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One dancer, one body, one phone. In a time of collective alienation and technological mass control, one woman rediscovers her soul and reclaims her mind. A short, experimental self-portrait composed of 100 video screens, Corpus and the Wandering transcends the walls of a fragmented grid system to uncover the shared humanity in each of us, and our place in the cosmos.
"In Landfall, viewers are surrounded by a purple-hued jaunt across the hills and valleys of synthesized countryside. Moments of geometric clarity flicker into view, showing the façade of a building or the corner of an imagined site. However, as these features and forms come into view, their rearrangements and reconfigurations reinforce an ambivalent feeling toward their construction and usefulness. As the upper half of the video becomes occupied by a ceiling of stripped stalactites, the glimmers of architecture become more pronounced, playing off the features of the space that has formed around us. " - Nicholas O'Brien
An old man buries a horde of gold under a tree in his garden. But what good is being rich if you can't spend it?
Often feeling alone in her waking life, the young Alanis Obomsawin found friendship with the Green Horse, a benevolent being she visited regularly in her dreams. Together with other animal spirits, the Green Horse guided Alanis to realize the immensity of the gift of life and the power of kindness.
A BAFTA award nominated animation based on a poem by Earle Birney and a painting by El Greco. The theme concerns the responsibility of the innovator for the thing he makes. In the film, a carpenter builds a cross but is reluctant to become involved in the right or wrong of situations that bring men to die on crosses. His interest is in his own craftsmanship. To illustrate this moral, the filmmaker used light-pen drawings, giving colour and emphasis through optical processes.
The kids believe Santa will never find them when the Circo gets stuck at the South Pole on Christmas Eve. Luna helps the kids work to save Christmas, learning about holiday traditions from around the world along the way.
A newscaster is due to go live on local television in the middle of a hot flash, in Thea Hollatz's animated comedy about a woman trying to keep her cool when one type of flash leads to another.
An animated recreation of Van Gogh's "Les iris" is juxtaposed with audio from the auction of the piece for millions of dollars more than the artist could have ever imagined.
The Raccoons on Ice is the second of four specials leading up to the television series The Raccoons. It initially aired on CBC and in syndication on December 20, 1981.
The Cat in the Hat joins Nick and Sally who are exploring the backyard when something extraordinary finds them-a flying robotic dog. The robot lands and does some exploring of his own, gulping up rock samples and photographing the Cat, Nick, Sally, and Fish before blasting off back into space. What was that thing? Where did it come from? Where is it going? The Cat in the Hat fires up his Space-ama-racer and whisks Nick, Sally and Fish off on a cosmic adventure in search of the robot. Together, they survive a dust storm on the surface of Mars, rocket through an asteroid belt, and then narrowly escape being sucked into Jupiter by its huge gravitational pull. Ultimately, they hitch a ride on a comet that leads them all safely back to the Space Station, along with plenty of space samples, and stories and even a small souvenir that follows The Cat in the Hat and our crew back to Earth.
Mantis Boy is a short film that serves as a prelude to Boy Soul Man Heart. It follows 14-year-old Mathias, who, struggling with trauma, retreats into a childhood memory of learning to ride a bicycle with his mother, Belinda. As she removes his training wheels, she teaches him resilience and hope, reassuring him that falling isn't failure. The film contrasts Mathias's painful present with the warmth of his past, using vibrant animation to show his joy and the symbolic mantis of encouragement. Mantis Boy explores love, resilience, and the lasting impact of memories, highlighting how embracing both light and darkness can heal and empower.
A man makes a bet with himself to stop smoking, but he can't.
It begins as an average hunting trip for two young men, but when they find themselves lost, the only safe haven to be found for miles—a mysterious village filled with the sounds of drum dancing and revelry—turns out to be even more dangerous than the frigid ocean.
This film combines colour, animation and sound to clarify principles of radio wave transmission. It illustrates how antennas propagate radio waves and how they may be adapted to increase the bandwidth of transmissions. (The film was released for general use as a public service by the Royal Canadian Air Force.)
A shy old man works up the gumption to meet a woman on whom he has a crush.
The Korean alphabet, illustrated with animation, spoken, and accompanied by music.
