The 2026 London International Animation Festival is back – and we’re kicking things off with a very special celebration of one of British animation’s most distinctive voices, Lizzy Hobbs. Join us at the Barbican for 30 minutes of hand-picked films by Lizzy herself that have inspired and influenced her work, followed by a full hour of her brilliantly inventive films spanning 25 years. Then, stay with us as Lizzy herself takes to the stage to share the stories, inspirations and mischief behind her extraordinary body of work. One animator, 25 years, a treasure trove of wild ideas – and a rare chance to see the films that helped shape them.
Lizzy Hobbs makes animation feel like a mischievous form of archaeology, digging up strange, forgotten stories and bringing them vividly back to life. From Napoleon’s dubious anatomy and a suspected Serbian vampire to Scottish cannibals, expressionist heartbreak and a young woman who enlists a hyena to escape her society debut, Lizzy finds the extraordinary lurking in the margins of history.
Her films are as tactile as they are imaginative, crafted from paint, ink, collage, typewriter marks, rubber stamps, watercolour, charcoal and even prints made directly onto film. The result is animation that feels handmade, unruly and gloriously alive – always pushing the medium somewhere unexpected while keeping a sharp eye for character, humour and the wonderfully weird.
Come for the vampires, cannibals, hyenas and historical misfits; stay for the wit, beauty and sheer inventiveness. This special selection offers a chance to enter Lizzys’ singular universe, where fact becomes fantasy, the macabre meets the playful, and even the most obscure corner of history can become the starting point for a dazzling animated adventure. Don’t miss it!
PART 1 – THE FILMS BEHIND THE FILMS
Cannon Fodder – Vera Neubauer, UK
A short film about the absurdity of war made at the time of the Vietnam war. Alas it has lost nothing of its terrifying actuality to this day.
1972 1’00 min
Tub Film – Mary Beams, USA
The story of a girl who takes a bath, and of her cat who pesters her.
1972 1’50 min
Damon the Mower – George Dunning, UK
A powerful treatment of Andrew Marvell’s pastoral poem, the sad story of the man who mows the grass and dreams all the while of the love he cannot aspire to.
1972 3’30 min
78 Tours – Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland
Pictures suggested by a music, alternating with pictures of a person listening to it; from a waltz on the accordion results a short story evoking that time passes.
1985 3’40 min
Jukebox – Run Wrake, UK
Employing a montage of xeroxed images, paintings and sound, Jukebox is a personal journey through fragmented experience.
1994 4’55 min
Fruit Fruit – Peter Millard, UK
Lemon cranberry apple banana cucumber orange lime are a selection of fruit fruit.
2013 2’15 min
Nighthawk – Spela Cadez, Slovenia, Croatia
Attempting to remove an unresponsive badger from a dark road, a police patrol soon realizes that the animal is not dead but rather dead drunk. Things take an even stranger turn when the creature wakes up.
2016 8’50 min
Glazing – Lilli Carré, USA
A short but sweet animation of the female nude, embodying all of her forms throughout the history of art. Her body twists and gnarls itself into these static poses, but she cannot be contained. In perpetual motion, she is released from her form and allowed to finally stare back at us.
2021 2’25 min
Fragment – Edwin Rostron, UK
A brief snippet made during the Covid pandemic. A fragment of animation from a fragmented time.
2021 1’00 min
Hold Tight – Jessica Ashman, UK
the importance of Carnival across the UK and how its celebrations provide an important lifeline to heritage and identity for younger generations of the Black Caribbean diaspora in Britain.
2018 1’10 min
PART 2 – ELIZABETH HOBBS: A LIFE IN ANIMATION
The Emperor – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
The tale of a quest to free Napoleon Bonaparte from exile on the island of St Helena, including fresh insight into the mystery of The Emperor’s pickled private parts.
2001 4’20 min
The Witches – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
In 1590, King James VI of Scotland faces a deadly witch hunt threatening his reign. In North Berwick, three fishwives hatch a daring plan to outwit the king’s fearsome witch-dooking and save themselves from doom.
2002 6’20 min
The True Story of Sawney Beane – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
In 16th-century Scotland, young Sawney Beane yearns to itch and scratch and buccaneer. So he bids farewell to his parents and their life of honest toil.
2005 10’40 min
The Old, Old, Very Old Man – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
In 1635, the 152 year-old Thomas Parr was taken on a journey to meet King Charles I, who ordered an immediate celebration of his longevity, with fatal consequences.
2007 6’40 min
Tricky Women trailer – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK, Austria
Made whilst on an artist’s residency in Vienna in the summer of 2009.
2009 0’30 min
The Filing of the Fangs – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
KT Tunstall recounts a childhood memory of dental misadventure.
2010 1’00 min
Little Skipper – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
Ink blots of butterflies take shape and fly off the page.
2010 1’00 min
G-AAAH – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
Amy Johnson worked as a typist for a firm of solicitors before her record- breaking solo flight from Croydon to Darwin, Australia in 1930.
2016 1’20 min
I’m OK – Elizabeth Hobbs, Canada, UK
In 1917, Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka was in hospital, injured and shell-shocked from World War I, and heartbroken from the end of his famous love affair with Alma Mahler.
2018 6’00 min
OIAF trailer – Elizabeth Hobbs, Canada, UK
Made for the 2019 Ottawa International Animation Festival
2019 1’00 min
The Flounder – Elizabeth Hobbs, Austria, UK
One day, a humble fisherman catches an enchanted fish. Can the fish help him and his wife improve their lot?
2019 6’30 min
The Debutante – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
A spirited young woman persuades a hyena from London Zoo to take her place at a dinner dance being held in her honor.
2022 8’45 min
Close Up – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
A painted paper cut out film celebrating movement and colour.
2025 1’15 min
Daughters of the Late Colonel – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
After the death of their ill-tempered and controlling father, two middle-aged sisters find themselves at a loss. An unexpected visitor sparks the courage in them to begin their lives anew. A merry, rude, and lyrical adaptation of the modernist short story written by Katherine Mansfield in 1920.
2026 9’00 min
Our Funding Partners
With Special Thanks to The Elf Factory, official sponsor of LIAF 2026.
With Special Thanks to the Arts Council England
Event supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery.
Venue
The Barbican is Europe’s largest multi-arts and conference venue presenting a diverse range of art, music, theatre, dance, film and education events. For more information about The Barbican and how to get there, find out more.
Barbican
