A Snapshot of What’s On at 2024’s London International Animation Festival (LIAF)
Skwigly
The London International Animation Festival (LIAF 2024), the UK’s largest, longest-running and most eclectic animation festival returns for its 21st year with a mammoth 10-day celebratory feast of forums, screen talks and 240 of the best animated shorts from 40 countries around the world.
Be prepared to feast your eyes on a sumptuous banquet of the world’s best, wildest and most awe-inspiring animated films.
We are excited to be back screening for our live audiences at 5 London venues – the Barbican, the Garden Cinema, the Horse Hospital, the Puppet Theatre Barge and Close Up Cinema.
For those unable to travel to London, virtually the whole festival will also be available to view online on our streaming platform, bringing the best independent animation directly into people’s homes. Everything our audience loves about LIAF is being transformed into a virtual version; screenings, free industry panels, audience voting and insightful and entertaining talks.
Screenings will be available daily from 22 November to 1 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 a 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, pixilation, cut outs, puppets, abstract, sand and everything in-between to some of the more interesting developments in CGI – all of which can be seen at this year’s LIAF.
A snapshot of LIAF 2024
Opening night special screening at the Barbican: UK premiere of American feature film ‘Boys Go To Jupiter’ + screentalk with Director Julian Glander and Producer Peisin Yang Lazo.
Set in the transitional days between Christmas and New Years Eve, the story follows Billy 5000, a teenage gig worker driven by a hustle mentality, whose goal of earning $5,000 takes a turn when a quirky gelatinous alien appears. Through a mix of lo-fi musical numbers and deadpan humour, Billy must rescue Donut and his family from the nefarious plans of the Dolphin Groves Juice Company. Featuring a voice cast of beloved oddball comedy stars, the film embraces a delightfully bizarre atmosphere. It all swirls into a dreamy coming-of-age story packed with heart, humour, and banger musical numbers.
8 international competition screenings: The Garden Cinema and the Puppet Theatre Barge
Including From Absurd to Zany (humorous shorts), Into The Dark (scary shorts), Animated Documentaries, the Abstract Showcase and the Stop-Motion Panorama. 83 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 in cinemas and onstage for post-screening talks and introductions.
The British Showcase: Barbican Cinema
Independent British animated films have carved out a unique niche in the cinematic landscape, characterised by their distinct artistic styles and innovative storytelling. These films frequently explore themes of identity, culture, and social issues, reflecting the diverse experiences of contemporary Britain. This screening paints a vibrant picture of a spirited and imaginative animation nation. Before the screening there is a chance to meet many of the animators and hear them talk about their films as they take to the stage to introduce their films.
Figures in Focus – Wanderlust: Barbican Cinema
A programme of contemporary animations in recognition of the under-representation of female and non-binary animators and their stories within independent animation. For this year’s programme, 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. Filmmakers Jessica Ashman, Efa Blosse-Mason, and Silvana Roth will join programmer Abigail Addison for the post-screening discussion.
Disrupting the Narrative – When Worlds Collide: Barbican Cinema
This programme takes viewers on unexpected journeys across London, Libya, South Africa and beyond into personal histories and deep into emotional landscapes of the heart. Personal and political narratives are investigated beneath the microscopic eye of 10 Black British and ethnically diverse animation directors with urgent tales to tell through metaphors and visual poems that bring ideas to life and add meaning to human stories in fresh ways. Filmmakers Mary Martins, Izzy Aghahowa and Erica Russell will join programmer Osbert Parker for the post-screening discussion.
The Hyperboreans (FEATURE FILM) * UK premiere : The Horse Hospital
Masters of their craft, Chilean filmmakers Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León graced the Cannes Film Festival this year with this bizarre, disturbing and deeply entertaining animated feature. An explosion of mixed media using puppetry, stop motion, theatrical sets and Lynchian dream/nightmare logic to weave together ideas from Chile’s history, the occult, right-wing conspiracy theory, Jungian psychology, silent film and elsewhere. Filled with peculiar humour and existential dread, The Hyperboreans is a masterful yet unsettling work of art. Mind-blowing!
