Ostrich Politic

A true animated film about invented islands. About an imaginary, linguistic, political territory. About a real or dreamed country, or something in between. Archipelago is a film of drawings and speeches, that tells and dreams a place and its inhabitants, to tell and dream a little of our world and times.

An exploration of the visual and psychological parallels between the American western frontier and the conflict in the Middle East.

Senator Ted Kennedy and his dog, Splash, invite children along on a typical whirlwind day on Capitol Hill.

Two guys run a cartoon character for President.

Ginga is a simple—yet energetic—country girl, living with her father far from the capital city of the empire in ancient China. When she learns of an opportunity to become a concubine of the young new Emperor, with the possibility of becoming his head wife in charge of all of the other wives, Ginga convinces her father to let her go. Once there, she meets all of the other potential head wives, each of whom have various reasons for being there. All of them must learn to read and write, learn the history of their country, and learn the proper mannerisms for being in the royal court. Ginga's enthusiasm tends to get her in trouble more often than not, but it works to her advantage when they learn that the former emperor's head wife, who is not the mother of the current emperor, is plotting treachery against the new emperor, and that a rebellion is headed toward the capital.

The setting is on a floating platform where a group of evenly and carefully placed men live. Each man is aware that the platform is not stable and in order not to fall to their deaths, they maintain a careful balance of weight to prevent the platform from tipping too far and cause them all to fall.

The film is a controversy on democracy. Is our society really democratic? Can everyone be part of it? Or is the act of being part in democracy dependent to the access on technology, progression or any resources of information, as philosophers like Paul Virilio or Jean Baudrillard already claimed?

Information Violence

The Oishinbo gang takes time off from the normal culinary wars to get involved with a political dispute about American rice imports. The economic conflict between a pushy US Senator from California and a nationalistic Japanese politician is further complicated by concerns about the cumulative effect of pesticide use in both American and Japanese agriculture.

A disturbingly organic-looking figure speaks to us of life, politics and death as the symbol of the common man toils away. Written and narrated by William S. Burroughs.

A full-blown re-election piece for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the expense of Republican presidential candidate Thomas Dewey. Roosevelt is depicted as a streamlined diesel express train in a race against Dewey, a worn-out steam train. The public is admonished to "get behind the president and stay the course to victory."

One decent citizen was having lunch and indifferently looking at the fish in his aquarium. But suddenly a real monster emerged from the muddy water. However, unwillingness to strain even to save his own life led the hero to slavery. Or maybe nothing has really changed in his life?

Global political figures such as The Pope, Kim Jong Il, George W. Bush and recent Japanese Prime Ministers play riichi mahjong against each other.

A pastel animation produced by Sheila Graber and based upon the short story by Sid Chaplin. Narrated by north east broadcaster Mike Neville the film tells the story of Geordie, a miner, and his love for his pigeons and the trials and tribulations of his passion which is very popular around the region. The face of Sid Chaplin is used as Geordie.

Rubber rooftops and bomber-size fly paper suspended in the sky? Gad Sir, bring on the Blitz! David Low’s success as a cartoonist in the 1930s is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that Goebbels complained that he was souring British-German relations. Though an admirer of animation, this was his only realised venture into the territory, but includes his most famous character Colonel Blimp. Humphrey Jennings would become best known for his contribution to the British Documentary Movement but in the mid-1930s he was working as a Production Manager for Gasparcolor. In January 1936 he corresponded with David Low on a potential series of political cartoon shorts in colour, and the cartoonist provided some drawings from which this short sequence was made. Sadly the project failed to advance beyond this test. (BFI)

Justice

A Soviet claymation short film created by Garri Bardin in 1990 that retells the story of Red Riding Hood while incorporating political metaphors and themes about the USSR's demise; the wolf representing communism, devouring innocent creatures who have never known him.

A lion decides that a new king shall take on the reins of Azad Nagar when he retires. When he retires a donkey is chosen as the king of Azad Nagar.

Betty's campaign tries to appeal to everyone. Real candidates are parodied, but campaign promises are a bit bizarre.

Raised in an orthodox home, Amos Dov Silver dreams of becoming Prime Minister. But when the State continues to shun him, he soon finds unexpected solace in the velvety smoke of Marijuana. Spreading his new Torah, he establishes an online community using a mobile app called "TeleGrass" that turns into the largest marketplace for drugs in Israel, raising Silver to Messiah status. Through exclusive footage of Silver, his family and his partners’ investigations, as well as secretly filmed footage of Silver in the Ukrainian prison, a polarizing portrayal of the man charged with heading a crime organization emerges. Champion of the people, or a lost soul corrupted by power?