Whaled Women

A precocious young girl makes a new friend when a tiny boy pilot drops out of the sky on a broken flying machine. Now she must race against time to return him home, before her new friend becomes stranded on Earth forever.

To the toccata portion of Bach's "Toccata and fugue in D minor," we watch a play of sorts. Blue smoke forms a background; a grid of black lines is the foreground. Behind the lines, a triangle appears, then patterns of multiple triangles. Their movements reflect the music's rhythm. Behind the barrier of the black lines, the triangle moves, jumps, and takes on multiple shapes. In contrast with the blue and the black, the triangles are warm: orange, red, yellow. The black lines bend, swirl into a vortex, then disappear. The triangle pulsates and a set of many of them rises.

Parabola is a celebration of film’s ability to create new ways of seeing the forms around us. Creating juxtapositions between light/shadow, stasis/motion, and form/music, this black-and-white short invites us to see the parabolic curve, or “nature’s poetry,” as both invigorating and beguiling.

On their way home by bike through a deserted industrial area, a mother and her son starts to talk about what happened when our dream of eternal economic growth collided with the peak, and following decline in global oil production. In a sad but quite plausible picture of the near future, our children make us accountable for today's irresponsible way of living.

The visual style of the film is inspired by ancient tribal symbols, which constantly morph into each other. They represent life in a womb-like frame.

It ain't easy bein' green -- especially if you're a likable (albeit smelly) ogre named Shrek. On a mission to retrieve a gorgeous princess from the clutches of a fire-breathing dragon, Shrek teams up with an unlikely compatriot -- a wisecracking donkey.

Goopi and Bagha are two wise fools; one loves to sing and the other to play the drum. Despite their acute ineptness, their passion for music knows no bounds. When the villagers cannot bear to listen to them anymore, both are banished to the same forest. Here, Goopi and Bagha encounter each other and their fates become entwined for life. A strong and immediate bond is forged by these two hapless souls in search of connoisseurs of their musical craft.

This short probes the taboos around a very particular second-hand trauma, leading us to a more universal understanding of human experience.

Spectacle is proud to present HEAD SPACE, a showcase of animated works exploring dimensions both interior and outlying. Featuring an extremely talented and creative group working in a diverse array of styles, the shorts wander through strange and sometimes sketchy landscapes, including alternate-universe appliance stores, the ramblings of Charles Manson, environmental catastrophes in the Dutch style of painting, and a houseplant’s musings. Some, like Sally Cruikshank’s Make Me Psychic, are established classics; others feature newer animators working in looping GIF format, presented away from the small screen’s momentary pleasures to fully appreciate the art that it is. Occasionally gross, often beautiful, and always interesting, HEAD SPACE is a sampler of the thoughts happening inside and out of each frame.

Apples and Oranges is designed to raise children's awareness of the harmful effects of homophobia and gender-related name calling, intolerance, stereotyping and bullying. In the course of a lively in-class discussion among elementary students and an equity educator, children's paintings magically dissolve into two short animated stories. In Anta's Revenge, Anta finds out that creativity--not revenge--is the best way to deal with a school bully who makes fun of her for having two moms. Defying Gravity tells the story of Habib and Jeroux, two skateboarding friends whose relationship comes to a screeching halt when one of them finds out the other is gay.

Two tree-creatures hibernating underneath the bark of their trees wake up by the quakes produced by a snowfall outside. After going out, they become friends and delight at playing with the snow.

An experiment in pure design by film artists Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. Lines, ruled directly on film, move with precision and grace against a background of changing colors, in response to music specially composed for the films.

An experiment in pure design by film artists Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. Lines, ruled directly on film, move with precision and grace against a background of changing colors, in response to music specially composed for the films.

In this evocative film about the eternal human search for home, Berta and Solomon arrive in a land that promises respite from their many journeys. But have they found utopia... or just another stop on their long journey?

As the balance of the world turns upside down for the Anishinabek people, the elder Naamowin builds a healing drum to save his grandson and his people

A large group of children from different countries sail to the Black Sea port, heading for the international pioneer camp "Artek". Two stragglers of foreigners meet local teenagers who arrange a tour of the port for them.

A love story in the world of revived paintings.

A stop motion film about an oddball felted character who slips through floors into the past and the deepest parts of his psyche in his pursuit of self-understanding.

Seasick is a meditative exploration of ones love of the sea to the soundtrack of traditional Croatian music.

Gifted animator Leslie Supnet collaborates with Winnipeg storyteller Glen Johnson for this contemplative comic fantasy about a time-obsessed squirrel.