Eric Leiser

Directing

Eric Leiser

Eric Leiser is an award-winning artist, experimental filmmaker, animator, holographer, puppeteer, writer, and former funeral director working in New York and born in California. An alumni of CalArt’s Experimental Animation program and the Fine Art program, Eric creates animated and live action feature films and shorts as well as intricate works integrating animation, puppetry, painting, holography…

Known For

IcelandIceland · 2004
Iceland
7.02004
MovieDocumentaryAnimation
an unforgettable journey across the Icelandic landscape as mixing live action and pixilation to produce an enchanting, timeless short film. Shot on Kodachrome Super 8mm in western, northern, eastern and southen Iceland including interior Iceland in late summer 2004. Dedicated to Buddy King Leiser.
ApocalypsisApocalypsis · 2018
Apocalypsis
5.62018
MovieMysteryAnimation
Set in a parallel universe entering a black hole, a woman reading the book of Revelation has visions of regeneration during Anthropocene.
Twilight ParkTwilight Park
Twilight Park
MovieAnimationFantasy
Twilight Park, a life size stop motion animated feature film about a boy Seraphim who along with Howie Heehaw; a rodeo show clown from Tibet, gets the chance to enter his narcoleptic/dementia addled Grandpa's mind and live out his past memories in order to save him.
Beyond the ForestBeyond the Forest · 2006
Beyond the Forest
7.02006
MovieFantasyAnimation
A Romany woman travels from Praha to her home in Transylvania
Eclectic Shorts by Eric LeiserEclectic Shorts by Eric Leiser · 2006
Eclectic Shorts by Eric Leiser
2006
MovieAnimationFantasy
Eric Leiser displays his boundless creativity in this short collection; A stunning compilation of works presented with a mixture of live action, stop motion animation, puppetry and pixilation techniques, produced between 2001 and 2006.
Ghost StayGhost Stay · 2025
Ghost Stay
7.52025
MovieAnimationFantasy
A bear arrives from Japan to live within an artist's studio in New York
Living WatersLiving Waters · 2012
Living Waters
5.02012
MovieHistoryDrama
John 4:13-14: Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life
PreludePrelude · 2001
Prelude
2001
MovieAnimation
first stop motion animation puppet film by Eric Leiser completed in 2001. The film is a visual poem on Christ's command for believers to: deny self, pick up the cross daily and follow after Him. Matthew 16:24

Filmography

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ImaginationImagination · 2007
Imagination
5.02007
MovieFantasyDrama
Dr. Reineger, a famous neuro-psychologist, has become convinced that a twin girl named Anna has a rare form of Autism called Asperger's Syndrome, rendering her unable to cope with reality. As for her blind sister, Sarah, the doctor cannot say for sure why her imaginary visions map so close to Anna's. At home, unable to face reality, their father leaves the family. To escape the pain, the girls sink deeper and deeper into their imagination. When a major earthquake takes their mother's life, Reineger gets more involved with helping the now-orphaned twins, while struggling with his realization that the girls seem to be capable of prophetic visions. The girls escape the doctor's institution and a subsequent search finds no trace of them. Have they transcended the physical realm? A mixture of live action, stop motion animation and other techniques makes this film a fantastic journey into the realm of imagination.

Director

Terra IncognitaTerra Incognita · 2002
Terra Incognita
6.02002
MovieAnimation
Terra Incognita is a multi-plane cut out animation made from photocopies of 19th century illustrations made during the race to the poles and drawings by Eric Leiser. For the puppet performance it was flat-rod puppets on a proscenium stage with a screen behind them, onto which the animation Terra Incognita is projected. Many of the sea monster puppets and ships performed in sync with the animated ones, along with splashes of water and powdered chalk to mimic snowfall. These techniques came from my time studying puppet theater in Prague, in 2002, and learning from Svankmajer and Svankmajerova. It was a lot of fun to both animate and to perform live with Jeffrey's wonder score. At the same time the film comments on the colonial race to claim the Arctic by various countries—a race that, in a sense, is still going on today, but this time again for oil—and the murders of the Inuit people who had inhabited the land for millennia.

Director