All Tender Things

Set in a city both past and present, on a deserted street where only the distant sounds of life blow by. The Hunger Artist stands alone, locked in his cage. Once famous and adored by the crowds, he now performs alone.

In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his beloved pet.

1995 Joan C. Gratz claymation short film

“Trigger Happy” was made with hundreds of objects found on the streets and sidewalks of New York. It began as an attempt to make an animated ballet, but as I was shooting the dance turned rowdy, into more of a nocturnal revel. It was shot on a lightbox with high-contrast film. The backlight silhouetted the objects, making them into graphic icons of themselves. The resulting film is a negative, which turned the objects white and the background black as asphalt. It makes the dance almost phantasmagoric. The trigger I was happy about was on the camera, but the title also fits the velocity of the imagery. Much of the animation happens by the rapid replacement of one object with another. It’s the afterimage in your eyes that animates the difference between the shapes, as one is replaced by another, and another… The music by Shay Lynch perfectly captures the idea of dancing in the streets.” —Jeffrey Noyes Scher

Aaron, the drummer boy, struggles to protect a bellmaker's great silver bells from seizure by Roman soldiers

Nestor the donkey is a bit of an oddity--his long ears are enough for six donkeys and stretch all the way to the ground. One night, when Nestor is locked out in the cold, he begins to wander the desert.

Pardon-me Pete, the official groundhog of Groundhog Day, tells the story of Jack Frost, who falls in love with a beautiful young woman and begs Father Winter to make him human so that she can see him. His request is granted, but only on the condition that by the Spring he has a house, a bag of gold, a horse and a wife. But Jack finds that life as a human is more complicated than he thought.

A puppet controlled by a disembodied hand creates it's own objects from red material.

An eight-legged force of fate spins a complex web of darkness and humour in Alicia Eisen and Sophie Jarvis’s animated short.

A classic of abstract animation that follows a tiny red arrow's journey through a multitude of spirals of white and waterfalls of color. Directed by Caroline and Frank Mouris, preserved in 2020 thanks to a collaborative effort between the Academy Film Archive and the Yale Film Archive.

2001 Joan C. Gratz animated short

Whilst working on "the great South African novel," an unemployed writer gets caught up in the harsh realities of life in the city of Johannesburg.

Surrealist stop motion M.U.S.C.L.E. animation.

During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.

It is for the first time to see Pat and Mat enjoying the winter. How will they handle the decoration of their houses for he Christmas, and what presents will they found under the Christmas tree. And do they have the same Christmas tree as we know, or will they make their special one. How will the solve the snow calamity and what a new machine will they make? After having fun in the snow the hot sauna would be perfect so lets build it. And how do they celebrate the end of the year?

Rabbit and Deer are living happily and careless until their friendship is put to the test by Deer's new obsession to find the formula for the 3rd dimension. After an unexpected accident Deer finds himself in a new world, unknown to him. Separated by dimensions the two characters have to find the way back to each other.

Bernard, a veteran cryptozoologist who has spent all his life searching for cryptid creatures, has the chance to hunt one of this greatest challenges, the Mosquifant. After travelling to a distant island in the North Sea, he will live an adventure full of difficulties and surprises.

A homeless man seeks shelter under a bridge in a storm, and finds a curious shrine, and a longing for life just out of his reach.

When the young orphan boy James spills a magic bag of crocodile tongues, he finds himself in possession of a giant peach that flies him away to strange lands.

Catcalls