International Competition Program #8: Abstract Showcase
The International Competition Programs are the backbone of the entire MIAF mission. Drawn from more than 2,450 submissions they showcase the best, most imaginative animating talent on the planet. For Programs 1 to 5 the only rule is diversity: you’ll get a bit of everything! For Programs 6 to 10 we take the opportunity to highlight interesting themes and styles that felt prominent in the year’s submissions.
MIAF’s annual deep-dive into the world of abstract animation and ‘visual music’. The properties that underpin great abstract animation go to the very heart of what it is to create beautiful, frame by frame animated imagery; a form of animated artmaking with a history that reaches back to the earliest days of the animation. This is one of the very few opportunities anywhere in the world to see this kind of work up on the big screen where it looks and sounds its very best.
Journey To The Sentient Core
Paul Fletcher
Australia, 4’37, 2026
A celebration of living patterns, sound, and colour; a journey to the sentient core and a challenge to imagine ourselves as dynamic patterns.
Pictures For Piano (1)
Diek Grobler
South Africa, 3’00, 2025
An abstract interpretation of Chopin’s Etude Opus 10 no. 12, made by instinctively improvising imagery onto a pinscreen.
Dance Of Creation
Natalia Ryss
Israel, 3’13, 2025
A vibrant and vivacious world is brought into being in a joyful dance before our very eyes channelling the aesthetics of Neoplasticism.
Sketches
Dirk de Bruyn
Australia, 4’25, 2026
An experimental animation examining a variety of optical effects and incorporating Found Footage directly drawn and rotoscoped onto 35mm film.
Can Circle Circles?
Xuerou Huang
UK, 4’32, 2025
What if language lost its meaning, but we still kept talking? Inspired by semiotics, absurdism, and divination systems like tarot, this is one answer.
Absence V2
Jean Detheux
Canada, 4’41, 2025
A re-interpretation of a film completed more than a decade ago and done with/for/to/from music magnificently interpreted by Paola Erdas.
Subharmonics
Marcell Mostoha
Denmark/Hungary, 4’59, 2026
Blooming glimpses of the ever-changing; repetitions that form a circle; keys that can best be found in the depths of the unconscious.
Wandering Dot And The Blank Square Page Universe
Ieva Lība Ratniece
Belgium, 5’15, 2025
An immersive visual poem about a journey within a blank page – prompting the question, is a blank page ever really empty?
[sun]film
Derek Taylor
USA, 3’10, 2024
Repurposed found imagery from the 16th Century onwards create a moving tableau to trace the sun as a natural constant, a mirror of human curiosity, and a radiant symbol of mystery.
Shapes And Forms – Eddy Current Suppression Ring
Oliver Georgiou
Australia, 2’54, 2025
Traditional paint on cel artwork celebrating the fine energy of a local rock band.
The Fourth Dimensional I
Dome Wood
Australia, 6’03, 2025
A complex, digitally stylised traverse tracking consciousness as it awakens to a higher-dimensional space beyond the visible world.
Symbionts
Quirijn Dees
Switzerland, 9’27, 2025
A beguiling, molten descent into a visceral organic cycle of interaction within an unfamiliar ecosystem.
States Of Matter
Marvin Hauck
Netherlands, 7’00, 2025
A meditative exploration of materiality, textures, movements, and tactile sound, created from wax and paper.
Impromptu
Steve Subotnick
USA, 6’09, 2025
Proving less is more, an utterly fascinating film made entirely on five wooden boards.
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.