In this evocative film about the eternal human search for home, Berta and Solomon arrive in a land that promises respite from their many journeys. But have they found utopia... or just another stop on their long journey?
African American Express is an abstract animation exploring the impact of consumerism in the Black community. Told in the style of Soviet Propaganda, this animated short dissects the pattern of excessive materialism and consumption prevalent within the Black population.
An allegory of mankind heading for disaster, this animated short is a tragic vision inspired by the 4th movement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Drawing on the composer’s brilliant ability to evoke work and labour in his music, animator Patrick Bouchard brings earth to life through animated clay sculptures, creating a tactile nightmare in which man is his own slave driver.
This short animation uses appliqué and embroidered tapestries to recall a young girl's happy summers spent sailing with her family off the coast of British Columbia. Each tapestry, meticulously stitched by hand with brightly coloured yarns, evokes the memory of leisurely days at sea, drifting among the islands.
Waiting to board the train, an old lady just wants to eat her cookies in peace, but hijinks ensue when a teenager on the platform next to her seems intent on sharing them, too.
In this animated short, filmmaker Diane Obomsawin shows how childhood can be a chaotic time, especially if you're bouncing back and forth between two continents. With engaging candour and gentle humour, Obomsawin fleshes out an uncertain identity and takes control of her life. Using drawings on paper and digitized snippets of fabric, she creates a whimsical world of simple lines and pastel tones.
Stunningly sparse pen-and-ink animation, punctuated with bursts of red, explores femininity, life cycles, and the allegory of the hunt. Red of the Yew Tree was aired in the Short Cuts program at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival,[6] at the Animafest Zagreb, and at the 2017 GLAS Animation Film Festival. For this film, Turcotte (jointly with Felix Dufour-Laperrière, the editor) was shortlisted for a 2017 Canadian Screen Award in the nomination Animated short. Turcotte herself said about the film that the red berries symbolize the blood loss of women and refers to offspring; the yew was recognized by Anciane Greeks and Romans as a symbol of life and death.
In this animation film without words, filmmaker Pierre Hébert and musicians Robert Lepage and René Lussier worked together, and separately, in their respective media. This cinema/music performance recreates, impressionistically, the dehumanizing environment of the urban subway. Drawings etch the outlines of people hurtling through space in underground tunnels. The sound track, elemental and atonal, gives compelling expression to their alienation.
Tom, Dick and Harriet, a mischievous trio from Whiskers End, get more than they bargain for the day they skip school to play in the snow. Unfortunately, the kittens lose their way and wander into the Fearful Forest, domain of Freezelda the Ice Queen.
A personal interpretation of Norwegian history - starring a grandmother who during the Second World War loses her job ironing the King's shirts. Instead she gains access to the enemy's uniforms, and inspires her own brand of resistance fighters, the "Shirt Guerillas".
A superb visual trick that will mystify its audience, this animated film transforms the commonplace into magic.
A tactile, stop-motion poem built from decayed 16mm film, dried kombucha SCOBYs, and bubbling ferments. Treating animation as a process of transformative decay, the film traces inherited rituals and the residue of care. It attends to what persists as memory and language fade.
Four children see images of other youngsters around the world who dream of doing great things when they grow up but whose dreams are dashed by the harsh reality of their lives. Shocked, the children urgently ask adults to do something. A synthesis of articles 27, 29, 30, 31 and 38 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, this film illustrates children's right to a future. Film without words.
Synopsis: A rabbit couple tries to survive in a dying forest...
A creepy British hostel. Half-cooked chicken. A filmmaker's first kiss. The unfortunately true story of the filmmaker's first kiss with a stranger he met overseas.
In the midst of the race to conquer space, a small group of squirrels, led by Buzz Almond, decides to make their own lunar voyage...
What comes to mind when you see a cross?
Pogo the clown has his hands full when he agrees to monitor the pet of his neighbor Albert.
An animated short film about an astronaut lost in outer space.
