Black & White Showcase
The International Competition Programs are the backbone of the entire MIAF mission. Drawn from more than 2,000 submissions they showcase the best, most imaginative animating talent on the planet in a series of programs in which the only rule is diversity.
Somehow, sometimes less is more. Sometimes deploying a full colour palette to create an image conspires to make that whole something less than the sum of its parts. Perhaps the coloured ‘completeness’ of the imagery squeezes out our ability (or will) to creatively interpret what we are watching for ourselves. Perhaps the richness or density of all of that colour condensed into a fixed frame and replayed in a single space that demands our focused attention simply overwhelms our other creative interpretive faculties. Many animators address these challenges by deploying masterfully conceived and elegantly designed black and white animation and this program brings a collection of the very best of these films to the big screen.
Anabasis
Jelizaveta Averko
Estonia, 3’18, 2022
A man with no plan is always going to have an interesting journey when he travels towards the unknown.
Darkness Falling
Marcin Nowrotek
Poland, 4’14, 2023
A darkly elegant music video about the momentum of our violent impulses and their inevitable repercussions.
▲ (ALT 30)
Mathis Hernoë, Alexandre Clermont, Thomas Louchet
France, 6’30, 2023
Even in an abstract universe, human nature inevitably turns towards instituting a creative revolution – and that’s where animation comes in mighty handy.
Mobius
Yancang Li
Taiwan, 8’50, 2023
Legend would have it that Mobius stands as the quintessential, forever fascinating endless loop. But is it?
Flow Of Thought
Jelisaveta Nikolic
Serbia, 1’00, 2023
An abstracted tour through changes in the state of a mind, devised with the help of a ballpoint pen, paper, scanner, and a free-range imagination.
I Am Here
Cheyenne Goudswaard
Netherlands, 5’15, 2023
Most of us want to imprint ourselves on the future, to build a legacy, to leave something behind – even if just a name in the sand or a hand on the wall of a cave.
Lupus Sophus
Yuliya Evdokimova
Russia, 8’00, 2023
“Do you notice that people hang things on the walls that relate to time: watches, photographs, paintings, trophies. Think of what you will leave behind.”
Box Cutters
Naomi Van Niekerk
France, 8’24, 2023
A young woman recalls the day that she was attacked by three men on her way home, while she now turns to face the world again and rebuild her life.
Whispers Of The Heart
Mourad Hamla
Algeria, 4’34, 2023
Surrounded by souls thirsty for light, for goodness, and for purity, a solitary sentinel watches with mystical grace, protecting his heart from the clutches of the corruption that lurks all around.
Someone Else’s Story
Michal Lustig
Israel, 4’35, 2023
It’s the energy that sits on the furthest peripheries of our shadows that fuel our reactions to the world we inhabit.
Monk Seishin
Ryotaro Miyajima
Japan, 2’53, 2023
Inspired to action by the act of a desperate mother, a 19th century rice merchant becomes a monk and devotes his life to freeing the people of Miyajima from poverty.
Oblivion-Mervyn
Igor Imhoff
Germany, 3’25, 2023
The latest pile-driver of a music video from a master of the form – a ceaseless, high-energy parade of monsters and the darknesses that birth them.
This session is classified: Unclassified (M) Mature, not recommended for viewers under 15 years.
Please note that Backlot is NOT fully accessible. There are stairs with handrails, but no lift to the second floor where the cinema is located.