BEST OF THE NEXT/INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE ANIMATION FESTIVAL
‘Swarming / Kuhina’ (Joni Mannisto, 2011)
Tickets CLICK HERE (tickets valid for all 3 sessions)
A ‘festival within a festival’. Three diverse back-to-back programmes looking at the next generation of indie animators from a variety of angles. Here’s the first of the three programmes, showing the best international student films drawn from more than 60 different schools in 25 countries.
6pm: Best of the Next: Programme 1 – Tokyo University of the Arts (15)
The arrival of LIAF 2012’s special guest – legendary Japanese animator Koji Yamamura (‘Mt Head’, ‘Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor’, ‘Muybridge’s Strings’ to name but a few) dramatically and quickly re-energised the Tokyo University of the Arts animation course into a creative powerhouse of the Japanese animation scene and the world is beginning to sit up and take notice of its graduates. This collection looks at some of their more recent graduate works and shows what a unique torrent of animation has been untapped there.
‘Al Dente Tango’ (Maho Yoshida, 2011) Japan, 4’08 Welcome. Do you have a booking? Yes? Good. Here is your table. Welcome to the Restaurant Of The Macabre.
‘Fleeting Dream / Tamayura No Yume’ (Mayuko Yamakita, 2011) Japan, 4’01 A poignant departure from the charcoal splendour of the real world to a more colourful, but less predictable, world beneath the surface.
‘Spots Spots’ (Yuanyuan Hu, 2011) Japan, 4’15 Spots may be in the eye of the beholder but that beholder needs a pretty vivid imagination to see them all.
‘From The Dolphin / Iruka Kara’ (Tatsuhiro Ariyoshi, 2011) Japan, 2’09 A dolphin’s-eye view of a hypnotic journey to a surprisingly unexpected end vision.
‘Bonnie’ (Masanori Okamoto, 2011) Japan, 2’27 Life can be a frenetic journey for a fragile little cut-out trying to make its way through the crazy rigours of the urban jungle.
‘Specimens Of Obsessions / Hyouhon No Tou’ (Atsushi Makino, 2011) Japan, 12’08 The centipede of punishment, an ephemera of obsessions, the leech of closure, a snail of escape, and of course the cockroach of usual life.
‘Ygg’s Bird / Ygg No Tori’ (Mariko Saito, 2011) Japan, 5’27 From fire, smoke and scorched earth, a bird arrives to find that life has changed forever.
‘The Tender March / Yasashii March’ (Wataru Uekusa, 2011) Japan, 4’48 A visual roller-coaster ride right out of a Japanese, pop culture-infused graphic novel – but with lots more screens.
‘The Life Of The Weed / Kusa No Isshou’ (Sonomi Takada, 2011) Japan, 2’53 A pastiche of ‘floranetic’ hyperactivity that traces the path of one big weed on the move.
‘Jam Fish’ (Senri Iida, 2011) Japan, 3’34 A bold and colourful visual essay on what fish can teach us about dealing with the peak-hour traffic.
‘Fully Cooked For You / Onishime Otabe’ (Yuka Imabayashi, 2011) Japan, 3’44 Behind every peeled owl is … another peeled owl. Underneath every puffed mushroom is a stem waiting to escape.
‘Island Of Man / Hito No Shima’ (Alimo, Japan) 6’32, 2011 A quiet carpet of Zen imagery and narrative. On an island that could be anywhere, a pair of boots lay cast away.
‘Rootless Heart / Samayou Shinzou’ (Toshiko Hata, Japan) 9’52, 2011 Uncertainty equals danger. And uncertain danger requires a response. But an uncertain response comes with uncertain consequences.
‘Uncapturable Ideas / Idea Ga Tsukamaranai’ (Masaki Okudam, Japan) 10’52, 2011 Somebody has gone fishing for ideas and they’ve thrown the net real wide. Step forward and help pull this rich bounty into the boat.
7:30pm Best of the Next: Programme 2 (15)
‘Fly Mill’ (Anu-Laura Tuttelberg, 2012) Estonia, 7’20 Producer: Estonian Academy Of Arts Man’s disregard for the balance of nature can relegate him to the bottom of the food chain.
‘Flamingo Pride’ (Tomer Eshed, 2011) Germany, 6’02 Producer: HFF “Konrad Wolf” Pride and prejudice down on the rainbow bird ponds.
‘The Case’ (Martin Zivocky, 2011) Czech Republic, 4’46 Producer: Tomas Bata University, FMK A rainy, hard-boiled night on the gritty streets depicted in the softest velvet tones.
‘Bottle’ (Kirsten Lepore, 2011) USA, 5’25 Producer: California Institute of the Arts The power to connect knows no boundaries and can’t be stopped by Mother Nature’s power of erosion.
‘House Wanders, Bird Water Full’ (Veronika Samartseva, 2012) Germany, 8’55 Producer: HFF “Konrad Wolf” A tender and sensitive portrait of self-discovery.
‘Life and Stuff’ (Kumar Satkunarasa, 2011) UK, 4’30 Producer: Bournemouth University, NCCA A kaleidoscopic, whistle-stop tour through one man’s life in four and a half minutes.