"All you need is food," the Beatles could have sung if they had been inspired by Circuit marine, a whimsical fantasy about our cruel, carnivorous world. To be eaten or not to be eaten: that is the question for a ginger cat, a goldfish and a colourful parrot which a tender-hearted pirate tries to get to live happily together along with his hungry crew. We can only wonder who will be the next meal on this ship of food. As the ship pitches and rolls to a sprightly gypsy tune, the cat relentlessly pursues the goldfish, and even the parrot gets into the act. But who is predator and who is prey? Everyone ends up down someone's gullet. Isabelle Favez's colourful and humorous film is a tasteful reminder that we're all links in the food chain.
Lean into loneliness — and know you’re not alone in it. Filmmaker Andrea Dorfman reunites with poet Tanya Davis to craft tender and profound animation on the theme of isolation, providing a wise and soaringly lyrical sequel to their viral hit How to Be Alone.
A short stop-motion film by Bryan Michael Stoller at age 15.
Strolling with his master through a constantly shifting landscape of corridors and stairs, a beret capped canine discusses life, philosophy and his master.
A lonely man living in a large city buys a life-size sex doll. His relationship with his dream doll causes a certain reaction in the community. A bizarre adaption of Le Ballon Rouge.
In a misty graveyard, a luminous butterfly meets the Angel of Death who has come to take it.
A cartoon film about the whole heterogeneous mixture of Canada and Canadians, and the way the invisible adhesive called federalism makes it all cling together. That the dissenting voices are many is made amply evident, in English and French. But this animated message also shows that Canadians can laugh at themselves and work out their problems objectively.
An old man is chasing a wolf pack. A little wolf survives, but eventually will return. Who will win - the wolf or the man?
A detective must investigate the possession of a little girl by a bewitching black cloud
This animated short by Evelyn Lambart is a visual adaptation of the famous Aesop fable "The Lion and the Mouse," in which a mouse proves to a lion that the weak and small may be of help to those much mightier than themselves.
An animated film drawn entirely in pastels. Various fantastical plant-like things "grow" from the ground, eventually launching five spheres. The spheres drift in space while changing shapes and come back down to another setting, which eventually becomes more fantastical and symbolic than the opening one. The soundtrack has a jazz slant, with an ensemble of four saxophones and synthetic sound (i.e. sound created by drawing directly on the soundtrack).
An experimental film in which both sound and visuals were created entirely by Norman McLaren drawing directly upon the film with ordinary pen and ink. The main title is in eight languages. Rereleased with multilingual titles in 1949.
This vignette illustrates the variety of professions, people and technical procedures required by the filmmaking process.
A whimsical animated piece about life, entropy and the inexorable march of time that plays with the mundane interactions and significant events of two generations of a family and the natural order.
When an old man is visited by Death at his home in the meadows, he has to delve deep to secure more time for himself. Based on a story by Richard Kennedy.
A close look at the microscopic world that surrounds us. Within each basic human interaction there is something strange festering under the surface, and we just need a good magnifying glass and a strong stomach to see it. This film was made as part of the fourth edition of the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship.
A film inspired by Aboriginal legends about the passing of the seasons
A tale of Victorian-era folly ends in tragedy. Kevin Langdale's graphic style brims with the majesty of human ambition and the indomitable and sometimes destructive power of the natural world. This film was made as part of the second edition of the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship.
The film centers on an unusual photograph dating back to the 1930s. An investigation of its particulars reveals a tapestry of secrets hidden in the details, and a tale of kidnapping and murder captured in a haunting moment.
Alone in an aging cosmos, a traveller's pilgrimage comes to an end.
An intimate look at cinematographic creation, this visual essay shares with us secrets of the legendary Canadian animator Norman Mclaren and his personal view of filmmaking.
Far away, at the edge of this Galaxy, Princess Angelica and her mentor Professor T. Bird flee the wicked Dark Queen and her Beast Police. At stake is the Princess' magical amulet, which will make the Dark Queen absolute ruler of the universe - if she gets her hands on it. After landing in Oxnard, California, T. Bird finds three nerdy teens and turns them into Battletoads named Zits, Rash and Pimple! As powerful, hip, humanoid heroes with superpowers, they help thwart the Dark Queen's evil plans.
This publicity clip for Canada Post is Norman McLaren's first film for the NFB. For this animated short, McLaren drew symbols by pen onto clear 35 mm stock, which was then superimposed on a photographed painted background. Benny Goodman's rendition of Jingle Bells provides the accompaniment. (NFB)