Bradford Animation Festival
There’s everything from CGI insects to lo-fi zombies on the screen at this inclusive event, which gives you features and shorts, for and by all ages, plus a dedicated gaming section. But there are also real, live people to recommend. Adam Buxton talks to anarchic image-mangler Cyriak, Steve Bell pays tribute to Roobarb creator Bob Godfrey, multi-disciplinary genius Dave McKean gives a masterclass, and stop-motion heroes Adam Elliot (of Mary And Max) and Lee “Claycat” Hardcastle are also here to talk about the finer points of plasticine.
National Media Museum, Tue to 16 Nov
Cinecity Brighton Film Festival
After 11 years, this festival knows what its citizens want: all things new and/or slightly leftfield. You’ll get the hottest upcoming British and US movies, led by Alexander Payne’s latest, Nebraska, and including Richard Ayoade’s The Double, Ralph Fiennes’s Dickens drama The Invisible Woman, and striking fishing documentary Leviathan. There are some fine international movies such as Laotian childhood drama The Rocket, Singapore’s Cannes hit Ilo Ilo Kurdish flick My Sweet Pepperland. Plus a substantial Jan Švankmajer retrospective and exhibition. Further off the track are a great selection of artistic, experimental and cult films, from rediscovered Ozploitation classic Wake In Fright to A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness, which combines Estonian communes and Norwegian black metal.
Various venues, Thu to 1 Dec, cine-city.co.uk
Aldeburgh Documentary Festival
A place for some serious problem-solving, this small festival punches above its weight thanks to a high-level guest list and a penchant for big topics. Simon Schama, for example, opens the festival on Friday night and is in conversation with Storyville’s Nick Fraser. There’s also a special screening of Schama’s Story Of The Jews, plus legendary docu-historian Norma Percy talks to Roger Graef about her exemplary career, and a screening of Danish urbanisation doc The Human Scale is followed by a discussion with architect Michael Hopkins and urban guru Ricky Burdett. If that’s not enough, hard-hitting new doc Dirty Wars, on the US military’s history of covert operations, should raise even more talking points.
Aldeburgh Cinema, Fri to 17 Nov
Korean Film Festival, China Image Film Festival, Russian Film Festival, London
You wait ages for a dedicated look at a powerhouse film-making nation, and three turn up at once. They are all glimpses into the domestic scene, with films rarely seen beyond their borders. Korea’s packed selection includes new shorts from Kim Jee-woon and Park Chan-wook, plus North Korean spy comedy Secretly Greatly and epidemic thriller Flu (to 15 Nov). China’s event brings 24 new features (Tue to 18 Nov), including classy courtroom thriller Silent Witness and Genghis Khan epic An End To Killing. And the Russian selection (to 17 Nov) includes submarine-base wives (Shame), a quiet village facing the apocalypse (Bit The Dust) and an acclaimed doc on a gas pipeline (Pipeline).
Various venues
