Once Upon a Time, Leeds Animation Workshop

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Image courtesy of Ajuntament Barcelona.

Since it was founded in 1978, Leeds Animation Workshop (LAW) has functioned in a collective, non-hierarchical manner, using animation as its expressive medium. While it is true that over the years the roles, production methods and techniques have varied, intellectual and social engagement continues to be a central part of the group's approach.

To date, LAW has produced and distributed over 40 short films. The first of these was made during the 1980s, in the time of the Margaret Thatcher government, when privatization, labor reform and reduced accessibility to public services undermined the conditions of social welfare.

The group's first film, Who Needs Nurseries? We Do! (1978), focuses on the lack of public daycare centers. As in many of LAW's films, the subject is addressed with humor, in an entertaining manner, and features a unique point of view, in this case through the eyes of Tracy, a four-year-old girl.

LAW’s films are grounded in detailed research and can involve long periods of consultation, sometimes on a local level, but also working nationally and internationally. In these works, issues dealt with include the importance of caring for children (Who Needs Nurseries? We Do!, 1978), employment-related problems (Risky Business, 1980; All Stressed Up, 1993), nuclear proliferation (Pretend You’ll Survive, 1981), privatization (Council Matters, 1984), sexual harassment and sexism (Give Us a Smile, 1983; Out of Lunch, 1989), the housing crisis (Home and Dry, 1987), global debt (A Matter of Interests, 1990) and environmental contamination (Alice in Wasteland, 1991; Waste Watchers, 1996), among other subjects.

Special mention should be made of a series of four animated films referring to children’s literature and fairy tales (Through the Glass Ceiling, 1994; No Offence, 1996; Did I Say Hairdressing? I Meant Astrophysics, 1998; and Working with Care, 1999), whose opening lines (“Once upon a time…”) give us the title of this show. In this way, you can point to the shaping power of fantasy, while inviting viewers into a friendly space-time environment meant to enliven ways of collectively imagining ways of transforming the reality you live in, like when someone reads us a story.

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