Len Lye scraped together enough funding and borrowed equipment to produce a two-minute short featuring his self-made monkey, singing and dancing to 'Peanut Vendor', a 1931 jazz hit for Red Nichols. The two foot high monkey had bolted, moveable joints and some 50 interchangeable mouths to convey the singing. To get the movements right, Lye filmed his new wife, Jane, a prize-winning rumba dancer.
Animation featuring dancing black and white shadows.
In the 40's, after the Spanish Civil War, many republicans defeated by the nationalist forces of Franco found refuge on the bordering mountains in the north of Portugal. Some saw them as brigands, others gave them shelter and helped them on the sly to police forces of Salazar. They were... the Outlaws.
An incident from the early days of Québec's quiet revolution, tailor-made for the cartoonist. It is the story of a Montréal commuter train, a unilingual ticket collector and a bilingual passenger. The passenger appears on screen himself to describe his bid to have tickets requested in French as well as in English. What ensued, and how even the railway president became involved, is illustrated with wit and humor.
An animated short film about two flocks of sheep and their shepherds who are at odds with one another and attempting to keep them separated.
Lewis Carroll's 'Alice' stories are used to explain certain sections of the Labelling of Food Regulations 1970.
A 20 minute masterpiece with no dialogue necessary. A King of the Forest gathers elves, sprites, and other assorted woodland spirits for a night of festivities. The spirits frolic, dance, drink, and romance. Conflicts arise and are resolved. The puppetry here is top-notch, and the rear-projections of fire and water add an extra depth to the magical world. A trip to a mysterious and happy world.
A man is fired from his job on mars.
Short anime adaption of the Osamu Tezuka manga Neo Faust.
Dadaland is a satirical exploration of current media and how its consumers connect to it. Inside a Dada-inspired psychedelic world, we meet a plethora of strange characters who want nothing more than to escape their own reality.
A tiny girl meets with a blue giant bear and a journey starts. In that journey tiny girl grows up and the bear gets small.
Educational film for a campaign against wife battering in 1985 in The Netherlands.
Ebenezer Scrooge is far too greedy to understand that Christmas is a time for kindness and generosity. But with the guidance of some new found friends, Scrooge learns to embrace the spirit of the season. A retelling of the classic Dickens tale with Disney's classic characters.
A complex choreography of re-animated miniature soldiers moving to the exquisitely synchronised command of a master manipulator. Toy soldiers against toy soldiers in the satirical animated short Spin
The weird hand creatures undergo different transformations in synchrony with the music.
In a dark subterranean landscape, the Amphibian has lost its way.
Two dogs, Polkan and Shavka, watched a flock of sheep by the river. Suddenly, they notice a hare, chase after him and run into the forest, where they meet face-to-face with three wolves. Shavka, chickening out, backs away, and the brave Polkan takes the fight. In a fierce fight, he manages to defeat one wolf, but from wounds he loses consciousness.
The first film directed by influential German-born silhouette animator Lotte Reiniger is delightfully reminiscent of a Valentine’s Day card come to life. Two lovers interact with an ornate background that shifts and changes in tandem with their own balletic movements as they express their feelings for each other.
General Electric sponsors this explanation of atomic energy, detailing some of its uses besides the bomb. Using animation and an off-screen narrator, the film describes the atom, elements and isotopes, the discovery of transmutation, experiments in artificial transmutation, and the reasons for the power of nuclear fission. The film argues that now, besides war, the atomic age holds promise for energy, farming, medicine, and research. The promise of the atomic age will depend on human wisdom.
A monkey comes home and uses a magic wand to make himself dinner. No sooner as he falls asleep, a hungry burglar enters his house. This short film was made by Segundo de Chomón in 1923 in his private studio with the help of his wife and son, outside of any studio structure, and has never had a regular distribution.