Author: carlamackinnon

  • Miranda Peyton Jones is a filmmaker and moving image artist specialising in analogue and stop-motion animation. Jeremy, my Father, her 2022 graduation film from Kingston School of Art, is a short animated documentary that navigates bereavement following suicide. The film has screened widely and received numerous accolades, including a Royal Television Society award and a…

  • The Society for Animation Studies (SAS) wrapped up its annual conference yesterday, following four days of talks, panels, and screenings (and one rowdy animation pub quiz). As ever, the event brought together animators and scholars from around the world to discuss a dizzying range of animation-related topics. The conference theme – Sustaining Animation – established…

  • Blanche Malet is an artist and filmmaker based in London and Paris. Her short animated documentary Sutures et Consolation (Stitches and Solace) was made in 2023, during her Masters degree at Royal College of Art. The film, which takes an autoethnographic and multimedia approach to exploring grief, has played at festivals and galleries internationally, including…

  • In this new episode of the Animated Documentary podcast, Carla MacKinnon talks to artist, animator and filmmaker Tess Martin about her recent animated documentary projects How Now, House? (2025) and 1976: Search For Life (2023), her creative exploration of forms and materials, her love of Clio Barnard’s The Arbour (2010), and the impact of new…

  • Tim Webb is a director and animator whose pioneering work in animated documentary continues to inspire new generations of filmmakers. He graduated from West Surrey College of Art and Design in 1986 and went onto make multi-award winning short films including A is for Autism (1992), Mr Price (2004), 15th February (1996), and Six of…

  • Lucia Lambarri Barberis is a visual artist from Cusco, Peru, whose practice is rooted in walking through the Andes. Her 2024 short film I Walk While Glaciers Melt is a personal meditation on time and place, and has played at festivals including Tampere Film Festival, Tricky Women Tricky Realities, and the Science New Wave. We talked to Lucia…

  • Open City Documentary Festival is underway, and alongside a rich programme of documentary films the festival includes a selection of immersive and interactive documentary pieces, in their Expanded Realities exhibition.  In recent years, expanded strands at documentary festivals have become increasingly common. They offer a great way to experience what’s new in the creative convergence of animation, art, technology, and documentary film. The Open City exhibition showcases several…

  • With a strong social media following and public screenings in festivals and events around the world, Haneen Koraz and her team are bringing animation from the women and children of Gaza to a global audience. Over the last year, the work of Haneen Koraz and her team in Gaza has grown in prominence and profile.…

  • London International Animation Festival has a rich history of showcasing and championing animated documentary work through screenings, panels, and events. Their 2023 online panel, Animated Documentaries – Drawing a Line over Reality, offers insights into the form of animated documentary form directors including Jonathan Hodgson, Samantha Moore, Mary Martins, and Alex Widdowson, and is hosted…

  • The London International Animation Festival (LIAF) has been showcasing animated nonfiction for over a decade, and was one of the first UK film festivals to give animated documentary its own curated programme in 2008. The festival has premiered animated documentaries to packed cinemas, and has also explored the boundaries of the form through its panels,…