Female Figures at LIAF

The London International Animation Festival 2017 showed us just how much talent there is in the animation industry

Still from Toutes Nuancées by Chloé Alliez (Belgium)

The London International Animation Festival is one of those events that show how boring blockbuster films are, welcoming us to the wonderful world of video animation. Founded in 2003, it is a ten-days-long festival with different themes, workshops and Q&As with filmmakers and top animation professors spreading the love and secrets of making animation films.

We arrived at the Barbican, attracted by the theme of the day Female Figures and we found ourselves in a world made of modelling clay, humanised creatures and animated drawings. From the beauty of a woman seen by a woman, to a vagina that comes to life, from social prejudices on skin colour, to the unpleasant truth about pregnancy. Two amazing hours showing the infinite and different facets of the female world, normally repressed, hidden, abstracted or beautified by mainstream film production.

Still from Moms on Fire by Joanna Rytel (Sweden)

The panel discussion following the screening, raised many interesting concerns about our knowledge and points of reference concerning animation. For example, Sarah Ann Kennedy, Head of the MA Animation course at the University of Central Lancashire, pointed out how even a fun animated series like the Simpson's can confuse on the meaning of what is a "typical family": a typical woman of 2017 is not necessarily heterosexual or married; being a housewife is a rarity and motherhood involves so much more than just cooking for your own children. It is undeniable that the history of animation is a world dominated by stereotyped female figures.

But things are changing. Students attending the best BAs and MAs courses in the UK are already exploring new characters and stores for their work. Not only the female figure is being re-thought in a more contemporary, realistic and unconventional way, but also young creators are breaking down gender. This means that there is no longer the simple division of male and female figures but new and complex perspectives masculinity and femininity are being introduced as well as the obliteration of top and bottom, high and low, me and you boundaries.

Lots of these independent bold works speak unapologetically about the personal and the political. "But these works are constrained to the independent niche festivals", says artist and director Alys Scott Hawkins, and very very few of these incredible works are being shown on the big screen. Many young creatives turn to more conventional and commercial styles and topics. so to break it into the industry, or at least get a job to pay rent.

But, as Italian artist and filmmaker Kim Noce stated, if the new generation is brave enough to continue this search for new, fluid and complex figures and stories, eventually the industry will have to change and finally we will be able to see different and more relatable women on the big mainstream screen.

In our everyday life, in the daily routine of our children so accustomed to watching films, videos and cartoons on the TV as well as the many tablets that we own in our household...We need more strong and independent female characters!

And 'strong and independent' does not mean aggressive and bossy women, neither passive objects of desire, normalised figures that belong more to the past than our present.

Here our faves shorts and artists of the evening. Watch the trailers, follow them on Instagram, Vimeo and Twitter and start seeing our world on screen differently.