Scottish Animation: Abstraction & Experimentation

Curated for Anim18 – a UK-wide celebration of British animation – by Ross Hogg, and marking the centenary of Orcadian filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait, this programme showcases Scottish animations that play with the form and structure of filmmaking. Story is not the driving force. Instead, we are treated to a series of visual delights where subtlety can be just as effective as the lushest of imagery. Dating from the 1970s, two works of Tait’s direct animation – in which she painted directly onto frames of celluloid – evoke traditional Highland dances. This focus on the more visceral aspects of filmmaking – movement, timing, colour and sound – is echoed in works by Donald Holwill, Lesley Keen, Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson, each handling an oblique and abstract approach to animation.

Selected by animator Ross Hogg as part of Anim18: A Celebration of British Animation. Hogg will conduct a short Q&A with some of the filmmakers after the screening.