Come Closer

A stop-motion animated account of the 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.

The cartoon is one of the Marshall Plan's most popular films. A clash between a shoemaker and a hat maker illustrates the contrasts between protectionism and free trade. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2003.

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.

Diana Wilson’s mysteriously beautiful animated tableaux fluidly unfold before our eyes, a generous receptacle for the mournful, harrowing soundtrack, in which the filmmaker recounts a tragedy from her youth. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2011.

With magic inflatable objects that spring to life to fill his every need, a flippant beachgoer wants for nothing. Well... almost nothing.

"Light animation and original poetry in this initiatic journey by Dennis Pies, who is now known as Sky-David." - Daily Psychedelic. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

As Christmas approaches, Frannie Stein learns from her snide friend Gloria Oestriger that there is no Santa Claus. Frannie's disbelieving, but her father confirms the horrible truth. Frannie enlists the help of her younger brother, Kenny, and they go to a graveyard to dig up some parts, which they assemble in the Stein basement. Soon, they've finished their creation and are ready for revenge on Gloria. Who says there's no Santa? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

When The Hand of God creates Adam, he must learn the ways of the world, and can only hope for company.

Del is a song writer for the obnoxious Mr. Mega, and in love with Didi, Mega's secretary. His quest to write a hit tune brings him to the wacky world of Flooby Nooby, where he just might learn to write songs from the heart.

Jane Conger Belson Shimane's first film, Logos, premiered in 1957 and was screened at festivals in North America, Europe, and Latin America. The animated film featured an electronic score by Henry Jacobs. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.

An intoxicated man trespasses into an art gallery after hours.

Why do dogs bark at such innocent creatures as pigeons and squirrels... what are they afraid of? This film answers that eternal question.

In a Medieval castle, a marauder tries to kidnap the twin infant sons of the lord. He makes off with only one, whom he drops about a mile away. A pig rescues this baby, so one brother grows up high on the hog, the other down with the swine; one is lazy, his lost brother is industrious. Years later, when a neighboring prince declares war, the brother in the castle is too soft to fight. Through happenstance, the twins are united just before the final battle. Will the upper-class brother let his humble sibling lead the troops to certain defeat and death? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

Odds & Ends is a sly comment on the collage film and Beat culture. To discarded travel and advertising footage found at a local film laboratory, Belson Shimane added a mélange of animation—assemblages, cutouts, color fields, and line drawings—and faux hipster narration by Jacobs (credited via the anagram Rheny Bojacs) punctuated by a bongo backing. Strung together with doublespeak and non sequiturs, the monologue skirts the edge of nonsense as Jacobs waxes on about poetry, jazz, “reaching the public,” “having a good time,” and—although “money doesn’t count”—the “possibility of subsidy” through grants. Footage of champagne, tropical beaches, and exotic peoples intermingle with rhythmic drawings and stop-motion flights of fancy. The visuals race on through dazzling transformations, both amplifying and undercutting the patter. —National Film Preservation Foundation. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Iota Center Collection in 2006.

NO NO NOOKY TV posits sexuality to be a social construct in a "sex-text" of satiric graphic representation of "dirty pictures." Made on an Amiga Computer and shot in 16mm film, NO NO NOOKY TV confronts the feminist controversy around sexuality with electronic language, pixels and interface. Even the monitor is eroticized in this film/video hybrid that points fun at romance, sexuality, and love in our post-industrial age. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2017.

The fourth film by a member of the '2nd generation' of computer filmmakers, artists who do their own programming. Abstract imagery includes some hand drawings. Synthesizer soundtrack. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

An animated comedy short from the 1920s. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.

A 1968 animation/documentary that criticises the industrial system.

A village is ruled by the church, but is filled with hypocritical sinners who constantly spy on each other.

John Whitney's pioneering work of computer animation, Arabesque, from 1975. This flowing, abstract short film is a wonder to behold, a work of art. Like many other computer graphics pioneers, this film suggests roots in psychedelics and spiritual quests as much as engineering and mathematics. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.