Pelikan Blue (FEATURE FILM) * UK premiere : The Horse Hospital
The UK premiere of this unique, visually compelling animated documentary feature film directed by acclaimed Hungarian filmmaker Laszlo Csaki. In 1990’s Hungary, travel was finally possible but unaffordable. By forging international train tickets, three young men provide the opportunity for a whole generation to experience the outside world. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, Hungary’s borders suddenly open up. Everyone wants to travel to Western Europe – young people in particular – but the price of a train ticket is prohibitive. What good is freedom if you can’t afford it? Pelikan Blue is the type of film that leaves a permanent smile on the viewer’s face. It has the power to make us believe that, not that long ago, the world was a far better place.
Are You OK? Destigmatising Mental Health: The Horse Hospital
Animated shorts are a powerful medium for addressing mental health issues, offering a unique and often visually compelling way to explore complex emotions and inner struggles. This special programme of films vividly depicts experiences like anxiety, depression, trauma and personal growth, often capturing the nuance of these conditions in ways that words alone cannot. By destigmatising mental health struggles the films also serve as a valuable tool for raising awareness, fostering conversations and promoting understanding about emotional well-being. And apart from anything else – they will make you laugh and make you cry! Several of the filmmakers will be present for a panel discussion after the screening.
Anfield Roads – Chris Shepherd (screening, talking and book signing): The Horse Hospital
Much loved indie animator and frequent guest of LIAF – Chris Shepherd – has spent the last four years working on his debut graphic novel ‘Anfield Road’ – a funny and poignant coming-of-age story set in Liverpool in 1989, the land of The La’s, the Hillsborough disaster and Findus Crispy Pancakes. Chris will join us onstage with Jez Stewart, author and curator at the BFI National Archive for a chat about his process, the book and anything else that comes to mind. The programme also includes a screening of 10 classic animated short films that have been adapted from literary sources.
Magic in Marimekko: Dick Arnall – Animate and the manipulated moving image – A Tribute: Close-Up Cinema
Dick Arnall, the hugely influential producer of many of Britain’s most important animators, and a key figure in Channel 4’s Animate! commissioning series in the 1990s and early 2000s, would have been 80 this year. His death aged 62 in 2007 robbed the animation world of one of its most passionate and committed advocates. Dick’s wide-ranging tastes, warm enthusiasm and his profound engagement with what he preferred to call the ‘manipulated moving image’ began in his student years and took many different forms over the decades to come. This programme gathers just a handful of the numerous often award-winning titles he either produced or consulted on.
Late Night Bizarre: The Horse Hospital
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 Horse Hospital
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. Bjork, Fat Dog, Coldplay and the Sugar Hill Gang are all featured alongside several others.
The Best of the Next: The Horse Hospital
The 33 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: Barbican Cinema
Several short animated films, full of joy from all around the world containing cheeky, loveable humans and animals in all sorts of mad adventures.
The Best of the Fest: Barbican Cinema
A roundup of LIAF 2024, 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.
LIAF has been given unparalleled access to the CEOs, Directors and Heads of Department of some of the world’s top animation companies to find out what makes them tick. In a very special series we’re calling “The Great British Take Off: Talks with the UK Animation Companies conquering the world” we’ll be asking powerhouses of animation creativity like Blue Zoo, Nexus Productions, Aardman Animation, BlinkInk, StudioAKA and DNEG Animation about their work processes, the technology they use and how it is changing, the business of animation in today’s markets, how they find and develop talent, and what they see as the opportunities and challenges facing the future of Animation and gaining new audiences. These companies have created some of the most memorable and remarkable animated characters, commercials, music videos and stunning visuals for film and tv and beyond. What makes these companies survive and flourish? This is a truly exciting insight into the thoughts of animation leaders and key creatives. Don’t miss it! We’ll also be discussing neurodiversity in animation – public and professional awareness of neurodiversity has dramatically increased, but has anything changed in the world of animation?
FULL PROGRAMME ONLINE AT HTTPS://LIAF.ORG.UK/
Tickets for in-venue screenings available from cinema box-offices.
Passes for online screenings at https://liaf.org.uk/
VIP PASS – £75 (access to 23 screenings and 7 talks)
CURATOR PASS – £45 (access to 8 screenings of your choice)
Single tickets for online screenings – £5