Gymnopédies

Comments on the background and popularity of disc jockey "Emperor" Bob Hudson, who bases his shows on the idea that radio is a fantasy.

The map of an American city goes on a quest across the world to find oil in order to feed its body, made of streets, highways and freeways.

A man visits the panels of a comic page-like world in search for his loved Gloria.

What starts out as a fun road trip for the Toy Story gang takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the trip detours to a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others find themselves caught up in a mysterious sequence of events that must be solved before they all suffer the same fate in this Toy Story of Terror.

A short animation of a comedic theatrical show featuring Hawaiian musicians and dancers.

The film is based on the well-known short story 'Oil of Dog'. The rough and simple chalk animation technique is match for the absurd and surrealistic style of the story. The line-drawing character representation over a black background is in the flavour of film noir. This is the story of Boffer Bings, who lives in a village where his father manages a prosperous business producing dog-oil. Boffer Bings not only assists his father in procuring dogs for distill, but also helps to carry away the debris of his mother's studio, where she disposes of unwelcome babes. Martin is accomplished in his jobs, until his accidental invention steers the family business into an economic boom. Tragedy is inevitable.

A short sketchbook-style animated film that takes a look at people at a 'La Fete Nationale' celebration in Montreal, Quebec.

On an idyllic beach in the Pacific Northwest, curiosity gets the better of a young raccoon whose frustrated parent attempts to keep them both safe.

This animation is based on Stephen Coates composition under the same title. This film is about The Great Revolution of the British Cuckoos, who bravely took over London, forcing all the people to move inside the cuckoo clocks. Animation by Alex Budovsky. Music by "(The Real) Tuesday Weld."

A hand-made, scratched-on film experiment in intermittent animation. The images are a group of twenty-four visuals, all non-representational, which arrange and rearrange on the screen in many combinations. The result is a changing pattern of sound and image that has its own rhythm for eye and ear.

Animated short directed by Michael Schaack

Animated short directed by Michael Schaack.

Threatened daily by the deadly residents and harsh environment of Australia’s Outback, a lonesome bilby finds himself an unwitting protector, and unexpected friend, to a helpless (and quite adorable) baby bird.

A craftsman builds a glass harmonica that enlightens him. He travels to a town where the people are obsessed with money. A bureaucrat smashes the glass harmonica which leads to chaos and eventually to social reform.

La maldición de los hombres triángulo

Ensemble for Somnambulists was a film Maya Deren made while teaching a workshop at the Toronto Film Society. It was never completed, and is officially "unpublished," but this title has been restored and it screens occasionally along with her other films. It is sort of a preliminary sketch for The Very Eye of Night. ~ David Lewis, Rovi

It's midnight in a graveyard. The principal characters are spooks, ghosts, bats, bells, and, at the end, the sun. As midnight strikes, 12 spooks appear, then two ghosts. They move to the music's rhythm. Against the black night, they are blue and yellow. Bats appear as does a xylophone of bones. Mist rises, spooks swirl. A bell tolls. The sky turns light blue, the ghosts' dance slows. Then black night returns bringing intimations of frenzy. Bones play snare drums; spooks peek out of square graves. Scary faces appear. Frenetic movement takes over. A rooster crows and all return to earth as the sun's light appears.

A cardboard world where monkeys steal pickles and buildings change themselves. The film is a visualization of the city's rapidly changing neighborhoods, that still hold charm in the shop keepers and street musicians.

Theodore Ushev’s acclaimed 20th century trilogy concludes with this brilliant fusion of 3D and Russian constructivist-styled animation. Recycling elements of surrealism and cubism, this animated short by Theodore Ushev focuses on the relationship between art and war. Propelled by the exalting “invasion” theme from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony (No. 7), the film presents imagery of combat fronts and massacres, leading us from Dresden to Guernica, from the Spanish Civil War to Star Wars. It is at once a symphony that serves the war machine, that stirs the masses, and art that mourns the dead, voices its outrage and calls for peace.

In this short animation, Oscar®-winning director Chris Landreth uses a common social gaffe - forgetting somebody's name - as the starting point for a mind-bending romp through the unconscious. Inspired by the classic TV game show Password, the film features a wealth of animated celebrity guests who try (and try, and try) to prompt Charles to remember the name. Finally, he realizes he will simply have to surrender himself to his predicament.