Gail Noonan
6:12 min. 2002
Honey lets the viewer slip into the intimate world of bees. Their intricate social dance and their faceted perception of the landscape is lyrically juxtaposed with Robert Morgan's poem `Honey' and original musical scores by Carla Hallett and Robert Minden.
Subject(s): Nature, Poetry/Performance
Ann Marie Fleming
1:45 min. 1994
The perils of ignoring a horoscope prediction are brought to life through witty animation. Casting aside a warning has dire consequences for a woman trying to make it to work.
Award: Selected for the ten most popular films list at the Sydney International Film Festival.
Subject(s): Humour, Slice of life
Darren Brereton
8 min. 1990
Sidney Rockwood, an unremarkable fellow on the treadmill of life, meets with a mishap. He makes it to heaven, but there's just one catch ...
Subject(s): Irony
Keith Slade
3:30 min. 1985
This film captures the hopelessly frenetic quality of modern life, as characters move in a manic and surreal fashion from one inevitable situation to the next.
Keith Slade
1:20 min. 1981
A whirling passage through architectural space, into the home of a man who finds he is what he eats.
Subject(s): Health - Diet
SHINE Mi-Hyang Park
4:00 min. 2007
Available on DVD and VHS
A man's life is wistfully reflected through his past interactions and life shaping experiences in this animated surreal film.
Subject(s): Life cycles, Slice of life
Gilbert Taggart
7 min. 2003
Available for the first time on video, this classic animation follows an elfin flute player as he awakens the forest creatures with his music. Discovering the never-ending cycle of day and night, the tiny musician enchants both plant and animal as he wanders. Created for children, this film, with its lyricism, lightness, optimism and universal theme, continues to delight viewers of all ages.
Subject(s): Animals, Children's films, Nature
Heui Won Jeong/Justin Murphy
8:00 min.
2006
Available on DVD and VHS
An over-achieving six-year-old girl named Mooney has a secret life at night–but she needs to eat her dinner first. Engaging hand-drawn animation is combined with computer animation and an open-ended story that will stimulate discussion and creative writing for an audience of all ages.
Shelley McIntosh
3 min. 1978
Strolling with his master through a constantly shifting landscape of corridors and stairs, a beret-capped canine discusses life, philosophy, and his master.
Awards: Ottawa International Film Festival; Krakow International Festival
Patrick Jenkins
8:30 min.
2008
Available on DVD and VHS
Night-time at a detective agency: a knock at the door, a mysterious stranger, an enigmatic locket, two shadowy figures and beings from the afterlife–this paint-on-glass animation by Patrick Jenkins weaves a spellbinding exploration of the fantastic that is reminiscent of the writing of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
Gilbert Taggart
8 min. 2001
Also available on DVD
(Also available in French as La
petite forêt)
In The Little Forest, Mr. And Mrs. Beetle put aside their work to enjoy a little weekend entertainment. Taxiing down the runway on the back of a dragonfly and breaking even at the acorn racetrack are just a start to their adventures. This delightful animation encourages children to look closely at small creatures and imagine the rich detail of their lives.
Subject(s): Animals, Children's films, Nature
Al Sens
4 min. 2000
A satirical look at animation production in an increasingly underfunded context. Al Sens describes how "to keep a cool and detached head" when creating animation with a budget under "the price of a pizza."
Subject(s): Humour
Gail Noonan
6 min. 1999
Also available on DVD
Two children, searching for a lost mitten on a winter evening, stumble upon a cardboard shelter that seems to be someone's home. Frosted cel animation, evocative music by Robert Minden and Carla Hallett, and an absence of dialogue stimulate the imagination in this story of discovery and surprise.
Subject(s): Children's films, Poverty
Patrick Jenkins
2:30 min. 2004
Available on DVD and VHS
In this stop-motion animated film, a man encounters a treacherous half circle in a battle of wits.
Subject(s): Children's films
Hans Samuelson/Lesley McCubbin
5:40 min. 1999
This hilarious upbeat collage animation with narration in Biblical style, tells a tongue-in-cheek modern-day parable of how men with ties colonize the planet. After landing in flying saucers, they infiltrate earth spreading the plague of coffee shops, featuring low-fat and soya lattés and all manner of baked goods, only to be followed by golf courses and the ruthless sports utility vehicle. Having succumbed to the charms of these slick businessmen, the people of the earth are pulled back from the brink of pestilence just in time by the appearance of a saviour who announces he will "cast off his tie!" The people rejoice as the three moons rise again and the men with ties depart, taking the afflictions of evil consumerism with them.
