Friction Fiction

One of several short films. Claymation that follows the misadventures of a mad anthropomorphic frog chef, often facing mishaps and disaster in his kitchen.

Two drunk flies drink beer, smoke from a giant cigarette and become attracted to a bright light in this adult claymation comedy.

In this extraordinary short animation, Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren painted colours, shapes, and transformations directly onto their filmstrip. The result is a vivid interpretation, in fluid lines and colour, of jazz music played by the Oscar Peterson Trio.

Life is good in Rabbitland - its rabbit inhabitants have reached the highest stage of evolution where they have no brains and happily spend their days voting in the free and democratic elections.

Driven from his homeland and faced with the genocide of his people, an inexperienced Elvish prince must forge an unlikely alliance with a tribe of Wolfmen to save his people from the bloodthirsty Zerad.

Sculptress Virginia May is seen making a clay model of a tyrannosaurus rex, which is animated using stop motion, and then fights a stop-motion triceratops. Although Miss May's only known relationship with the movies is this particular short, her contemporary, Willis O'Brien and his student Ray Harryhausen certainly made the field a lively one until computer animation caught up in the 1990s -- and arguably their artistry is still unsurpassed.

A little bird leaves its nest in pursuit of a leaf — but when a famished fox follows, the bird learns that sometimes you need to think on the fly!

When one of their experiments goes wrong, two wacky scientists (who are also incredible monster hunters) are forced to put their monster hunting skills to the test. Together with two fearless kids, they want to save the world from a bunch of tiny monsters, and giant candy-craving monsters.

Life drums the playfulness out of a boy as he grows up.

Animator Faith Hubley recounts her life from childhood to the present day.

Rain Dance is a four-minute animation produced by Hill while an undergraduate student at Harvard University from 1988-1992; the exact date of the production is currently unidentified. Although little known, the film is representative of both Hill’s do-it yourself approach – employing character cutouts, strong, yet playful colors, and a narrative and technical simplicity rich with charm – and her jovial demeanor and inquisitive approach to life. The film is dedicated to Elijah Aron, Hill’s boyfriend throughout college. Aron remained close friends with Helen and her husband Paul Gailiunas, and was the godfather of their son Francis.

Inspired by a poem.

A man visits the world's smallest fair, where he learns a valuable lesson about life and poison cotton candy.

A whimsical lesson in love from Helen Hill.

Helen Hill remembers her grandfather just before his death (in part) by a metaphor involving him as a rapidly diminishing mouse.

Madame Winger wants you to make a film about something you love. She shows you her favorite low budget filmmaking techniques, from cameraless animation to processing your own film in a bathtub. Filmed in 16 mm.

A tribute to Halifax.

The Care Bears team up with a troubled brother and sister who just moved to a new town to help a neglected young magician's apprentice whose evil spell book causes sinister things to happen.

Paper sample books discarded and dumpstered by long-gone businesses undergo a series of sequential experiments in pattern, rhythm, colour and text(ure). A call and response of flickering and lingering, this catalogue of catalogues remembers a tactile economy.

'Tie-dye' film study. Psychedelic patterns and colours mix on the various materials then explode onto the retina. The 16mm material perfectly captures the details of the materials.