Hands-on Animation

Animation is labour-intensive, yet this aspect is rarely talked about. This program celebrates the unyielding dedication of animators by featuring seven works created from scratch. Ranging from drawing on celluloid, doodles on paper, hand-coloured black and white photographs, paper puppets, and carving on foil, these frame-by-frame handcrafted delicacies offer a glance into the analogue form of moving image making in today’s new media world.

The screening opens with early pioneers Roxlee’s ABCD (1985) and Gotot Prakosa’s Genesis Genesis (1981). Chen Kunyi’s SUBIDA (2000) and Hung Keung’s Love (1997) form a dynamic collage of two image making practices where both animators merge live action with celluloid animation. The latter part features works by younger artists: Lei Lei and Thomas Sauvin’s Hand Colored No.2 (2015), Zhang Xu Zhan’s Hsin Hsin Joss Paper Store Series—Room 004, Si So Mi (2017–2018), and Cai Caibei’s Sliver Cave (2022), where they delicately put together an exploration on daily materials.

The screening will be followed by a talk with Chinese animator Lei Lei, moderated by M+ Assistant Curator of Moving Image, Savannah Shiu. It will be held in Mandarin.