Programme highlights unveiled for LIAF 2023

06 November 2023 // Festival News

Skwigly

The London International Animation Festival (LIAF 2023), the UK’s largest, longest-running and most eclectic animation festival returns for its 20th year with a mammoth 10-day celebratory feast of forums, screen talks and 245 of the best animated shorts from 41 countries around the world.

This year it’s our very special 20th anniversary celebration. Be prepared to feast your eyes on a sumptuous banquet of the world’s best, wildest and mostawe-inspiring animated films.

We are really excited to be back screening for our live audiences at 4 London venues – the Barbican, the Garden Cinema, the Horse Hospital and the Puppet Theatre Barge.

But for those unable to travel to London the whole programme will also be available online via digital screenings on our streaming platform, bringing the best in animation direct to people’s homes. This means many more people around the country and worldwide will be able to experience LIAF for the first time. Everything our audience loves about LIAF is being transformed into a virtual version; screenings, industry panels, filmmaker introductions and talks.

Screenings and talks will be available daily from 24 November to 3 December, running alongside live and pre-recorded panel discussions with many of the worlds’ leading animators and industry players.

As ever, this year’s uncompromising programme promises to inspire, delight and challenge the notion that animation is merely for the 3D CGI blockbuster genre or cute cartoons for kids. Independent animation is an art form 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, to some of the more interesting developments in CGI – all of which can be seen at this year’s LIAF.

A snapshot of LIAF 2023:

245 films from 41 countries, 120 premieres.
Opening night special screening at the Barbican: a celebration of our 20th birthday with a special surprise collection of films from across the 2023 line-up as well as atribute to the work of one of the most-loved and celebrated British animators – Paul Bush – who sadly passed away earlier this year. Alongside a screening of some of his iconic films we are also proud to have a panel of Paul’s friends and colleagues from around the world who will take to the Barbican stage to discuss Paul’s life and work.
8 international competition screenings: Including From Absurd to Zany (humorous shorts), Into The Dark (scary shorts), Animated Documentaries and the Abstract Showcase. 88 films of every technique, genre and style from the international indie animation universe and the world’s most creative talents showing that animation is alive and well and thriving. Many of the filmmakers from the UK and around the world will join us live for post-screening talks and introductions.
The British Showcase: the best, most recent 14 short films in the UK. Nobody in the world screens more British animation than LIAF and the British Showcase programme paints a vibrant picture of a spirited and imaginative animation nation. Most of the filmmakers will be onstage to introduce their films and talk about the ideas and processes behind them.
Special screening – Figures in Focus: Apocalypse: A cathartic programme of artists’ animated films that delve into our darkest fears and our greatest hopes. Whilst we’re living through a time that feels eerily as though we are enduring characters in an unfolding disaster movie, and with the climate crisis ever present in our media and minds, these films proffer reflection, release, escapism, and hope. Figures in Focus was devised by Abigail Addison, in recognition of the under-representation of female and non-binary animators and their stories within the independent animation sector.
Special screening – Disrupting the Narrative (Changing Mindsets, Expanding Voices) features exciting British and international filmmakers who use a diverse range of live action and animation techniques to explore black, ethnically-diverse themes and how we live in multicultural societies around the world today. After the screening filmmakers will take to the stage to discuss their work chaired by co-curator and BAFTA and Emmy-nominated Director Osbert Parker.
Special screening – Stop-motion panorama: 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. These 8 thought-provoking, moving and downright bonkers short puppet films have been made by some of the most talented independent animators in the world proving that tangible and physical stop-motion and puppet animation is alive and well and in rude health in the 21st century. We’ll be screening 8 little masterpieces celebrating this magical form at a unique venue in Little Venice – the Puppet Theatre Barge.
3 very special screenings of the 30 best horror, comedy and animated documentary shorts – Over 20 years LIAF has screened more than 6,000 films from the world’s most talented animators. Join us at the Horse Hospital as we relive the highlights in 3 specially curated programmes with many of the animators present and joining us for chats and introductions before the screenings. These gems are big audience favourites with some of our own thrown in for good measure.
Late Night Bizarre: a programme of the weirdest, wildest and most demented films submitted to LIAF this year featuring a bunch of anti-classics guaranteed to be as far away from Disney as it’s possible to get. Screening at London’s best cult underground venue the Horse Hospital.
Music video programme: the world’s best music clips made by the world’s most inventive animators. Animation is an integral element in many of the best music videos and here are some of the hottest bands and creative animators coming together to produce 60 minutes of pure aural and visual pleasures. Miles Davis, Hot Chip, Tim Burgess and the Beatles are all featured alongside several others.
The Best of the Next: The 26 best student films from the world’s best film schools made in the last 18 months. The first step on the animation ladder for these talented filmmakers, and the first time their wild and wonderful imaginations have been unleashed.
Two programmes for children aged 0-7 and 8-15 – short animated films, full of joy from all around the world containing several cheeky, loveable humans and animals in all sorts of mad adventures.
The Best of the Fest: a roundup of LIAF 2023, where the best films as chosen by audience and industry judges are announced, awarded prizes and re-screened one final time.
FREE online Panel discussions – For those who are curious to hear from some of the most passionate and insightful industry experts talking about the most current and vital topics we have 6 completely FREE panel discussions taking place online over the weekend of 2/3 December. We’ll be looking into the minds of some of the most creative forces currently working in the field of the animated documentary, discussing the intrinsic role of the Animation Producer and how do you get to become one, finding out whether animation can be a viable and satisfying career for people who are neurodiverse, looking back at the meteoric growth of the UK animation industry over the last 20 years and looking forward to how the next 20 years might develop in CGI, 3D and general technology.

FULL PROGRAMME ONLINE AT LIAF.ORG.UK