A special screening of films by animator and animation director Emma Calder who passed away in 2024.

The event, presented by London Animation Club’s Martin Pickles, will be a celebration of Emma’s work and her legacy as both an animator and a fierce advocate for independent animation.

Emma was born in London and studied Graphic Design at the Royal College of Art. Her RCA animated films, Ilkla Moor Baht Hat (1981) and Madame Potatoe (1983) went on to screen at ICA New Contemporaries, Tate Gallery and on Channel 4. In 1989 she set up Pearly Oyster Productions with long-term collaborator Ged Haney and went on to produce numerous commercial, commissioned and personal projects.

Her short The Queen’s Monastery (1998) was distributed in cinemas throughout the UK and North America and won numerous prizes, including a Silver Hugo at Chicago International Film Festival, second prize at Filmfest Dresden, Best Professional Film at Bradford International Film Festival and Special Jury Prize at Animafest Zagreb.

In 2022 Emma directed BFI-funded Beware of Trains, which has played at dozens of festivals and won prizes at the British Animation Awards, London International Film Festival, Brighton International Animation Festival and Tricky Women/Tricky Realities, where it won the Maria Lassnig Golden Film Reel prize.

Emma was a teacher, lecturer, campaigner and activist for animation and animation filmmakers and an early and active supporter of London Animation Club. Her lively, enthusiastic and positive contributions to club nights will be sorely missed. Tonight’s programme is based upon work which Emma screened there from 2012 onwards and certain films are introduced by Emma herself.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with special guests.Some of the films are preceded by a short video introduction by Emma herself.

Ilkla Moor Baht Tat + introduction (Emma Calder, UK, 1981)

Madam Potatoe (Emma Calder, UK, 1983)

The Queen's Monastery (Emma Calder, UK, 1998)

Random Person: Quantum Cloud + introduction (Emma Calder, UK, 2012)

Boudica + introduction (Emma Calder, UK, 2014)

Random Person: Vasectomy (Emma Calder, UK, 2014)

Everyone Is Waiting For Something To Happen + introduction (Emma Calder, UK, 2014)

Skateboard Heaven/Strung Out - Animation Tests (Emma Calder, UK, 2017)

Random Person: Random Walk (Emma Calder, UK, 2019)

Not Daft Intro Trailer + introduction (Emma Calder, UK, 2023)

Beware Of Trains (Emma Calder, UK, 2022)

London Animation Club is a monthly event for animators and people interested in animation in the capital, created and curated by Martin Pickles. Club members and regular guests meet and present their work in informal surroundings conducive to talking and sharing ideas. Our guests range from well-known figures, such as Phil Davies, the producer of Peppa Pig, and Peter Firmin, the co-creator of Bagpuss, through to award-winning independent animators like Emma Calder, along with experimental filmmakers and academics, with much in between.