We're delighted to announce that four artist animators have been selected as part of Film London and Art Council England’s FLAMIN Animations. They join the second edition of the commissioning programme for early-career black-identifying* artist animators living in the UK.

FLAMIN Animations supports artist animators as they take their first steps into a career working with the moving image. The programme responds to a considered acknowledgement of the underrepresentation of Black artists within the art, film, and animation industries, and is part of Film London’s commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Chosen from a high calibre of applications, the FLAMIN Animators 2022-23each have a distinctive approach to the medium, ranging from stop-motion claymation and frame-by-frame drawings through to manipulated image and CGI. Their work centres onthemes that include the visibility and vulnerability of Blackness, and the possibilities of desire in the digital age.

As well as receiving £2,500 to create a new animation, each artist will be offered bespoke mentoring and development support from the FLAMIN Team and animation professionals in the art and film industries.

The selected FLAMIN Animators 2022-23 are:

• Isabel Barfod

• Laina Deene

• Lamide Olusegun

• Ruby Stoyle (ADORABAEL)

The inaugural class of artist animators showcased their work earlier this year at London’s Picturehouse Central as part of the New Black Film Collective’s TNB XPO and in Frankfurt at the B3 Biennial of the Moving Image. Two of the FLAMIN Animations commissions will be screened at the London International Animation Festival 2022, and one artist was showcased on the Piccadilly Lights as part of the CIRCA x Dazed Class of 2022!

Toby Cato, FLAMIN Animator 2021, said:

“Thanks to FLAMIN I gained the confidence to make Black Moon, my most developed and experimental animation yet. I was respected as an artist and given great advice and points of reference to push my practice further. I am so pleased that my film is now being seen by festival audiences, and screened on the Piccadilly Lights as part of CIRCA x Dazed Class of 22 alongside artist peers I really respect.”

Adrian Wootton, Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said:

“We’re thrilled to be announcing the four artist animators selected for the second edition of the FLAMIN Animations programme. We can’t wait to work with Isabel, Laina, Lamide and Ruby to support the development of their bold and original ideas in animation.

We look forward to seeing this year’s commissioned work, and hope that the initiative can continue to support Black practitioners within the art, film and animation industries by creating a network of emerging artists and professionals.’’

To find out more about the FLAMIN Animators 2022-23, click here.

Black-identifying* artist animators

*Artists and Creatives of African or Caribbean Descent

Black African, Caribbean, Afro-Latinx and African-American heritage, including those of mixed-Black heritage who identify as such.