We Hear the Distant Ring of Saturn

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 series of vaudeville acts inserted in images of reality, meant to demonstrate the ephemeral nature of all things.

Emerging from the sea onto land an axolotl swims through complex terrain parallel to a man searching for an encounter with God.

I told a story, Kirikou and the Sorceress, that reached a large number of people. It was the first time in my life. But this film was not my first one. I had also made short films, with a very limited distribution. Nobody saw them. I am lucky enough now to introduce them to you, to make these little mechanisms run again; they are the result of perseverance and passion. Besides the almost forgotten past, I have added a dance of today, which I conceived for Björk. Also something of the future, a post-scriptum to my film "Azur & Asmar". In addition to the films, I try to explain the happy magic of these bits of nothing which became my life. Michel Ocelot

A space occupies it, awaiting to be unlocked by a freeing action or notion. What lies ahead is its determination.

In order to win the hand of a princess, a man must defeat an evil dragon and claim its treasured magic stone. Upon his return, Baghdad has been invaded and he must use the stone to defeat his new enemy.

A nostalgia trip in the enigmatic labyrinth of the passed childhood.

One person makes the long and difficult journey towards finding their own beauty. In trying to mimic the beauty of others around them, they repeatedly fail at their attempts to be something they're not. Only when they muster the courage to look inward, do they find what they were looking for all along.

Edge of Alchemy is the third film in a trilogy examining the psychological terrain of women's inner worlds. In this handmade film, assembled from over 6,000 collages, the actors Mary Pickford and Janet Gaynor are lifted from their early silent features and cast into a surreal epic with an unending of the Frankenstein story and contemporary undercurrents of hive collapse.

Suicidal poet Archy tries to end his life by jumping off a bridge, but awakens to find he has assumed the life of a cockroach and has become a part of a community of creatures living in a newspaper office. He also discovers that he can still write poetry, using a typewriter, and begins to enjoy his new life. Archy develops deep feelings for the lovely but self-destructive cat Mehitabel, but will have to fight to win her from bad-boy tomcat Bill.

This is a classing Jordan animation, primarily in B/W, with touches of color. Actually, the engraved art work was film on color negative, so that subtle variations in tone are recorded. The mood--enhanced by John Davis' original music--is dream-like. It is both lyric and crackling, producing a kind of anticipatory tension. The scenes, in the usual Jordan manner, follow the surreal principle of placing objects and people where the ought not to be, and making movements that in the waking world are impossible. Each scene is a kind of drama from another world.

In this cut-out animation, a college student discovers her identity after traveling to her remote West Virginia hometown to work in a discount superstore.

A third world child pursues the dream of freedom but becomes a victim of exploitation.

Dressed In Green Many of the youths recruited by the guerrillas in the Vaupés region were taken from their schools. This is the story of one of them. She tells about the days in the camps and how the experience only gives her a feeling of hatred and revenge.

Two duelling birds get the urge to change their plumage. A blue jay wants to be decked out in the green of cedar, and a loon dons the burnished red of oak leaves, but neither bird foresees the consequences of vanity.

This short animation by artist and animator Evelyn Lambart offers a wordless plea for the right of all living creatures to a clean, unpolluted environment. With rich colour and intricate animated motion, the film features birds, butterflies and other woodland creatures succumbing to air pollution caused by human inventions.

An animated adaptation of Poe's famous short story.

This short piece is somewhat romantic, despite its title. We do see the ogre however. He inverts himself into the action throughout the film. As usual, the action is partly symbolic, partly surreal.

In this episodic animated fantasy from France, an art teacher interprets a series of six fairy tales (each involving a prince or princess) with the help of two precocious students. Princes and Princesses was created using a special style of cutout animation, with black silhouetted characters performing the action against backlit backdrops in striking colors.

A comical animated opera. A chicken leaves to get birch branches for sauna while the rooster stays to warm the sauna. On her way she sees a clear-watered well, a tired cow and other creatures that sing along "Finland's best animal actress" Elina Salo and a child choir to some songs composed by M.A. Numminen.