Quarantine

Quarantine


A post-Brexit pagan dance fantasy about a troupe of Morris-dancing badgers forced to confront the animals quarantined in a facility built above their burrow.

A post-Brexit pagan dance fantasy about a troupe of Morris-dancing badgers trying to avoid the animal quarantine compound which has been built above their burrow. Living in a border town on the south east coast of England, the badgers are struggling to keep their old folk traditions alive in the face of change. They refuse to acknowledge the plight of their neighbours, the caged quarantine inmates, fearing physical and even ideological contamination, until Frank, a young badger, goes rogue.

Intoxicated by the exotic rhythms drummed out by the resourceful animals on their cage bars, Frank the young badger starts dancing forbidden new steps, risking the wrath of the Morris troupe. But when tragedy strikes, Frank must forge a new friendship inside the quarantine in order to help the Morris troupe survive.



Quarantine is a stop-motion exploration of what it will mean to have a new immigration border in a town with a history of far-right support. Drawing on a rich tradition of British animated films about imprisoned animals - Animal Farm, Plague Dogs, Watership Down and Chicken Run - Quarantine is an allegory for our times which asks what kind of cultural exchange can still occur in post-Brexit Britain.


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From the collection

Animated Britain

An animated portrait of a nation, brought to life frame by painstaking frame  

Since the early 1900s a disparate array of artists in Britain have drawn, sculpted, snipped, stamped, posed, clicked and scratched their art into celluloid life. This collection surveys a stunningly rich history, from the age of the pioneers to the best commercial and independent animators, taking in home hobbyists bitten by the animation bug. 

Through its own weird alchemy, animation can bring our wildest imaginings to life, and yet it can also be a powerful tool for exploring our everyday reality. Silly, surreal, sweet or caustic, this dizzyingly diverse selection showcases British animation's unique contribution to the art form, and offers a history ripe for rediscovery.


8 videos in this collection

Dangerously addicted to old movies? This is a case for Dr BFI, as demonstrated in this 1970s animated promo
1

The Dream of Arthur Sleap

Part experimental cinema, part advert for the parcel post service, always joyful.
2

A Colour Box

Home safety is child's play if you have the feline guardian angel of the 70s on hand
3

Matches

4

Ubu

Blackly comic cartoon portrait of an apocalyptic England, destroyed 50 years after signing a premature peace in WWI.
5

Ever Been Had?

6

The United Kingdom

The animated short on the terrors of nuclear apocalypse that become a sensation when it played on the Ed Sullivan show, leaving middle America highly disturbed.
7

A Short Vision

8

Quarantine

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