International Competition Programme 2 (15) (Repeat)
7:00 pm: Tickets £10/£7 Concs. click here
Solipsist (Andrew Huang, 2012)
The backbone of the whole LIAF mission. Somehow we’ve emerged from under the pile of 2,350 entries with enough strength and wits intact to put together a series of programmes that showcase the best 100 or so new films. Six ‘general’ International Competition Programmes, our ever popular Abstract Showcase and Long Shorts programmes, plus the British Showcase. The films come in from every corner, they use every technique, they can be funny, dramatic, eye-popping, subdued, documentary or autobiographical. The one thing they have in common is that we think they’re the pick of the crop.
Solipsist (Andrew Huang, 2012) A rupture of entanglements swarm and squirm into a herd of divine spectacle. USA, 10’10
Widow Caillou (Agnes Patron, 2011) About as good as this style of animation gets! A film of astounding – and yet richly understated – atmospheric beauty. France, 8’00
Chopper (Lars Damoiseaux & Frederik Palmaers, 2012) The circle of life. A mantis gets eaten by a frog. The frog is swallowed by a stork, while the stork is eaten by a crocodile, before the crocodile gets shot by a hunter. Holland, 2’15
Wind (Robert Loebel, 2012) Wind can be a nutty friend, a challenging protector or a wily, invisible predator. But how is it generated? Germany, 3’05
Toto (Zbigniew Czapla, 2013) An exuberant feast for the eyes. Painted animation of a richness, complexity and rawness that saturates the viewer and draws them into its world. Poland, 12’10
The Banker (Phil Mulloy, 2012) Will Mr Christie allow Terry to join the Mayan End of World Society? UK, 3’00
Fallin’ Floyd (Paco Vink & Albert ‘t Hooft, 2012) Floyd, after being dumped by his girlfriend, suffers from psychological problems manifested as a little demon who disrupts his everyday life. Holland, 8’50
Crazy For It (Yutaro Kubo, 2012) A crazed blizzard of imagery supercharging a variety of moving bodies ahead of its crest. Japan, 3’37
International Father’s Day (Edmunds Jansons, 2012) For most people Fathers Day is a celebration, but for one small bird – an ordinary working day where he has to feed his family. Latvia, 5’00
Gloria Victoria (Theodore Ushev, 2013) From the Russian front to the Chinese Revolution, and Dresden to Guernica, great black birds fly over graves while vampires and reapers keep moving. Canada 6’55
Butterflies (Isabel Peppard, 2012) A young artist sits on the pavement, struggling to make a living selling her drawings to passers-by. A businessman offers her a paying job. The prospect seems inviting but the reality threatens to kill her imagination. Australia, 12’00
Kaspar (Diane Obomsawin, 2012) Kaspar is a young man who discovers life – and light – after spending his entire existence in a dark cave with a small wooden horse as his only company. Canada, 8’25
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UK Premiere Feature: Tito On Ice (Max Andersson & Helena Ahonen, 2012) (15)
9:00 pm: Tickets £10/£7 Concs. click here
To promote their book Bosnian Flat Dog, Swedish comics creators Max Andersson and Lars Sjunnesson tour the countries of former Yugoslavia with a mummified Marshal Tito in a refrigerator.
They encounter a number of characters populating the post-Yugoslav indie cultural scene. As the journey continues through increasingly improbable surroundings, the protagonists begin to question themselves and Tito on Ice, Max Andersson, Helena Ahonen, LIAF, London International Animation Festivalthe reality they find themselves in. Watching border controls turn into improvised snapshot sessions, admiring mutant iron-curtain Disney toys, buying souvenir grenade shell handicrafts and discovering sniper art in blown-out apartments, they find that truth may indeed be stranger than fiction.
A combination of stop-motion animation and documentary scenes, the film turns into a roller coaster ride through a parallel universe Tito on Ice, Max Andersson, Helena Ahonen, LIAF, London International Animation Festivalwhere all borders are disintegrating – at the same time tragic, poetic and hilariously funny.
Sweden/Germany, 76’00
