From deconstructing animation techniques frame by frame and exploring gender representation through CGI to exploring the limits of essay film and using process to disrupt traditional perceptions of race and heritage, The New Experimentalists opened up a range of visual work and discussion.
Artists Jessica Ashman, Natasha Austin-Green, Onyeka Igwe and Alan Warburton discussed their varying methods alongside a range of their work at a special night, The New Experimentalists at London’s ICA on the 12th January (7pm), part of the London Short Film Festival 2020.
The four filmmakers are finalists for the £10,000 Arts Foundation Futures Award in Experimental Short Film which is supported by the David Collins Foundation. They were selected from a longlist of nominated artists by filmmaker and fellow of the Arts Foundation Carol Morley (Documentary Making 2003), co-founder of the London Short Film Festival Philip Ilson and film maker Topher Campbell who commented, ‘process and the quality of work about such relevant issues were key in our decision.’
The group of finalists represent a broad range of styles and subject focus. Multidisciplinary artist Alan Warburton makes experimental CGI films exploring themes around digital labour, simulation, gender and representation. Natasha Austin-Green blends documentary and experimental film to ‘dive into the abstraction of an idea’ free from the constraints of more traditional documentary formats. Jessica Ashman works with animation, deconstructing traditional filmmaking tropes via a frame-by-frame image-making process to explore gender, identity and race. Disrupting the notions of knowledge and documentation through her filmmaking process, Onyeka Igwe’s filmmaking practice is deeply rooted in politics and activism.
Click here for the full London Short Film Festival Programme.