Edge of Frame at LIAF 2019

Still from A Ghost Eats Mud on the Mountain (2018) by Richard Forbes-Hamilton 

Edge of Frame presents four programmes of experimental animation and manipulated moving image at this year’s London International Animation Festival. For the fourth consecutive year, LIAF has invited Edge of Frame to provide a selection of experimental work from some of the most exciting and original artists engaging with processes of animation, mixing brand new and recent films with classic and historical work, from the UK and around the world. This year’s EoF programmes will take place on the 7th and 8th December at Close Up, a completely unique and invaluable centre for independent and experimental cinema. 

Our first programme Brushwork focuses on animated films which use the medium of paint. This vibrant subset of animation practice has a singular capacity for the dreamlike and magical, and the selection features numerous exquisite gems, each film creating its own unique world borne out of paint and its particular material qualities. Following this screening we have the first of two features in the 2019 EoF line up, Makino Takashi’s extraordinary new work Memento Stella. A dazzling journey into immersive abstraction, the film is made up of hundreds of layers of footage, blending into dense fields of imagery complemented by a highly effective soundtrack by Reinier Van Houdt. We are extremely pleased to partner with Open City Documentary Festival to present Makino’s wonderful film and Oliver Wright, Director of OCDF’s Film Programme, will introduce the screening.

Our third programme Surface Memory presents five recent works at the intersection of animation, artists’ moving image and experimental film. Loosely connected by ideas of the surface in relation to the moving image, the programme features a diverse range of approaches with works utilising both film and digital formats, often merging elements of the two to captivating effect. Beyond their often quite startling formal qualities these works delve into rich personal and social histories, spiritual quests and conceptual enquiries. Our final programme is the UK premiere of Potamkin, an astonishing experimental feature by Canadian filmmaker Stephen Broomer. This remarkable film-biography of film critic and poet Harry Alan Potamkin is made out of fragments of films that Potamkin reviewed, then distressed by Broomer using various photochemical processes. This screening is presented in partnership with ALT/KINO, a space to explore alternative visions, voices, and perspectives in film and artists’ moving image, and will be introduced by ALT/KINO’s Ben R Nicholson.

Programme One: Brushwork: The Painted Animation
6pm, Saturday 7th December 2019

Programme Two: Memento Stella
8.30pm, Saturday 7th December 2019

Programme Three: Surface Memory
6pm, Sunday 8th December 2019

Programme Four: Potamkin
8.30pm, Sunday 8th December 2019

Check out the rest of the London International Animation Festival 2019 programme as it is updated, with screenings and events at venues across London from 29th November to 8th December.