• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
London International Animation Festival

London International Animation Festival

  • Home
  • About
    • Mission Statement
  • What’s on
    • The Festival
    • Entries
    • Schedule
    • Tickets & Venues
    • LIAF Tour
  • News
    • Archive
      • 2024
      • 2023
      • 2022
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • 2013
      • 2011
      • LIAF catalogues
  • Work With Us
    • Our Partners
    • Become a Partner
    • Donate
  • Youtube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • InstagramInstagram
  • ThreadsThreads

LIAF 2014 UK Premiere Feature: Rocks in my Pockets (Signe Baumane, Latvia/US) (15)

September 10, 2014 by LIAF

Rocks in my Pockets, Signe Baumane, LIAF, London International Animation FestivalLatvia, the late 1920’s. Anna, a young woman, pretty and educated, falls in love with an adventurous entrepreneur, 30 years her senior. But with marriage comes great jealousy, and the entrepreneur hides Anna away in the forest, far from other men, where she bears him eight children. The Great Depression hits them hard. Then Latvia is overrun with invasions by the Soviets, then the Nazis, then the Soviets once again. Anna is a pillar of strength, defying the hardships, raising her young, teaching Rocks in my Pockets, Signe Baumane, LIAF, London International Animation Festivalthem survival secrets of the forest. But something inside her is terribly wrong.

Years later, Signe, a young artist, asks her father, “How did my grandmother die?” Her father is evasive. His seven siblings are evasive, as well. Signe strongly suspects that Anna committed suicide. Clues of mental illness had always leaked through the family stories. Signe suffers from depression herself. Three of her cousins, all women, battle madness, as well. Could there Rocks in my Pockets, Signe Baumane, LIAF, London International Animation Festivalbe a link between Anna and the four granddaughters?

Inspired by animators such as Jan Svankmajer (for his surrealism) and Bill Plympton (for his silliness), Latvia-born, US-based director Baumane employs a unique, beautifully textured combination of papier-mache stop-motion and classic hand-drawn animation for this feature debut, which required more than 30,000 drawings.

Defying the stigma that silences so many, Signe takes us on a journey deep into her own depression where she looks to confront the family demons. But, unlike her cousins, Signe finds an assuring guide in animation and art.

2014 93 min

At Barbican book tickets

Filed Under: Schedule-archive

Footer

Contact

London International Animation Festival
25 Clonbrock Road,
London,
N16 8RS

info@liaf.org.uk

  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Environmental Responsibility Policy

Newsletter

Our Partners

My Air Bridge
Animated Women UK
MIAF
BFI FAN
Arts Council England
Edge of Frame
Elf Factory
Film and Video Workshop
Karrot
NFTs
P Animate Projects
Shooting People
Skwigly
UAL Central St Martins
RCA
University of Greenwich

Copyright © 2025 · London International Animation Festival · Website by Primrose & Bee