How do filmmakers use the expressive potential of animation to address ever-relevant themes of war and conflict? Throughout 2025, the Barbican’s Animation at War season has explored this rich tradition, and this spin-off selection in collaboration with LIAF looks at the more agile world of short animation, where smaller runtimes give rise to a wide range of stories in a dizzying array of distinctive styles.
These films – some vintage, others cherry-picked from previous LIAF programmes – run the gamut from the abstract to the allegorical to the activist. They trace the scars of past trauma, meditate on the nature of war, and offer direct, impassioned responses to contemporary conflicts – all while addressing deeply human experiences, fears, and emotions. This is animation wielded with purpose: to communicate, to commemorate, to provoke and to protest.
This Animation at War shorts programme was co-curated with Michael Leader – co-author of The Animation Atlas and curator of the Barbican’s Animation at War season.
A Short Vision – Joan & Peter Foldes, UK
Amid the sudden terror of nuclear holocaust, leaders and wise men—alongside the leopard, the deer, the owl, and the rat—gaze upward in fear as a mysterious object streaks across the sky.
1956 6’00 min
I Died in Irpin – Anastasiia Falileieva, Czech Republic
24 February 2022 my boyfriend and I fled from Kyiv to Irpin. We spent 10 days in a blockaded city and managed to escape with the last evacuation convoy. Time passed, but the feeling that I died in Irpin has never left me since.
2024 11’30 min
The Queens Monastery – Emma Calder, UK
Inspired by Leoš Janácek’s ‘Sinfonietta’, a woman’s lover, a former acrobat, returns from war a changed man. Using a highly individual watercolour technique the narrative explores themes of love, escapist fantasy, obsession and guilt.
1998 6’15 min
Castle – Ryotaro Miyajima, Japan
During the period of the ‘Provinces of War’ many lives were lost. A castle architect discovers the possible role of a tearoom as a place for warriors to regain humanity.
2019 5’00 min
Neighbours – Norman McLaren, Canada
1952 Oscar Winner, Best Documentary (Short Subject). A parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower.
1952 8’00 min
Magda – Adela Kaczmarek, Poland
In the Winter of 1939 Magda, an excellent skier, joined the Polish Resistance and helped by bringing fugitives across the mountains into Slovakia. But a group of Nazi soldiers were experienced skiers too.
2022 9’05 min
I’m OK – Elizabeth Hobbs, UK
Following the end of a stormy love affair, Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka enlists in the First World War. After suffering serious injuries in battle, he experiences a series of memories and visions as medics transport him through the forests of the Russian front.
2018 6’05 min
Night – Ahmad Saleh, Germany / Qatar / Jordan / Palestine
The dust of war keeps the eyes sleepless. Night brings peace and sleep to all the people in the broken town. Only the eyes of the mother of the missing child stay resilient. Night has to trick her into sleeping to save her soul.
2021 16’00 min
An End to War Enough – Simone Massi, Italy
From World War II to the refugee camps of the 6-Day War, from the attack on the Mostar bridge to cars set on fire in the war in Syria – a world without war is another Utopia that we cannot wait for any longer.
2022 4’40 min
Our Funding Partners
With Special Thanks to The Elf Factory, official sponsor of LIAF 2025.
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.
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