Begotten is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth.
This animated short is a play on motion set against a background of multi-hued sky. Spheres of translucent pearl float weightlessly in the unlimited panorama of the sky, grouping, regrouping or colliding like the stylized burst of some atomic chain reaction. The dance is set to the musical cadences of Bach, played by pianist Glenn Gould.
A hep teen hears a tune on the jukebox at the malt shop and calls his girl; She rounds up a crowd and soon the whole place is jumping.
A young man journeys through a desert, where he is kidnapped by a sadistic stranger clad in a pig mask. The stranger proceeds to brutally torture the young man, who then finds himself escaping into his imagination, with fantasy and reality intersecting.
A 20 minute masterpiece with no dialogue necessary. A King of the Forest gathers elves, sprites, and other assorted woodland spirits for a night of festivities. The spirits frolic, dance, drink, and romance. Conflicts arise and are resolved. The puppetry here is top-notch, and the rear-projections of fire and water add an extra depth to the magical world. A trip to a mysterious and happy world.
This cartoon is directed against the brutality of professional Boxing. In parody form it ridiculed unworthy methods and means used to achieve victory.
Touch not the Outsiders, lest ye become an Outsider. But when two creatures belonging to opposite kinds - a lost little girl from the Inside and a demonic beast-looking Outsider - initiate an impossible coexistence on the same side of the forest, their bond seems to transcend their incompatible natures and the unnamed curse that has divided the world.
Len Lye scraped together enough funding and borrowed equipment to produce a two-minute short featuring his self-made monkey, singing and dancing to 'Peanut Vendor', a 1931 jazz hit for Red Nichols. The two foot high monkey had bolted, moveable joints and some 50 interchangeable mouths to convey the singing. To get the movements right, Lye filmed his new wife, Jane, a prize-winning rumba dancer.
Animation featuring dancing black and white shadows.
In the 40's, after the Spanish Civil War, many republicans defeated by the nationalist forces of Franco found refuge on the bordering mountains in the north of Portugal. Some saw them as brigands, others gave them shelter and helped them on the sly to police forces of Salazar. They were... the Outlaws.
When two lovers are split by a supernatural encounter, they explore the darker side of relationships.
Aboard a small escape pod, four survivors try to discover what caused the destruction of their spaceship.
When her shift uncovers the death of a fellow miner under mysterious circumstances, a hard-working miner of a planet mining colony is forced to choose between escape or defying management orders and fight for the safety of her family.
During the night shift in a colony greenhouse, a botanist does her best to contain suspicious soil samples that have alarmed her sensitive lab dog.
Germany, 1945. World War II is nearing its climactic end. Five-year-old Sophie and her parents are refugees fleeing from the advancing Red Army. They hide in a hotel, where they encounter Nazi officer Scharf and Hitler Youth member Beckmann. As the Russians come closer, Sophie falls into a lift and is knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, Scharf accidentally kills Sophie’s mother and Wassily, a paratrooper, kills her father. Time passes and teenage Sophie works for Soviet soldiers as a kitchen maid in the hotel. Food sometimes disappears, but Sophie finds the culprit: Beckmann, who has been hiding in a corridor beneath the hotel since the war ended. As an adult, Sophie reluctantly marries Wassily and develops a relationship with Beckmann. Decades go by; the Russians leave and Scharf takes over the hotel. Sophie convinces Beckmann to leave, and the pair head for the North Sea, turning their backs on the hotel and its memories.
Bill is on cloud nine. He has just become a big brother to the lovley Bolla. At first she seems like any other toddler, curious, jovial and sweet. But as the months turn into years and Bolla continues to live in a world of her own, it becomes clear that she is not quite like other children. Based on the book by Gunilla Bergström, creator and author of the Alfons Åberg (Alfie Atkins) books.
A short four-minute concept film unveiled in surprise at Studio SHAFT's 40th anniversary event in winter 2015, Madogatari. The first animated Puella Magi Madoka Magica work since Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, it features the return of the full Madoka Magica cast and staff.
After a drug deal goes south, four heroin addicts barricade themselves in a country bar as the cops close in. Withdrawal sets in, further complicating their hostage situation, while a secret one of them is hiding could destroy them all.
While preparing her first exhibition, a young painter commits so passionately to her creations that she loses touch with reality and descends into hallucinatory chaos. Confined in a clinic, she progressively rebuilds herself through painting and the daily observation of a squirrel under her window.
Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese, and this provides an excellent excuse for the duo to take their holiday to the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.