A collaboration between Skwigly, Linoleum and Chichester International Film Festival; supported by the British Council under the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture.
You feel sad. You're alone. You're bored. You don't care.
At least once (probably more than once), every person has experienced these emotional states. Sometimes all of them at once. Representatives of the creative industry are the most likely to be exposed to emotional burnout.
In the turbulent 2022, the Linoleum Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival, together with Skwigly Animation Magazine from the UK, have selected the most accurate artistic expressions on emotional burnout and creative crisis. The “I’m Fine!” project is supported by the British Council under the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture. Thirteen talented animation works from all over the world highlight this situation for those lucky enough to observe this problem from the outside. They also give support and empathize with those who have encountered it tête-à-tête.
Sommerregen
Julia Skala & Oscar Jacobson (2020, Germany)
"After an exhausting rainy day, a young woman is struggling with her growingly overwhelming feelings. Initially, she has difficulties allowing her tears and fights actively against them."
Procrastination
Johnny Kelly (2007, UK)
“An investigative and exploratory hands-on gloves-off study into the practice of putting things 'off'. Sometimes the only way to get something done is to do two dozen other things first.”
The Great Malaise
Catherine Lepage (2019, Canada)
"In the voiceover for this animated short, a young woman attempts to describe herself, casting her life in the ideal light that society expects. The film’s imagery, however, tells a different story, poignantly illustrating the intense anxiety that comes with the quest for perfection and the pursuit of happiness."
Conversations with a Whale
Anna Samo (2020, Germany)
“In this love letter to artists, their art and its audience, one filmmaker is confronted with rejection after rejection until at last a beautiful fig tree bears sweet fruits. “Conversations with a Whale” was created directly under the camera lens, using various analogue animation techniques.”
Enough
Anna Mantzaris (2017, UK)
“This film centres around impulses we all can feel but never act upon.”
Drawn Undrew Draw
Angel Wu (2020, Taiwan)
"Therapy part, self-questioning,
Q1: Why did you draw?
Q2: How did you begin to draw?
Q3: Why did you stop drawing?
Q4: How did you go back to draw?
Q5: Will you draw on?
The film is about creativity through drawing topic. Everybody is a naturally individual creator, though we might struggle in the reality that make us stop creating or even forgetting who we are. Let’s keep it in mind that we’re a creator rather than a random person in the crowd."
Self Scratch
Chenghua Yang (2020, France)
"Following a break-up, Wen sinks into melancholy. She can't talk to anyone and therefore talks to herself a lot. By understanding that it is not the love she has lost but her confidence, she can reconcile with herself and feel ready to love again.”
Inertness
Jakub Krzyszpin (2021, Poland)
"Animation drawn in black & white, in its understated form shows the story of a day full of unfortunate events."
Am I Oright
Yen Liang Chen (2017, Taiwan)
"The basic performance of the experimental animation, “AM I ORIGHT”, is based on sounds. The sounds which were recorded, mixed and edited, were used as the basic performance of the animation creation. To indicate the author’s actual experience of getting lost, growing, and transforming in the process of the creation journey."
Pandiculation
Jakob Eiring & Konrad Hjemli (2020, Norway)
“pan·dic·u·la·tion / pan-ˌdik-yə-ˈlā-shən /n The act of stretching oneself (often accompanied by yawning)”
The Making of Longbird
Will Anderson (2011, UK)
“A 'behind-the-scenes' look at an Animator/Filmmaker as he struggles with his character.”
Playing Death
Margarida Madeira (2018, Portugal)
“A character fighting against the loss of identity whose journey is continuously influenced by the fear of the unknown and closeness to death.”
Tick
Fabienne Priess and Levin Tamoj (2019, Germany)
“Before burn-out has burned out it is a flame. And Jane is on fire. She is a very disciplined and ambitious young woman. Her days consist of going to work and ticking off her never ending To-Do-Lists. She does not realize how the flame starts to consume her and how she loses sight of everything around her.”
We welcome Aaron Wood of Skwigly Animation Magazine to introduce this exciting programme of world animation