Eric Leiser

Eric Leiser is an award-winning filmmaker, animator, puppeteer, writer, holographer and multi-media artist working in the New York and London area. A graduate from CalArt’s Experimental Animation program, mentored by Exp Anim founder Jules Engel, later by Suzan Pitt. Leiser creates animated and live action feature films and shorts as well as works integrating animation, puppetry, holography, live performance and installation. Leiser is interested in how animation transforms perception when it is combined with live action space, creating a fantastical, spiritual, or surrealistic quality. His animated and live action films have been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA (NYC) MoMA (Antwerp) the MIT Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, The Istanbul Modern Museum of Art, The Horse Hospital Museum, The Exploratorium Museum, The Ruben H. Fleet Space Museum, The Thessaloniki Contemporary Art Museum, Wexner Center Museum, Four Dimensions Art Museum Beijing, EYE Filmmuseum (permanent collection), the BFI, Anthology Film Archives, Annecy Film Festival, EXiS Experimental Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. Eric has the Vanguard release Eclectic Shorts by Eric Leiser 2000-2008 on DVD, four features: Faustbook, released by Vanguard Cinema on DVD in 2005 Imagination, released theatrically in the U.S. in 2007 and on DVD in 2008 by Vanguard. Imagination was mentored under surrealist master artist and filmmaker Jan Svankmajer, who oversaw the animation while Eric lived in Prague in 2005 . Eric won the Kodak Filmmaker Award, as well as the Jules Engel Fellowship Award. In 2011 Eric released his third feature Glitch in the Grid, it was released on DVD with Vanguard Cinema in 2012. It was met with favorable reviews, has a fresh Tomato meter and screened at Annecy, Hiroshima and the opening night film at the SF Film animated Film Festival. Todd Brown from Twitch/Screen Anarchy, in his review, proclaimed Eric a “Master Animator”. Eric is the founding member of Albino Fawn Productions, which was featured in the May 2008, May 2016, issues of Animation Magazine. Eric’s latest releases have been his fourth feature film Apocalypsis in 2017, it was released by Lionsgate on DVD in 2018. Films of Eric Leiser 2016-2022 was released in 2022 (streaming) by Kinoscope.org along with previous releases Films of Eric Leiser (part1,2,3) in 2015. Eric’s fine art and holographic paintings have exhibited at the Horse Hospital Museum, MIT Museum, Holocenter Museum, Fringe Exhibitions in Los Angeles, California; Goldsmiths, University of London; School of the Arts Institute of Chicago and the Ruben H. Fleet Space Center in San Diego, California. Group shows include Live With Animals in New York City and Kastrupgard Gallery in Copenhagen among others.