Ups and Downs

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

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."

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 It was never completed, and is officially "unpublished," but this title has been restored and it screens occasionally along with her other films.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.

Original animated film made for the International Chopin Year. The soundtrack consists of Fryderyk Chopin's music performed by Justyna Steczkowska, Tomasz Stańko and Michał Urbaniak. The author rejects the pompous, exalted, pathos-laden, obligatory admiration that paralyses the possibility of hearing Chopin's music in a fresh way.

The short follows the dream of a young boy in which strange whale teleports him to a fantasy land where a happy cat named Pero (modeled after the character in the Nagagutsu wo Haita Neko anime that serves as Toei Animation's mascot) appears. The piece is entirely dialogueless.

A comical animated opera. A chicken leaves to get birch branches for sauna while the rooster stays to warm the sauna. On her way she sees a clear-watered well, a tired cow and other creatures that sing along "Finland's best animal actress" Elina Salo and a child choir to some songs composed by M.A. Numminen.

MS-DOS demoscene short film that showcases computer animation, art and music.

MS-DOS demoscene short film that showcases computer animation, art and music.

“Kim's nieces shot this video and Kim and I put it together for Kill Rock Stars' first VHS video comp. I guess we made it in the mid/late 90s. Always reminded me of a Sympathy for the Devil/Le Gai Savoir take on Tony Oursler's "EVOL" or something. Our master was on S-VHS. It's all we could afford.” —Katie Erdman

Float is an artistic 4-5 minute film shot completely underwater of trans folks swimming naked set to music by trans musician Rae Spoon.

Apprivoisé

On a warm and clear summer day in the 50s, a proud and graceful city boy meets two mischievous, free country kids. It opens up a window on a whole new world; his journey under the sun will bring him closer to nature and the harbingers of love.

Circuit bent gain controller run into a CRT TV

'Nonsense' piece inserted between Acts Two and Three of Jethro Tull's A Passion Play, which bears no relation to the rest of The Play. In 1973 concerts, the band left the stage after Act Two and a filmed version of 'The Hare...' was shown. A spoken-word comedic interlude (narrated by Jeffrey Hammond with an exaggerated Lancashire accent) backed by instrumentation. Presented as an absurd fable, the interlude details (with much wordplay) the failure of a group of anthropomorphic animals to help a hare find his missing eyeglasses.

In the timeless world of fairy tales, villains and victims are visited by a vengeful fairy who offers to shift the balance of power.

MS-DOS demoscene short film that showcases computer animation and music.

Jeff Krulik, the no-frills documentary filmmaker and collector of the offbeat who gave the world Heavy Metal Parking Lot, presents this hilarious collection of short videos and films by himself and others.

Short comedy by Chuck Statler.

"Frozen Jumper" begins in hit-and-run style with a pulsating textural noise. Flickering, nearly rectangular patterns join on the image plane, at first in black-and-white, bringing to mind the sprocket holes in celluloid film and, not least due to the lack of geometric precision, giving the impression of a pre-digital origin. As the soundtrack rattles on in a minimalistic way, the pattern’s twitchy dance is submerged in various warm hues such as yellow, pink, light green and light blue, which in a different rhythm and to a more agreeable music could be perceived as the signature of slightly retro psychedelia.