From Frame to Page, special Bar Shorts event

By John Freeman on March 24, 2026 • ( 0 )

Bar Shorts, who host regular short film and animation nights in different venues across London and the UK, are running a special event next month, which attempts to bridge the world between film and graphic novels.

Bar Shorts Presents: From Frame to Page- Animators Who Became Graphic Novelists (18) | From 2.00pm, Saturday 18th April 2026 | Garden Cinema, 39-41 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PQ

Bar Shorts returns to London’s Garden Cinema on Saturday 18th April 2026, with an afternoon celebrating the artists who move fluidly between two worlds: the flicker of film and the stillness of the graphic novel page. From Frame to Page brings together some of the UK’s most inventive animation voices to explore how their storytelling evolves when the camera stops rolling and the pen takes over.

The afternoon features award‑winning animator and model‑maker Astrid Goldsmith, author of The Crystal Vase. Astrid’s debut graphic had already been critically claimed and explores the world of family.

Also at the event will be graphic novel stalwart Lucy Sullivan whose amazing book, Barking, explores mental health. (Its artwork went onto to become inspiration for Dylan Southern’s film adaption of Max Porter’s The Thing With Feathers).

The storyteller, Greg McLeod, part of the duo The Brothers McLeod, will be taking about his debut graphic novel which he is currently Kickstarting called The Existential Musings of Mee and Burd. Finally, writer and director Chris Shepherd, the author of Anfield Road and Bar Shorts co-creator will be sharing the creative leaps, stumbles, and revelations that shaped their journeys from animated filmmaking to graphic narrative.

Across the afternoon, guests will screen a selection of their short films before diving into the worlds of their graphic novels – discussing character, structure, world‑building, and the surprising ways animation informs the drawn page (and vice versa). Expect candid stories, practical insights, and the kind of creative honesty Bar Shorts is known for.

This is a rare chance to see how animators reinvent themselves as authors – and how stories transform when they shift medium. An afternoon for filmmakers, illustrators, readers, and anyone who loves watching creativity evolve.

After the screening the artists will be selling their books in the bar.

Bar Shorts hosts regular short film and animation nights in different venues across London and the UK. Its aim is to bring shorts to a wider audience. It is curated by Dog&Rabbit animation studio, and hosted by Chris Shepherd.

• Bar Shorts Presents: From Frame to Page- Animators Who Became Graphic Novelists (18) | From 2.00pm, Saturday 18th April 2026 | Garden Cinema, 39-41 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PQ | Book Tickets via this link on the Garden Cinema website

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.