Death is Smoking My Cigars

In a lush and lively forest lives a hedgehog. He is at once admired, respected and envied by the other animals. However, Hedgehog’s unwavering devotion to his home annoys and mystifies a quartet of insatiable beasts: a cunning fox, an angry wolf, a gluttonous bear and a muddy boar. Together, the haughty brutes march off towards Hedgehog’s home to see just what is so precious about this “castle, shiny and huge.” What they find amazes them and sparks a tense and prickly standoff.

Loose impressionistic brushstrokes sketch a series of portraits of two faces, one male and one female, while the verse on the soundtrack tells the tale of both one and a thousand relationships.

Poems by some of the greatest writers of all time are brought to life through lyrical animation and readings by some of today’s most respected performers.

Giovanni currently lives a dreary life of near non-stop work. At school, his peers ridicule him incessantly, and his employer at work is distant and cold. As his isolation from society becomes unbearable, he suddenly finds himself on a train heading far away from his miserable home. Accompanied by Campanella, an acquaintance from school, Giovanni embarks on a journey that will define the rest of his life.

Six poems written by six young prisoners animated to tell their stories, thoughts, fears and hopes.

Based on the novel ‘Wilted Flower’ by Nou Hach, the film unfolds a gripping tale of grief and desperate hope. When Noun, the mother, breaks off her daughter's engagement to a struggling suitor in favor of a wealthier match, tragedy ensues. As her daughter's heartbreak consumes her, illness tightens its grip, pushing Noun to turn to ancient rituals for salvation.

Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet, is invited to perform at a Poetry Festival in Shiraz, Iran, but she’d rather be in Paris. She lives at home with her over-protective Chinese grandparents and has never been anywhere by herself. Once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians, all who tell her stories that force her to confront her past; the Iranian father she assumed abandoned her and the nature of Poetry itself. It’s about building bridges between cultural and generational divides. It’s about being curious. Staying open. And finding your own voice through the magic of poetry. Rosie goes on an unwitting journey of forgiveness, reconciliation, and perhaps above all, understanding, through learning about her father’s past, her own cultural identity, and her responsibility to it.

‘La course à l’abîme’ is a depiction of the final ride into hell from ‘La Damnation de Faust’ (1846) by Hector Berlioz.

Inocencia

Five different exploits of Sinbad the sailor where he gets mixed up with the pretty daughters of exotic potentates, with powerful monsters that threaten his existence, and with all sorts of teeming jungle life.

A cellist attempts to rescue a woman swept out to sea, only to find he must battle a series of overly possesive sea creatures.

A film-poem created for Counterclock Journal's 2023 Patchwork: Film x Poetry fellowship, featuring an original poem by Mackenzie Duan and animation by Evan Bode.

A short film inspired by the poetry of Billy Collins.

The third film of the biographical cycle based on Pushkin's drawings and texts.

In a realm beyond the senses, plants interact with surreal cinematography to chart the course of our character: an entity said to embody the life and work of Felisberto Hernández, Uruguayan father of magical realism. Through this journey, we are confronted with an open-ended experience questioning the nature of musicality versus cinematography, entity versus aberration, and self versus space, in a self-referential, blurry, digital and mystical setting.

This film visualizes humanity’s quest to relentlessly pursue goals. In the human fight for progress, the march forward cannot be stopped, even when individual people become weary and die. This animated short is based on a poem by the Chilean filmmaker and poet Juan Forch. Chilean painter Hernando León created the design.

Inside the closet at seamstress Jacira's house, in an old orange coat, lives Teca, a curious little bookworm, and her pet mite, Tuti. When the old seamstress mistakenly takes Teca and Tuti in her coat while returning a book to the city library, Tuti, once again, had caused some trouble. Escaping with Teca's ribbon in its mouth, it disappears through the mazes of the library, setting up a grand adventure. In addition to stop-motion, the short film "A Library Tale" features other animation techniques such as digital 3D and 2D, several scenes in live action with real settings and characters.

An evocative animated film on the life and works of the great Kyrgyz poet Alykul Osmonov.

相思（上）

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