‘Egaro’ (Bruno Salamone, 2011) France, 6’09 Producer: Supinfocom Apparently meek and mild by day, the vibe turns grotesque when his conversion to the ‘masked one’ takes place.
‘Little Monkey’ (Delphine Dussoubs, 2011) France, 3’30 Producer: Ecole des Métiers du Cinéma d’Animation A young monkey, initiated by his master, has to pass his transition to adulthood.
‘Peacemaker Mac – The Island Of Dispute’ (Yotam Cohen, 2011) Israel, 4’39 Producer: Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem A damned classy, old-time-style cartoon channelling Kricfalusi and Mesmer in roughly equal proportions.
‘The Box / Die Kiste’ (Kyra Buschor, 2011) Germany, 4’50 Producer: Filmakademie Baaden-Wurttemberg A tale of the reptilian mystic. Three frogs must decide whether to open the box that sits before them.
‘Stay Home’ (Caleb Wood, 2011) USA, 5’37 Producer: Rhode Island School of Design A worm, a bird, a cat, a dog – a pecking order.
‘Ishihara’ (Yoav Brill, 2011) Israel, 5’45 Producer: Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem A poignant tale of colour blindness using Ishihara colour test patterns.
’38-39 Degrees’ (Kangmin Kim, 2011) USA/South Korea, 7’43 Producer: CalArts A man enters an old bathhouse where he relives a memory of his father, and their past relationship ignites.
‘Omerta’ (Nicolas Loudot, Fabrice Fiteni, Arnaud Janvier & Gaspard Roche, 2011) 6’14, France Producer: Supinfocom A dapper, gangster frog tries his luck at locking horns with mafia rhinos – it was only ever going to turn out one way.
‘I’m Fine Thanks’ (Eamonn O’Neill, 2011) UK, 4’30 Producer: Royal College of Art, London A candy-coloured psychotic meditation on urban survival.
9:15pm Best of the Next: Programme 3 (15)
‘Swarming / Kuhina’ (Joni Mannisto, 2011) Finland, 7’18 Producer: Turku Arts Academy A new universe of life leaps forth from the insides of a dead bird – much to the delight and wonder of the child who discovers it.
‘A Life Well-Seasoned’ (Daniel Rieley, 2011) UK, 3’35 Producer: The Arts University College at Bournemouth Maybe the simplest memories are the real spice of life.
‘Flood / Fiumana’ (Julia Gromskaya, 2012) Italy, 5’20 A girl at a window watches the passing of time, the waltz of seasons, waiting for her man.
‘This is Not Real’ (Gergely Wootsch, 2011) UK, 6’40 Producer: Royal College of Art, London A young boy’s chimerical journey from a small English town leads him to an all-defining conclusion.
‘En Parties’ (Hugo Bravo, 2011) France, 3’49 Producer: Ecole Emile Cohl Modern deco blended with postmodern cubism – coming to a screen near you.
‘Within Within’ (Sharon Liu, 2011) UK, 3’00 Producer: Royal College of Art, London An astonishingly mature review of the young filmmaker’s sense of her birthplace – Hong Kong – its place in the world and its complex relationship with China.
‘From Dad to Son’ (Nils Knoblich, 2011) Germany, 5’20 Producer: Kunsthochschule Kassel From his prison cell, junior writes a letter to his dad, informing him that the weapon and victim lie buried on his property.
‘Hinterland’ (Jakob Weyde & Jost Althoff, 2011) Germany, 8’40 Producer: HFF “Konrad Wolf” A crow steals a bear’s new I-Pod. The bear gets mad.
‘L’Air De Rien’ (Cecile Milazzo, 2011) France, 3’16 Producer: La Poudriere The faces we create, the clothes we wear, the spaces we inhabit – are they barriers, disguises or conduits to surviving day to day.
‘When I Was Young’ (Kaori Onishi, 2011) UK/Japan, 5’34 Producer: UCA, Farnham The story of a girl who wants to be a whale.
‘Passenger’ (Africanus Okokon, 2011) USA, 3’51 Producer: Rhode Island School of Design An entrancing re-animated view of a ride home in the dark.
‘Change/Valtozas’ (Virag Kiss, 2011) Hungary, 6’37 Producer: Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design An ironic monologue about finding one’s path, inner growth, and the desire to change.
‘Right In The Middle / Zmitzt Drin’ (Cecile Brun, 2011) Switzerland, 5’06 Producers: HSLU Design & Art, Lucerne. I’m searching and searching when it’s actually me that’s being followed. And I’ve already been found ages ago.
‘Once Upon A Time/Conte De Faits’ (Jumi Yoon, 2011) France, 3’59 Producer: La Poudriere A young girl remembers the sights, sounds and her escape paths from the American servicemen’s bar her mother ran during the Korean War.
‘The Backwater Gospel’ (Bo Mathorne, 2011) Denmark, 9’31 Producer: The Animation Workshop Death stalks the prairie and has no favourites – neither true believers nor crazed hillbillies can hide.
