Why

Mountain Music illustrates what happens when technology gets too advanced too soon. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

An mutoscope motion picture installation commissioned for the 86th anniversary of the Guggenheim museum. Later preserved and turned into a short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

Legacy takes the audience on a rapid-fire journey through the evolution of the world, starting with a cosmic bang, evolving through billions of years of plants, animals and the creation of natural resources, ending with man and his bounty – “sitting on his world contemplating his coconut”. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

The animation, music, and optical printing of Kitsch in Synch was produced by Beckett and the students in two classes he was teaching at CalArts. Although a group project, it is clear that Beckett was the director. The playful, catchy soundtrack is used to create a cycle of building tension and release. The brightly colored shapes create approximate symmetrical formations and become more densely layered, with glimpses of iconographic objects and even live footage near the end. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the iotaCenter, in 2007.

This animated short focuses on the lives of three eccentric people living on a farm in the Ukrainian countryside. Told in a non-linear, stream of consciousness style, the film depicts the deceitful relationship between a master and his two servants.

Animated short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

Directed by Hy Hirsh. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

Directed, assembled by Hy Hirsch.

Possibly the most lucid, vivid, and awesome demonstration of the building up of still images to create moving ones, Pasadena Freeway Stills simply, gracefully and powerfully shows us the process by which we are fooled by the movies. By doing so, Gary Beydler mines a very rich vein of associations and metaphor, without the slightest ostentation. Constructed as a thrilling arc of realization and, in a quite moving way, disappointment, the film is a beautiful articulation of our emotional entanglement with moving images, while simultaneously creating a form in which the illusion of cinema is brought into incredible relief as the film we're watching gradually catches up to the film Gary is holding up to the camera with his hands, one frame at a time. (Mark Toscano) Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.

The entire film is divided into four consecutive chosen approaches—the fourth section devoted to a reiteration and extension of the original material. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.

An animated short consisting of 4 segments: bowl, garden, theatre, marble game. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Harvard Film Archive in 2015.

The first Studies were synchronized with records (Fischinger made a total of 13 Studies all without sound). It was only with the introduction of sound, beginning with Study No 6 that the films did full justice to this musical principle. The play of the white lines, the arcs, and the upside-down U’s running hither and thither like ballet dancers was brought into perfect synchronization with the music, and thus the films offered an abstract illustration of the melodies. Study No 6 is certainly the best of his films in terms of forms. - Hans Scheugl and Ernst Schmidt, Jr. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.

A surrealist translation of Catholic devotional postcard imagery set into unsettling motion. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.

"I relocated to the Redwoods of Sonoma County upon graduation and in that relocation process the animation for Sonoma began. The design was built around the concept of the long wide horizontal 'pan' shot to express the concept of a dynamic landscape that passes across the screen like a traditional Chinese Scroll Painting. The deep personal meaning relates to the 'relocation' that was occurring within my own being after having done 2½ terms of active combat in the jungle as a carrier enlisted with the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army" -D. Pies. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

A vibrant animation by Patricia Marx. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

Stars and stripes forever and ever and ever. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

After becoming hypnotised Felix decides to try hypnotism himself. After he is successful a couple of times he decides to hypnotise his wife. The plan backfires and Felix is kicked out of his house again. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

A magic aeroplane takes two children to the Moon, where they encounter prehistoric monsters and witness a battle between them. As far as is known this was the first film to combine realistic stop-motion dinosaurs and live-action actors in the same shot. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.

A 1968 animation/documentary that criticises the industrial system.

"This hand drawn animated film is a tribute to my hands. It was produced between 1977-79 with the assistance of a grant from the Sinking Creek Film Celebration. This animated film honors the legacy of Jules Engel the original head of Cal Arts Animation Program." -D. Pies. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.