10 Years of the Skwigly Screening at MAF: A Retrospective
This week will see a milestone in Skwigly’s long-standing relationship with the Manchester Animation Festival as we present our tenth Skwigly Screening across ten years, a regular showcase of some the best recent animation work not seen elsewhere at the festival. Beginning with MAF’s first edition with a double-bill across two days in 2015, the screenings, curated by Skwigly Editor in Chief Ben Mitchell, have been a staple of every in-person edition of the festival and showcased a broad gamut of work, from the indiest of indie projects to big-budget studio offerings. In anticipation of this Wednesday’s tenth anniversary screening, Ben has picked his top twenty essential short film highlights from prior editions to revisit.
If I Was God (Cordell Barker, Canada) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 1: Existential Enticements (2015)
Oscar-nominee Cordell Barker’s highly-anticipated follow-up to 2009’s Runaway was a double-first for the director, who elected to produce the film both stereoscopically and in stop-motion. If I Was God, produced at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), combines a variety of animation approaches in its semi-autobiographical remembrances of pre-adolescent existentialism as we meet a young Barker in contemplation of the sometimes-macabre delights that omnipresent power might yield.
The Meek (Joe Brumm, Australia) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 1: Existential Enticements (2015)
A few years before Brumm would be a household name as the creator of the phenomenal Bluey, his Brisbane operation Studio Joho got some attention from the success of The Meek, an effective parable on the nature of addiction to toxic people, substances and/or circumstances with a deceptively chipper aesthetic. Two versions of the film would do the rounds, one with narration, another where the visuals speaks for themselves (we opted for the latter).
Wackatdooo (Benjamin Arcand, Canada) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2: Fetching Fascinations (2015)
This film always stood out for siphoning the best aspects of a specific era of animation – chiefly the liveliness, the compositional variety and freedom of design. A fantastic showcase of the abilities of Montreal director Benjamin Arcand, who’d go on to work on SpongeBob SquarePants and The Cuphead Show, Wackatdooo is an incredibly slick, musically vibrant piece that would become a major case study in my first book Independent Animation.
Love (Réka Bucsi, France/Hungary) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2016
Having already made a name for herself with her MOME student short Symphony No. 42, Réka Bucsi’s multi-award-winning Love would go on to achieve even wider acclaim, including screenings at Sundance and Berlinale. A quasi-abstract examination of how the definition of love itself can be interpreted across three chapters, the film takes us on a meditative tour of a curious landscape and menagerie of non-quite Earthly creatures.
Wednesday With Goddard (Nicolas Ménard, UK) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2016
Nexus director Nicolas Ménard had already established himself as a bit of a ledge with his previous shorts Somewhere and Loop Ring Chop Drink (screened the year previous). His poignant and witty micro-odyssey Wednesday With Goddard marked a shift in artistic approach, swapping a printmaking aesthetic with a satisfying juxtaposition of minimal character design work set against elaborately rendered pencil sketches by collaborator Manshen Lo.
Analysis Paralysis (Anete Melece, Switzerland)| Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2016
Following on from 2013’s much-loved The Kiosk, Latvian-born animator/illustrator Anete Melece‘s Analysis Paralysis both retained and expanded on its its predecessor’s charm and visual quirkiness in its intertwined tales of the solitary, over-analytical Anton, and a park gardener increasingly frustrated with vandals trampling her flowerbeds.
Le clitoris (Lori Malépart-Traversy, Canada) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2016
An enormous hit both at festivals and online, Lori Malépart-Traversy’s progressive mini-documentary used traditional 2D animation techniques to tell the story of the oft-misunderstood clitoris and how its standing in society has changed over the centuries, from the patriarchal attitudes of the Catholic Church to the dismissive theories of its ‘Enemy Number 1’ Sigmund Freud. A major case study in the Intimate Animation podcast and book, the film would serve as a springboard for Lori’s later series Magical Caresses, produced for the NFB several years later.
Catherine (Britt Raes, Belgium) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2017
Teaming up with Belgium’s Creative Conspiracy, animator and illustrator Britt Raes (who would eventually go on to create Luce and the Rock) made serious waves with her short film Catherine, a tragicomic tale of a cat-lady-in-waiting whose love for animals is at odds with her being something of a jinx; pets don’t last long in her care, until an affectionate (and, most importantly, durable) blue cat enters her life. With its blend of dark, bizarre humour and genuine heart, the film would prove an enormous festival hit, racking up over 50 awards.
To Build a Fire (Fx Goby, UK) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2017
Another noteworthy Nexus director to make an appearance in a Skwigly Screening, Fx Goby’s incredible body of work includes commissions for Gorillaz, the BBC, Google, Facebook and Smirnoff to name a few. On the heels of his elaborate, immersive Georges Méliès tribute Back to the Moon, To Build a Fire is a mini-masterpiece of high-tension short filmmaking, created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of renowned American writer Jack London’s death.
Haley and Joanna (Laura Jayne Hodkin, UK)
From Skwigly Screening 2018
Before Strange Beast director Laura Jayne Hodkin would delight the world with the fantastic Hot and Tasty, her earlier offering Haley and Joanna (created during her time at the RCA and animated to audio from the podcast Friday Night In) similarly encapsulates everything that appeals about her playful design sensibilities and loose, freeform animation approach, both of which would prove to be enormously influential on many subsequent up-and-coming directors in the years since.
