Saved events

Opening Night: Tribute to Emma Calder + ScreenTalk (15*)

London International Animation Festival 2025

,Cinemas
Animated dolls

The London International Animation Festival returns for its 22nd edition with an opening night dedicated to the late Emma Calder, a trailblazing force in independent animation.

For over 40 years, Emma Calder shaped the animation landscape through film, books, design, and teaching, fiercely advocating for independent voices and new funding opportunities. Defiant against the decline of support for the art form, she remained a driving presence in British animation.

In 2024, at the height of her career, she began work on House of Love before being diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer. Though she couldn’t complete the film herself, she left detailed notes and direction, allowing her team to bring it to completion. Tonight marks its world premiere.

In 2018 Emma played a leading role in the BBC documentary The Secrets of British Animation. We will show her contribution tonight, plus previously unused footage of her working on the film Les Feuille Mortes and expressing her views on animation within her studio.

Tagged with: Cinema Members' Priority Booking London International Animation Festival 2025

Following the screening, friends and collaborators will gather onstage for a panel discussion on Emma’s enduring legacy. We hope you can join us to celebrate Emma and kick off the first night of our 10 day festival.

Panel guests will be announced shortly.

Film information
  • Runtime   Approx 125 minutes including ScreenTalk

Ticket prices

Standard
£16
* Excludes £1.50 booking fee

Booking fees

£1.50 booking fee per online/phone transaction.

No fee when tickets are booked in person.

Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. If your booking contains several events the highest booking fee will apply. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events. Members do not pay booking fees.

Programme

Ilkla Moor Baht Tat

A man courts a woman on Ilkla Moor without his hat. He catches a cold and dies. He’s buried and gets eaten by worms. The worms are eaten by ducks. Finally, the ducks are eaten by the man's friends. Paper cut-outs bring the traditional Yorkshire song to life.

UK 1981 Dir: Emma Calder 3'55

 

Madame Potatoe

A film about the societal pressure to project different images, particularly the image of success. Through potato printing, we see Madame Potatoe retreat into the earth, leaving her image to continue on its own increasingly exploitative path.

UK 1983 Dir: Emma Calder 6'25

 

Springfield

Part woman, part vacuum cleaner, what do these effeminate cyborgs have to say about alienation and the gendered hierarchies we inhabit? A witty and offbeat probing of loss, obsession, desperation and fear.

UK 1986 Dir: Emma Calder 7'10

 

The Queens Monastery

Inspired by Leoš Janácek’s 'Sinfonietta', a woman's lover, a former acrobat, returns from war a changed man. Using a highly individual watercolour technique the narrative explores themes of love, escapist fantasy, obsession and guilt.

UK 1998 Dir: Emma Calder 6'15

 

Random Person 3: No Bag

Random person goes shopping blind folded...It all goes well until..

UK 2012 Dir: Emma Calder 1'00

 

Random Person 5: American Tan

A random person tears her new American Tan tights. Her mother had warned her about wearing those tights to school.

UK 2012 Dir: Emma Calder 1'55

 

Random Person 12: Random Walk

Random Person fancies a little walk but things don't go quite as planned. 

UK 2012 Dir: Emma Calder 1'20

 

Boudica, A Norfolk Story

Commissioned by Norfolk Museums, the film shows Boudica and the Iceni tribes’ rebellion against the Romans in 1st century Britain. After 2000 years, Boudica remains at the forefront of the public imagination, perpetually reincarnated through myth and new archeological evidence.

UK 2013 Dir: Emma Calder 5'25

Random Person 10: Vasectomy

A random person cannot choose between her two boyfriends, so she tosses a coin. An absurdist take on recreation and procreation.

UK 2014 Dir: Emma Calder 1'15

 

Everyone is Waiting for Something to Happen

An experimental film made from the social media data of Richard Wright, an animator grappling with life threatening illness.

UK 2014 Dir: Emma Calder 7'35

 

Random Person 36: New Body

A random person's body is worn out. She wants a new one.

UK 2016 Dir: Emma Calder 2'40

 

Random Person 37: My Brain is Numb

Random Person is feeling disconnected. Her world is not making any sense.

UK 2016 Dir: Emma Calder 1'10

 

The Secrets of British Animation - film clip

Emma at work in her studio, ruminating on a day in the life of an indie animator, playing and experimenting. Clip from ‘The Secrets of British Animation’ a BBC documentary.

UK 2018 Dir: Jez Stewart ​​3'20

 

Random Person 39: Les Feuille Mortes

Another summer is over, can Random Person get through another winter? The clock is ticking.

UK 2018 Dir: Emma Calder ​​1'00

 

Beware of Trains

A woman with extreme anxiety is devoured by four major preoccupations – the man she met by chance on a train, her dying father, her daughter’s safety and the murder she dreams she has committed.

UK 2022 Dir: Emma Calder 12'55

 

House of Love

House of Love is Emma’s final film, created to express her joy for life and creativity, while also revealing her deep determination for true art and love

UK 2025 Dir: Emma Calder 6'00

Explore the festival

Cinemas

Location
Barbican Cinema 1 is located within the main Barbican building on Level -2. Head to Level G and walk towards the Lakeside Terrace where you’ll find stairs and lifts to take you down to the venue floor.   

Address
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS

Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.