A Fly in the Restaurant

There is a hint of an under water circus, and many of the performers are acrobats. The sea water, if that's what it is, is yellowish brown. A full-faced sun rises from the Sun King's cradle, while a moon of Saturn circles the planet. The cut-out animation moves airily through a time-distorted world, where dizziness barely maintains a balance, and conventional time-sense disappears. The music of John Davis, which has been slowed to half speed, reverberates eerily throughout the pulsing series of performances, and one wonders whether in the next scene one can catch one's balance. The timing throughout is musical, and suggests a barely upheld world of sanity; of course the dream world creeps into the conscious mind's puritanical sense of propriety, rendering a secondary sense of unbalance facing trial at the bar of...whatever comes to mind. Delirium?

One of Klahr's masterpieces, Altair is an 8 minute collage color -noir culled from late-40s pages of Cosmopolitan, which induces a sense of claustrophobia and dread through its use of Stravinsky's The Firebird.

Spike waves to a young woman driving a red pickup truck through the desert of Needles, California every day; it is the highlight of his day. In this combined animated and live-action special, we meet an aerobics instructor, Jenny, who wants to be a big city jazz dancer. She and Spike drive around looking at the desert scenery and spending some time at a roller rink. However, when Spike is accidentally thrown out of the skating rink he runs off and is pursued by people on a nighttime coyote hunt.

Award-winning cut-out animation making a full statement on bravado by using two empty words. Available in full at -- https://youtu.be/zJiyvyskYmQ

When the Valley of Peace is threatened, lazy Po the panda discovers his destiny as the "chosen one" and trains to become a kung fu hero, but transforming the unsleek slacker into a brave warrior won't be easy. It's up to Master Shifu and the Furious Five -- Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey -- to give it a try.

A family pod of three dolphins navigates decay as an inevitable register while also having a secret ascension to a higher ground.

In the middle of the forest, a bonfire will define the fate of Fayna, a young, colorless girl.

A waitress, desperate to fulfill her dreams as a restaurant owner, is set on a journey to turn a frog prince back into a human being, but she has to face the same problem after she kisses him.

A collection of mechanical-biological hybrids from the artist's workshop and a variety of rules written on different boards, gathered in order to secure projects and for entertainment.

This animated short is a play on motion set against a background of multi-hued sky. Spheres of translucent pearl float weightlessly in the unlimited panorama of the sky, grouping, regrouping or colliding like the stylized burst of some atomic chain reaction. The dance is set to the musical cadences of Bach, played by pianist Glenn Gould.

A little man with a long thin nose is coming with his hot desires to a restaurant and orders ”Honey-Bunny”. The big waitress is not sure what he means but does everything she can to help.

In order to win the hand of a princess, a man must defeat an evil dragon and claim its treasured magic stone. Upon his return, Baghdad has been invaded and he must use the stone to defeat his new enemy.

"Beginnings are rare and fleeting. All we are left with in life is a long and unavoidable journey to the end. Describe the burdens you carry with you on this journey." I sent the above prompt to friends and colleagues and asked for any artistic response. I received numerous poems, songs, short stories, etc. I took all of the responses and stitched together the verses, stories, and emotions into a narrative following the protagonist through a day in his life. My goal was to give a snapshot of the mental health of those around me and remind everyone that they are not alone in their sadness.

QUICK DREAM, subtitled "A Series of Exorcisms," is the result of this first assignment. As Mouris describes it, “This film is a series of visual experiments with magazine photograph cutouts that make moving collages; coloraid paper; Avery labels; whatever I could think of that might animate. It became the seedbed for everything that followed,” most notably FRANK FILM. As part of the project, the students’ films were subject to a round of guest criticism from artists and filmmakers Robert Breer and Red Grooms, who, as Mouris describes it, “praised our work and encouraged us to continue.” (Yale Film Archive)

Roads is a story about the choices of woman who is searching for her future.

A frenetic and poetic flight on the wings of classic Greek mythology.

An ancient was looking for the plum blossom in the snow storm during the trip.

A series of vaudeville acts inserted in images of reality, meant to demonstrate the ephemeral nature of all things.

A winter dread gnaws at the anxieties of a young couple.

We hear the distant ring of Saturn.