Ooze (Kilian Vilim, Switzerland)
From Skwigly Screening 2018
Goofy, macabre fun and twisted in a manner that doesn’t alienate the viewer, Kilian Vilim’s Ooze shines a light on the pernicious malaise that comes from loneliness in its tale of a bellhop whose ostensibly mundane occupation presents him with an increasingly surreal and sinister hellscape. Visualised through stark black and white line work and increasingly inspired scenarios depicting the protagonist’s mental state, the film stood out as one of the highlights of that year.
Flipped (Hend & Lamiaa, UK) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2018
Established duo Hend Esmat and Lamiaa Diab have amassed an impressive body of work in a relatively short time, with noteworthy projects including commissions for SARSAS, Facebook, Google, Action Aid and Procreate (for which they also run courses). Their UWE graduation film Flipped is a testament to their rock solid talent and ability, standing out as one of the most impressive films produced by the university of that decade and demonstrating just how effective a simple premise – “What if kids and adults switched roles?” – can be when told well.
Creepy Pasta Salad (Lauren Orme, UK) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2019
Lauren Orme – longtime pal o’ Skwigly and founder of CAN, CAF, Picl Animation and the Planet Positive Animation Network – would also prove her chops as a filmmaker with her debut short Creepy Pasta Salad. The film, uniquely animated using Moho, produced at Winding Snake Productions and assisted by Ffilm Cymru Wales and BFI NET.WORK Wales, tells the story of “a werewolf with an anxiety disorder, a ghost with low self-confidence and a lonely witch” muddling through their everyday lives. Good wholesome fun.
Drone (Sean Buckelew, USA) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2022
Initially known perhaps for his work with GLAS and the Late Night Work Club (which would yield the impressive indie short Lovestreams), Sean Buckelew is currently part of Pasadena, CA-based Green Street Pictures, the animation studio that brought the world such jaw-dropping recent series as Scavenger’s Reign and Common Side Effects. His preceding film Drone is an astonishingly polished 15-minute endeavour about an AI drone who, in an instance of unforeseeable pareidolia during a test mission, develops a conscience and goes rogue, to the delight of the public. Though evocative somewhat of Charlie Brooker (and the occasionally good episodes of LD+R), it stands on its own as a truly unique piece of satirical modern storytelling.
Brunch (Marnik Loysen, UK) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2022
An incredibly slick stop-mo affair, UWE Bristol School of Animation grad and Aardman regular Marnik Loysen’s indie short Brunch is a self-funded labour of love dedicated to the pointlessness of intergenerational conflict, manifested as a young millenial’s desire for avocado on toast in the face of his elders’ derision and admonishment. A simple but effective skit that brings some shades of grey to what is often presented as a black and white argument.
Mr. Pete & the Iron Horse (Kilian Vilim, Switzerland) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2022
Kilian Vilim makes a second appearance in this top twenty list with Mr. Pete & the Iron Horse because…well, look at it, for crying out loud. An absolutely seamless pairing of frenetic music and animation, the film takes inspirational cues from early Walt Disney and Fleischer Studio shorts and serves as a thoughtful modern parable on the notion of ‘maximum economic performance’ in its tale of overworked coal-shoveler Mr. Pete and the insatiable demands of his baroness.
Dog Apartment (Priit Tender, Estonia)
From Skwigly Screening 2022
My heart breaks slightly that this one, a product of the wondrous Nukufilm (whose film The Little Other is part of this year’s selection), isn’t online in full yet, as sharing it with unsuspecting audiences is a true joy. This, to me, is stop-motion at its finest; when it’s telling a story that’s utterly uninhibited by realism or linear storytelling. And for those who’d reel at it and ask aloud what you’d just watched, I’d encourage you watch it again. And again. Eventually its own logic starts to make a strange kind of sense. Keep your eyes peeled for it when it eventually drops.
The Beatles vs. The Stones (Andrew Kelleher, UK)
From Skwigly Screening 2023
Another simple concept, but one executed with impeccable detail, timing and visual ingenuity. The age-old battle of which trailblazing musical outfit should be granted the crown of…trailblaziestness?…is visualised by the talents of Dog & Rabbit (Dog Judo, Modern Toss) via a run-through of their respective discography’s album cover art engaged in a collage-animated battle. Clever stuff and potentially a rights nightmare, so hat’s off to them.
The Final Nail in the Coffin (Conor Kehelly, UK) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2023
It’s always a pleasure to slip in a film that edges more toward the macabre, and Conor Kehelly’s darkly comic debut offering (following his studies at the Manchester School of Art) The Final Nail in the Coffin proved a big hit among that year’s crowd; subject matter such as household fatalities and infanticide is a tricky one to pull off and actually get laughs, but Kehelly has a keen sense of how to step up to (and occasionally over) the line without losing his audience.
Quota (Job, Joris and Marieke, The Netherlands) | Interview
From Skwigly Screening 2024
The opportunity to include Dutch trio Job Roggeveen, Joris Oprins and Marieke Blaauw in a Skwigly Screening was enthusiastically welcomed, having been a fan of their work for the past decade and change. Perhaps best known for their Oscar-nominated A Single Life, the group would shift their attention to entertaining, non-preachy ecological messaging with Quota, a darkly-comic cautionary tale in which every global citizen is mandated to participate in a program that tracks their CO2 emissions, which they ignore until it’s all too late. An absolute treat and a banger to end this selection on.
In the mood for even more animation? You can watch over 60 films included in the Skwigly Screening 2015-2025 via our special retrospective YouTube playlist:
The 2025 edition of the Skwigly Screening features new work from Gobelins, UWE Bristol School of Animation, Stephen Irwin, Jocelyn Charles, Andres Tenusaar, Diego Solano Flores and Anne Breymann. It takes place 7pm Wednesday November 12th at the Event Space in HOME as part of the Manchester Animation Festival.