Subject(s): Consumerism, Humour
Gail Noonan
4 min. 1996
Life before puberty is spent waiting for womanhood. Life after menopause is supposedly fraught with insanity and brittle bones. This song begs to differ.
This whimsical number features the work of animator Gail Noonan and the musical group She-B-She.
Award: Best of the Fest Audience Award, Northwest Film and Video Festival, Portland, Oregon; Best Animated Video, Victoria International Film and Video Festival
Subject(s): Aging, Humour, Women
Sherann Johnson
3:30 min. 1990
A beautifully animated, evocative film that explores the area of "middle grays" - the undefinable reality that lies between black and white. Cut-out and rotoscope animation portray a woman in two areas of perceived reality.
Gail Noonan
2 min. 2003
More Sensitive takes a topsy-turvy trip into a hotel bar where a performer valiantly strikes the evening's first piano chord. But does he have the self-obsession necessary to survive his audience's indifference? With hand-coloured photographs, cutouts, plasticine, optical effects, and drawing on paper and cel, this short piece is a kaleidoscope of experimentation. Jazz musician Kim Darwin provides the stylized music and delicious self-parody.
Subject(s): Humour, Slice of life
Ann Marie Fleming
1:30 min. 1994
A seemingly harmless children's clapping game comes to life through comical animation. Two girls innocently sing "My Boyfriend Gave Me Peaches" - a nasty children's jingle about kicking a mean boy down the stairs.
Subject(s): Humour
Pat Barker
8 min. 1993
Black humour, cel animation, and live action interviews come together in this humorous look at a woman's research into ovarian cysts. Partly documentary in style, partly experimental, the film is based on a real experience, which the filmmaker takes the liberty of embellishing in the animation sequences.
Subject(s): Healing
Gail Hayes-Snedden
2:30 min. 1987
A little girl's recital of Robert Louis Stevenson's "My Shadow" takes a humorous twist when her shadow decides not to play along.
Subject(s): Children's films, Poetry/Performance
Katherine Li
1 min. 1978
This animated film uses the the technique of oil paint on glass to convey the swirling and shifting shapes of a child's night terrors.
Subject(s): Children, About, Fear
Seana Kozar/Single Handed Films
7:00 min
2009
Available on DVD and VHS
3D animation, stop motion and digital paint-on-glass techniques are combined in this short film-within-a-film about how a disabled animator's understanding of her life and work change after she suffers a miscarriage.
Awards: Best Animation, Picture This...Film Festival
Patrick Jenkins
48:00 min. 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
Of Lines and Men: The Animation of Jonathan Amitay profiles the genius of animator Jonathan Amitay, a Toronto-based artist who uses his innovative stop motion animated films to explore issues such as ecology, nuclear war and human rights. His unique animation uses only gold chains and sand to create lively, opinionated characters, born out of his frustration at not being able to change the world.
Subject(s): Artists–Jonathan Amitay, Environmental issues, Media studies, Peace/War
Jonathan Amitay
3:40 min 1985
The unique technique used by Jonathan Amitay involves animating fine silver chains and coloured sand directly under the animation camera. Oh Dad! is a boy's account of a heated discussion he had with his father over the issues of the nuclear arms race and various forms of pollution. The boy tells of his frustration with grown-ups and the world they are leaving for his generation to deal with. A positive film which encourages children to voice their concerns and urges adults to listen and understand.
Awards: Blue Ribbon, Vermont Peace Film Festival
Subject(s): Children's films, Environmental issues, Peace/War
Jonathan Amitay
6 min. 1988
In this sequel to Oh Dad! using the same animation techniques, a young boy expresses his deep concerns about environmental issues. He grapples with what he sees as the collective responsibility of the adult world and his own father, an engineer, for the damaged environment and the disease, hunger, and pollution resulting from it. Despite the seriousness of the issues addressed,Oh Dad! II is as warm and witty as its predecessor.
Awards: Gold Plaque, Chicago International Film Festival; Honourable Mention, San Francisco International Film Festival; Honourable Mention, Oakland Educational Film & Video Festival
Subject(s): Children's films, Environmental issues, Peace/War
M. Marilyn Cherenko
2:30 min. b/w 1982
This fable on the universal interconnection between people takes the form of a bus ride. A young man's irritation at sharing his journey with those who are different is rectified by the plight of a baby in a trash can.
Subject(s): Relationships
Yasmin Karim
3 min. 1997
Using single frame, direct animation, Oppo tells a story of the circle and square in a non-narrative style, an experiment with shapes and their opposites, of formation of one from the disintegration of the other. This functional beauty expresses how opposite states - the positive and negative, day and night, matter and anti-matter - together form a circle and create perfection from each other.
See also:
Animation A through G
Animation P through Z
Moving Images Distribution
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