A dazzling array of animation techniques—gorgeous hand-drawn images, computer-generated environments, playful stop motion, experiments in abstraction—are on display in this eyeball-whirling selection of bite-size wonders. Featuring an existential anthropomorphic musical (THE BURDEN), a jazzy avant-garde classic (BEGONE DULL CARE), a coming-of-age dreamscape (WEEKENDS), a cosmic encounter with the Grim Reaper (CODA), a pas de deux with a misbehaving chair (A CHAIRY TALE), and a psychedelic intergalactic odyssey (SOLAR WALK), these miniature marvels may be short in running time but they’re positively epic in visual imagination.
Directed by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart • 1949 • Canada
In this extraordinary short animation, Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren painted colours, shapes, and transformations directly on to their filmstrip. The result is a vivid interpretation, in fluid lines and color, of jazz music played...
Directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr • 2017 • Sweden
A dark musical enacted in a modern marketplace, situated next to a large freeway. The employees of the various commercial venues, portrayed as animals, deal with boredom and existential anxiety by performing cheerful musical turns. The apocalyps...
Directed by Alan Holly • 2013 • Ireland
A lost soul stumbles drunkenly through the city at night. In a park, Death finds him and shows him many things. This multi-award-winning animated short film begins as a chilling cautionary tale but ends on a heartwarming note.
Directed by Claude Jutra and Norman McLaren • 1957 • Canada
This 1957 experimental short, codirected by Claude Jutra and Norman McLaren, shows Jutra’s daring and original approach to filmmaking early on in his career.
Directed by Réka Bucsi • 2018 • Denmark
This award-winning animated mind-bender is a by turns whimsical, mysterious, and psychotropic vision of deep-space discovery.
