animation being such an eclectic medium the team checking the films for projection didn’t realise it wasn’t supposed to be so clunky!
Oh – and Will Anderson leading everyone off a cliff during the Animator’s Walk*.
But for whatever minor misunderstanding, mass suicide or faux pas that has passed over the last ten years, Brexit probably tops them all.
(*Editors note: Will Anderson leading everyone off the cliff was actually the BEST bit from that year. See photo above)
Why leave now?
A few things…
1) Festivals, as you know, are run on volunteers giving their time. They give their time because they want to work in Festivals. If people like me hold onto posts at Festivals for as long as ten years, there are no opportunities for the volunteers!
2) I was a guest on a film development seminar focused on Festival Programming. Someone was interested to know the career development of a Film Festival programme. My colleague spoke of aiming for Artistic Director, working at other Festivals, setting up fringe events. And whilst that person spoke, all I could think was..I just want to do what I do with Ed Film Fest. I’m blocking a stepping stone for someones career path!
3) I’m not as sharp as I once was. Mikey Please announced completion of a new short shortly after my selection was locked this year. A few years ago I would have known whether Mikey had a short in the pipeline and would have had it in consideration before he’d been able to confirm whether it would be ready or not. I’ve taken my finger off the pulse of where everyone else is working in Indy Shorts at the moment! This is largely due, of course, to reason 4)
4) Gay Badgers and Bears! I’ve learned what a great advocate I have been for others. It’s time to advocate for myself!
5) Presiding over more than a third of a thirty year Award (an award older than the British Animation Awards, remember) would have been presumptuous! As long as the programmer of the McLaren Award for Best British Animation, I’m never in with an opportunity to compete for it! And there’s an impressive list of previous winners I’d like to have a chance of joining!
What’s next?
Gay Badgers and a Bear.
I pitched two shows at CARTOON FORUM last year, and I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback for Mustard & Ketchup (please follow them on Instagram @mustandketch & twitter @gaybadgers #gaybadgers) as well as A BEAR NAMED WOJTEK which tells of an orphaned bear during WWII who travelled all the way from Syria to Scotland.
I’m working with Iain Harvey (Illuminated Film Company, Exec Prod on THE SNOWMAN) on that one and we’re hoping to close the budget on that soon. We’ve amazing talent lined up to work on that one, I wish I could share that with you, but I don’t want to jinx it!
Thanks to Iain Gardner for ten years of animation championing at Edinburgh International Film Festival