Elephant in Castle (2021) is a 2D digital animation, using a hand-drawn frame-by-frame process to create subtle abstract narratives. The work expresses a constant change within the artist’s inner world, depicting the emotional, aesthetic, and tactile responses that she has to Hong Kong, the city where she grew up. Stepping into a new decade, the world is coming to an unprecedented and critical moment in history. The film is a reflection conveyed by the artist's sentimental responses to the stories/memories/social shifts that took place in Hong Kong.

Lee was inspired by the research topic and artworks relating to Topophilia, a term from Greek topos. Combining Topo-, meaning “place”, and -philia, meaning “love of”, Topophilia is a “strong sense of place, which often becomes mixed with the sense of cultural identity among certain people and a love of certain aspects of such a place.” People in a city might come from different places originally, but they all form their own paths of connectivity and responses to the places we inhabit, and even to the particular site that they pass through occasionally.

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Awards and Festival Selections:

2023

Finalist, The 28th ifva Festival, Hong Kong

2022

Cristal Award Nominee, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, France

Best Student Film Award Nominee, World Festival of Animated Film- Animafest Zagreb, Croatia

Best International Film Award Nominee, Fantoche International Animation Festival, Switzerland

Marilyn Marsh Saint-Veltri Award Nominee, Denver International Film Festival, USA

Special Mention Award, Animaphix International Animated Film Festival, Italy

Official Selection, MONSTRA Lisbon Animation Festival, Portugal

Official Selection, Flatpack Film Festival, United Kingdom

Semi-finalist, International Cosmopolitan Film Festival of Tokyo, Japan

Official Selection, Fest Anča International Animation Festiva, Slovakia

Official Selection, Turku Animated Film Festival, Finland

The 18th Seoul Independent Animation Festival, South Korea

2021

Bronze Award, Los Angeles Animation Festival, USA

Special Jury Award, Tatsuno International Film Festival, Japan

Best Student Animated Film Award Nominee, Kuandu International Animation Festival, Taiwan

Official Selection, Tirana International Film Festival, Albania

Official Selection, BITBANG International Animation, Videogames and Digital Art Festival, Argentina

Official Selection, NEOSFEST Encuentro Internacional de Experimentación, Puebla

Official Selection, SPARK ANIMATION 2021, Canada

Official Selection, Canlandıranlar Animation Film Festival, Turkey

Official Selection, ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival, Azerbaijan

Finalist, SHORT to the Point International Short Film Festival, USA

Official Selection, SUPERNOVA Digital Animation Festival, USA

Official Selection, Tbilisi International Animation Festival, Georgia

Official Selection, Shibuya TANPEN Film Festival CLIMAX at Sasebo, Japan

Official Selection, NewFilmmakers NY, USA

Official Selection, London International Short Film Festival, United Kingdom


Exhibitions and Screenings

2023

Citrus Worlds II, Art Central, Hong Kong

EX!T 13 - Experimental Media Art Festival, Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre, Taiwan

2022

“Mon OEil” online video series, Centre Pompidou, France

“Animafest Zagreb 1972 – 2022,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia

“HK Foreward 2021,” 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong

“System Dreams,” Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

“Please Mind the Gap,” MFA Graduation Show 2021, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Animated short film
Duration: 4’48”

Directed & Animated by: Florence Yuk Ki Lee
Composer: Just Bee
Sound Designer: Florence Xingyu Tan
Additional Animation: Tina Bahraei
Additional Compositing: Di Wu
Advisor: Max Hattler
Production Studio: No Reason Studio
Special Thanks: Harald Kraemer, Leung Chi Wo, Tobias Klein, Yu Ka Ho Albert