FAFF 2021 Programme

Hitchcock cinema, Arts one building Queen Mary University of London

16 October 2021 (2pm-5pm)

(click to see full size)

The programme consisted of curated screenings and a series of interviews with animation directors conducted by Holly Murtha, festival director, and Alex Widdowson, festival producer.

Programme 1

Covid Loop
Director: Yuval Haker
Duration: 01:08
United States
A contagious virus shows us just how connected we truly are. Each panel of the comic is a vignette – separate locations linked through character contagion. The animation ultimately forms a loop for the next wave to begin.

Water, Water
Director:Wang Junjie
Duration: 02:10
Japan
It express that there is a connection between water and even the smallest unit of humankind – its cells.

In Absentia
Director: Adriana Monteforte Lahera
Duration: 08:45
United Kingdom, Mexico
Who knew him best? A seemingly lost poem on a note found in one of my grandfather’s old books triggers a magical journey through unreliable memories and half made up stories. An animated documentary portrait of my absent grandfather (a writer) through the charged objects he left behind, the stories of those who knew him, and the imagination of those who didn’t.

I Want To Be Bored
Director: Magda Kreps
Duration: 04:00
Germany, United Kingdom
I Want To Be Bored is a hand-drawn short film, visualising a wandering mind during the experience of doing absolutely nothing.

Bridging the Gap
Director: Nina J. Ross
Duration: 06:28
United Kingdom
“Age 18 Meg started hearing a voice. She tried ignoring it, didn’t tell a soul, yet the voice grew. More abusive, more delusional and often completely out of her control. Eventually, her paranoia wore her down. She experienced “an explosion of mental health”, followed by years of medical intervention and institutions.
Bridging the Gap offers a snapshot of Meg’s world as she grapples with the boundaries between her internal delusions and her everyday life. This film will challenge your perspective on hearing voices, open your eyes on medicalisation, and beg the question ‘what even is reality?’”

Waka Huia
Director: Laurent Leprince
Duration: 15:13
Belgium
An old man of Maori origin crosses the world between dream and reality in the footsteps of his grandfather killed in Belgium during the First World War.

Drawing on Autism
Director: Alex Widdowson
Duration: 09:53
United Kingdom
Drawing on Autism is an exploration of the ethical issues that arise when a non-autistic filmmaker attempts to represent an autistic documentary participant. Through a cycle of dialogue and reflection, the filmmaker and participant discuss autism tropes, unconscious bias, and the risks and rewards of using animation as a documentary medium.

Programme 2

Cystinosis – A Rare Disease
Director: Tobias Knipf, Andreas Kronbeck
Duration: 02:53
Germany
“Cystinosis is a rare, genetically determined lysosomal storage disease.
Unfortunately, Cystinosis often affects young children.
This film was developed to encourage them to take their vital medication on a regular basis.
Credits:
Animation, Illustration & Art Direction: Musclebeaver, Andreas Kronbeck, Tobias Knipf
Additional Animation: Christian Effenberger
Sound Design & Music: Akkordarbeit / Thomas Süssmair
Production & Concept: Peter Amann / Super Monaco
Client: Chiesi
Year: 2020”

The Things Around Us
Director: Tobias Knipf, Andreas Kronbeck
Duration: 02:53
Germany
“My mother collects things. Now I understand, she is a memory collector.
A hand-drawn animated short-film, in which I explore my relationship with my mother and her belongings. ”

Betti
Director: Zsuzsanna Ács
Duration: 04:56
Hungary
“The film’s main character is Betti Forgó, who was a freedom-loving punk in the ’80s. She found her independence in driving a cab, and she’s been doing it ever since. The film presents an interview with animation. Betti tells us her reflections on the last
25-30 years’ events related to cabbing. The topics include the negative stereotypes people attribute to taxi drivers, the ’90s blockade, the demonstrations against Uber, and her role in these events. Because she always had a role in them and always will.”

Ëdhä Dädhëcha̧ / Moosehide Slide
Director: Dan Sokolowski
Duration: 04:15
The Dawson City landslide is a dominant feature of Dawson City, Yukon’s city-scape. It is a pre-historic rock-slope failure at the northern edge of town. It is known by the local Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in as Ëdhä Dädhëcha̧ or Moosehide Slide. This film examines the scientific reasons for the occurrence of the slide versus the legend that the local Indigenous people say was the actual creation event.

My Aunties
Director: Richard O’Connor
Duration: 02:34
Stefan Lynch was raised by gay parents in the early eighties. He was cared for and loved by a group of adults, largely gay men, who he called his “aunties.” Stefan remembers the succession of AIDS-related illnesses in his family, including the death of his father in ‘91. Even in the face of terrible sickness and loss, his aunties showed him how to survive and care for one another.

Machi
Director: Prashanti Aswani
Duration: 03:11
Growing up with her four siblings in Indonesia back in the 70’s, my mother tells me of the years she spent being cared for by Machi, her caretaker at the time.

Forest of Fears
Director: Rebecca Thomson
Duration: 05:27
Australia
“Forest of Fears weaves together the self-recorded Voices from the Island community of lutruwita/Tasmania during COVID-19 lockdown, into a strange, beautiful landscape animated from the paintings of Elizabeth Barsham.”

The Beauty of Mathematics Ep1
Director: Sarah Gorf-Roloff
Duration: 01:38
Germany
“Mathematicians have feelings too! – In this animated web series professors of mathematics tell us about their emotional experiences and how mathematics indeed is beautiful.
This short series was created by Sarah Gorf-Roloff aka Studio Ranokel. It was commissioned by the science communication department of Universität Hamburg. The series’ goal was not to classically explain maths, but to create an emotional connection.”

Skeleton of a Moth
Director: Emma Kay Smith
Duration: 08:14
United Kingdom
Skeleton of a Moth’ is a short documentary animation made by Emma Kay Smith about the emotional difficulties and social pressures that affect teenage girls of today. The film is a collective narrative going back and forth between multiple girl’s perspectives as they talk through problems surrounding body image, mental health, and sexual assault. Emma hopes that the film will show anyone who has or is experiencing any of the issues discussed, that they aren’t alone, and that they have other people around them who will understand what they are going through.

@scroll_alice
Director: Céline Ufenast
Duration: 03:37
United Kingdom
An experimental short about our love-hate relationship with Instagram and our photo-editing mania.

Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Director: Meredith Binnette
Duration: 05:27
USA
A data driven exploration into the universal capacity for growth.

Nurture
Director: Ying-Fang Shen
Duration: 03:00
USA
Breastmilk comes quietly into the world at the time of birth to raise newborns. Sometimes they go even further and nourish more little lives through milk banks.