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Silent Signal
I am delighted to share that after seven months of R&D and 18 months of production, Silent Signal is now live! Silent Signal is an interdisciplinary arts project that I have been producing at Animate. It brings together six artists and six scientists to create animated artworks that explore cell biology, genetics, immunology and epidemiology.…
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Crafty Women at LIAF 2015
In December I was invited to produce an event for London International Animation Festival (LIAF) 2015 that promoted female animators. I was delighted to be able to bring together three exceptional animators that I have worked with at Animate – Elizabeth Hobbs, Jo Lawrence and Noriko Okaku – as a fan of the work of…
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My Web Videos of 2014
I wrote this Top 5 for Sight & Sound back in January on behalf of Animate, but as it’s more than half way through the year already and S&S haven’t yet posted it online I may as well share it here before I find myself writing my Top Five of 2015 list. 2014 was a great…
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Inescapable animation
I recently presented a selection of films from Ars Electronica Animation Festival at the Austrian Culture Forum London. This was the third year that they invited to me to curate a programme, and this time I was fortunate to be able to also chair a panel afterwards and speak with three brilliant artists who all…
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Filmic Festivities at Flatpack
My March wrapped up with four days of sensory overload thanks to the 9th edition of the superb Flatpack Festival in Birmingham. Having been invited to be on the short film competition jury I was tasked with considering 48 films across five programmes for just two awards. The films that my co-conspirator, animator Joni Mannisto, and…
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Underwire Festival – call for submissions
It’s that time of the year again when we open submissions for Underwire Festival. Underwire is not just a feminist festival, its mission is to support female talent and showcase the very best creativity across the filmmaking crafts. I am always blown away by the talent we screen at the festival each year and the successes…
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![New York Times/A Game of Numbers © Kris Hofmann]()
Sharing a Persistence of Vision
At Underwire Festival back in November I presented a panel on how to make your mark in the animation industry and how to stay true to your vision at the same time. In keeping with the ethos of Underwire to support female talent it was both a useful exercise in showcasing the work of three…
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![Duke of Burgundy, Peter Strikland]()
Peculiar women at the London Film Festival
Although the BFI London Film Festival is now a distant memory, two of the feature films that I saw are still playing on my mind – The Duke of Burgundy directed by Peter Strickland and Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s The Tribe. Whilst both films are directed by men, they differ greatly in the way the treat their…
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![Brutus, Svetlana Filippova]()
November’s film festival highlights
November has been an excellent month for examining the great work talented filmmakers and animators have been producing of late. Here is a selection of films that I’ve recently seen at two film festivals, Bradford Animation Festival and Underwire Festival, that are worth a watch. Bradford Animation Festival 1. The Obvious Child – Stephen Irwin…
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![The Battle of Blister, Genetic Moo and Neil Dufton]()
Making noise about Silent Signal
I am delighted to share that Silent Signal, an interdisciplinary project that I began developing at Animate with Gary Thomas and with my scientific chum Bentley Crudgington back in November 2012, has been funded and is now in production. The process was quite a labour of love, but with the support of the Advisors at…
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![The Luckiest Place on Earth, Strange Cargo]()
Looking about the Folkestone Triennial
As an ardent fan of the British seaside, a day trip to the coast doesn’t take much persuasion, though biennials, triennials and the like do give one more of an impetus to leave the safety of the city and to journey to otherwise unlikely destinations, like Folkestone. Folkestone is a typical tired seaside town, peppered…
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![The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) © Juan delGado]()
The Flickering Darkness (Revisited)
Today Unlimited Festival launched at the Southbank Centre. The only visual arts piece to receive a Major Project award from Unlimited that you can experience at the festival is The Flickering Darkness (Revisited). I have been working with its creator Juan delGado and an amazing production team to produce a new version of a work first made…
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![A Million Miles Away, Jennifer Reeder]()
Millions of Little Dramas – the work of Jennifer Reeder
After having heard about Jennifer Reeder’s work at Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, where she won the ZONTA Prize for her remarkable film A Million Miles Away, I was curious to find out more about her work. I contacted Reeder who invited me to check out a few of her recent short films. Taking a…
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![CHUVIHONI, Delaine Le Bas & Damian James Le Bas]()
Sites of Collective Memory
Really pleased to share that Sites of Collective Memory, a show I co-curated with Gary at Animate, is now online and at CGP London until 10 August. It’s been a real delight working with all five artists on realising these projects over the last couple of years and always a wonderful moment when the work…
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![Alice, Jan Svankmajer]()
Time Out’s Top 100 animated feature films
I recently contributed to Time Out’s poll alongside filmmakers, critics, and the likes of Disney’s Jennifer Lee, animation historian Jerry Beck, and many independent animators producing award winning short films including Koji Yamamura, Jeff Scher, Martha Colburn, Robert Morgan and Lilli Carré. Interestingly the only restriction given to selectors was that the films had to…
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![Between Regularity and Irregularity © Masahiro Tsutani]()
Presenting Changing nature
Here is the film programme that I presented at the Austrian Culture Forum on 30 January 2014. The films were selected from the previous Ars Electronica Animation Festival programme, and explore our relationship with natural forms and the natural world using the possibilities of digital technology to manipulate, deconstruct and abstract familiar organisms and environments.…
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![Image from The Miners's Story (BBC)]()
The Miners’ Hymns UK Tour
For the past six months I have been working with interdisciplinary arts agency Forma on touring The Miners’ Hymns, a film by American artist Bill Morrison with an original score by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. The work is composed of archival footage of the Durham coalfield over the past 100 years, assembled with recent footage…
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![Liars - Brats © Ian Cheng]()
Changing Nature screening
After presenting a screening at the Austrian Culture Forum last spring on transformations in animation, I’m pleased to have been invited back this year to present another screening of work selected from the annual Ars Electronica animation festival. Changing Nature is a selection of films that explore our relationship with natural forms and the natural…
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![Yamasuki Yamazaki, Shishi Yamazaki]()
Top 10 animations of 2013
Below are 10 films that I believe shows 2013 to have been a great year for animated film. As the majority of work I watch at festivals and online tends to be animation, I‘m keeping strictly to the medium with my review of the year and am avoiding straying into the realms of artists’ film…
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![Join the Freedom Force © Martha Colburn]()
Presenting God’s special envoys online
Earlier this month I produced a film programme for the University of Iowa’s Exuberant Politics season, which screened at Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids on 2 December, then at the University the next night. For everyone who isn’t based in Iowa, here’s an online exhibition of the screening programme. Introduction The selection highlights the horrors…
