British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

Francis

Synopsis

Francis is an account of the creation of a 9-year-old 'defective' animated character. As the draughtsman’s hand goes to work and Francis attains animated consciousness, his behaviour is observed and assessed by a child psychologist. The boy’s responses – initially slow and apparently flawed – develop in unusual comic directions as the examination progresses.
As his vocalisations begin to address the nature of his animated world and the psychologist continues to try and interpret his actions, it appears that Francis may ‘break out’ once and for all and become a ‘real’ animated character. Francis playfully addresses notions of construction and the role that language plays in interpreting, classifying and creating certain types. In an animated world populated by impressionable idiot figures, mischief-makers and oddballs with strange vocal mannerisms, Francis puts the cute but simple cartoon character into therapy for a case study of 'animated behaviour'.

Details

Year
2009
Type of project
Shorts
Running time
3 mins 36 secs
Format
DigiBeta
Director
Richard Squires (aka Let Me Feel Your Finger First/ LMFYFF)
Producer
Animate Projects
Editor
Let Me Feel Your Finger First
Director of Photography
David Raedeker
Sound
Byron Blake
Principal cast
Gary Mackay, Will Eaton
Film Image
© LMFYFF

Genre

Experimental LGBTQIA+

Categories

Fiction Animation Artist Project and Video / Experimental

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Let Me Feel Your Finger First

Sales Company

LuxWaterlow Park Centre

Dartmouth Park Hill
London
N19 5JF

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

A small, cute, orange blob character is sat in a simple flat pink environment, looking at the viewer. Above them is a text box, floating Poob

Director: AJ Jefferies

Year: 2026

POOB is ready to LEARN and have FUN! An exploration into control, detachment and agency in an abusive relationship.

Comedy
Two young girls sit accross from each other at a table Backwoods

Director: Aminah Alhamdu

Year: 2026

Two estranged friends miss the last bus home after a rave and are forced to stick together to make it home before dawn.

Adventure Comedy Drama Woman Director
A dog in a crudely made fox costume is sat being fed by a yellow marigold glove on the end of a wooden pole. A Skulk in London

Director: Polina Chizhova, James Stephen Wright

Year: 2018

The work “A Skulk in London” explores the human projections onto animal life from a satirical perspective. Its aim is research the life of urban foxes amid the Anthropocene environment of central London and the mythologies surrounding them to highlight the human tendency of understanding and perpetually interpreting the natural world limited by the point of view of “man”. The main character is a city man who becomes fascinated with finding nature in the city and is following urban foxes to fulfil his dream of wilderness. The character lives in a world of fantasy and does not consider the perspective and agency of urban wildlife. His obsession is so blinding and absorbing that he doesn’t realise that the fox he finds is, in fact, a dog in a costume.

Climate / Environment Docufiction Experimental Fantasy