1987, 30 sec, color, sound Produced for an Artbreak segment on MTV Network, this dynamic "thirty-second spot" presents an abbreviated history of animation according to the representation of women, from the cell imagery of Max Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell series to the contemporary digital effects of television. In Birnbaum's vision, Fleischer's spilled inkwell releases cartoon bubbles containing images of women from MTV music videos. With wit and panache, Birnbaum reverses the traditional sexual roles of the producer and product of commercial imagery: The final image is that of a female artist on whose video "palette" we see a glimpse of Fleischer.
All alone, Yellow Guy tries to stop a lamp from teaching him about dreams. While Red Guy finds out the truth about the puppets' existence.
Christian is an average employee working in the less productive company of Canada: Imprim’ 2000. He met his new coworker, Stephen. The only problem is that Stephen is none other than a bear and that nobody except Christian seems to worry about.
Rouge et Blanche, two happy twin sisters, live in an arid plain on the edge of a hostile forest they are afraid to approach. The danger comes from elsewhere.
Uli has found an old book in the attic of the Kulturhaus that tells of the exploitation of the peasants by the feudal lords. He tries to imagine how the robber barons would fare in a socialist village. Then two of this type step out of a dusty picture and Uli joins them on their way to the village. There they fail miserably with their overbearing behavior, and even a break-in turns into a failure.
White Tape explores the theme of boundaries: the frame, the space between brushstrokes and the implications of occupation.
When a small boy loses his favourite toy – a small teddy bear – this draws him into the inner world of his childhood. Nonetheless, he must destroy this realm if he wants to grow up.
The adventures of a legendary hero who, dazzled by the beauty of a princess in the hand asks. This imposes several trials he emerges victorious. Only death will eventually bring the two young men.
The Crabe-Phare is a legendary crustacean. He captures the lost sailors' boats to add them to his collection. But the crab is getting old, and it is more and more difficult for him to build his collection.
Set in 80’s-Britain, when a group of rowdy teenagers trek into an isolated forest, they discover peaceful mushroom creatures that turn out to be an unexpected force of nature.
Three young Inuits set off in search of a promised land to save their clan from starvation.
One person makes the long and difficult journey towards finding their own beauty. In trying to mimic the beauty of others around them, they repeatedly fail at their attempts to be something they're not. Only when they muster the courage to look inward, do they find what they were looking for all along.
A series of mini-stories satirising our world in the 20th Century.
Death as a global service provider? Unthinkable! So far Death has thought that too. But then his nephew Cedric had the crazy idea of founding the company AFTER LIFE while his uncle was away. This company takes over the craft of death with the latest technology and markets it worldwide.
Animated short film by Bruno Sukrow.
A man dying of thirst descends further down a labyrinth consisting of nightmarish Bosch-esque creatures.
Animation, also of a new order in the recent series of short works. Mostly on black space, the figures in blue perform a very compact and jewel-like opera in surreal form, again to Satie’s piano music. Ideally, the film should be projected on a 30" wide white card sitting on a music stand, center stage of a large auditorium or music hall, with sound from the projector piped into the big speaker system. The film is most effective this way, but can be shown normal-size also
Runaway is an animated short film about a misunderstanding between a man named Stanley and his treasured 1950s refrigerator, named Chillie.
A candlemaker entrusts his young son with the task of making candles for their church on Christmas Eve.
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.