LEI LEI
a retrospective
SHORTS PROGRAM
JUNE 22, 2023 • 6:30 PM
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
(1800 ARGYLE STREET, HALIFAX)
70 mins
Join us for a sumptuous feast of colour, shape, texture, and sound as we embark on a retrospective journey through the short films of experimental animator Lei Lei (雷磊). This collection of over a decade’s work constitutes a constellation of many handmade animation techniques and styles—ranging from intricate ballpoint pen illustrations, geometric collage, and studies in typography and pattern to imagined narratives borne of archival photographs and found celluloid.
From his independent work to his projects for major international brands, Lei Lei’s films unveil halcyon worlds that are at times of this planet and at times not, that are often melancholic and nostalgic but occasionally exuberantly irreverent and boisterous. Lei Lei’s work illuminates his precise mastery of form and his playful sensibility, imbued with an inextinguishable sense of wonder at the peculiar structures of society and the ephemerality of being. —Kelly Li
RETROSPECTIVE LINEUP
Big Hands
Missing One Player
Pear or Alien
Books on Books
Happy Year of the Rat
Rocket
Comics
This Is Not a Time to Lie
Recycled
Hand-Colored
A Bright Summer Diary
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Lei Lei
An experimental animation artist with his hands on video arts, painting, installation, music and VJ performance also. In 2009, Lei Lei got a master's degree in animation from Tsinghua University. In 2010, his film This is LOVE was shown at Ottawa International Animation Festival and awarded the 2010 Best Narrative Short. In 2013, his film Recycled was the Winner Grand Prix shorts—non-narrative at Holland International Animation Film Festival. In 2014, he was on the jury of the Zagreb / Holland International Animation Film Festival and winner of 2014 Asian Cultural Council grant. In 2017, he worked in CalArts Experimental Animation program as Faculty. In 2018 he invited for New Academy Member for the Short Films and Feature Animation branch. In 2019 his first feature film Breathless Animals was selected by Berlinale Forum.