Short Films by Faith and John Hubley
15 Episodes
A pair of Hollywood exiles—she was a former script clerk at Columbia, he was an ex–Disney cartoonist and union activist blacklisted for refusing to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee—Faith and John Hubley left behind the mainstream to forge a thrillingly experimental animation style all their own. Channeling the influences of jazz and abstract expressionism, the husband-and-wife duo created strikingly hand-drawn and -painted works that pulse with the improvisational spirit of bebop (DATE WITH DIZZY, a sly anticapitalist critique featuring Dizzy Gillespie) and childhood imagination (MOONBIRD, which sets a recording of their own children at play to free-flowing animation). Applying their effortlessly light touch to weighty themes like atomic-age anxiety (the Academy Award–wining THE HOLE) and the place of humankind in the universe (the wondrous animated documentary OF STARS AND MEN), the Hubleys helped usher in a new era of independent animation in which Disneyfied gloss gave way to gloriously unrestrained personal expression.
-
17:27Episode 1Introducing John and Faith Hubley
Episode 1
This conversation between John and Faith Hubley’s children Mark, Emily, Georgia, and Ray and filmmaker Leah Shore was recorded in 2020.
-
10:55Episode 2Date With Dizzy
Episode 2
Directed by John Hubley • 1955 • United States
Starring Dizzy GillespieJazz legend Dizzy Gillespie is hired to record the soundtrack for a television commercial—but the music has a mind of its own in this irreverent blend of live-action and animation.
-
05:56Episode 3Tender Game
Episode 3
Directed by John Hubley • 1958 • United States
A charming, inventively animated love story unfolds to the music of the Oscar Peterson Trio and Ella Fitzgerald.
-
Moonbird
Episode 4
Directed by John Hubley • 1959 • United States
John and Faith Hubley recorded a conversation between their young sons and set it to animated visuals to create this charming, Academy Award–winning adventure in which two boys set out on a late-night quest to capture a bird.
-
53:41Episode 5Of Stars and Men
Episode 5
Directed by John Hubley • 1961 • United States
Filmmakers John and Faith Hubley embark on a wondrous cosmic voyage in this unique animated documentary. Based on the book by astronomer Harlow Shapley (who also narrates), OF STARS AND MEN sets a kaleidoscope of painterly, often abstract visuals to...
-
The Hole
Episode 6
Directed by John Hubley • 1962 • United States
Starring Dizzy Gillespie, George MathewsDizzy Gillespie and George Mathews improvise a dialogue between two New York City construction workers, illuminating the anxieties of everyday life in the age of nuclear war in this Academy Award winner for b...
-
The Hat
Episode 7
Directed by John Hubley • 1964 • United States
Starring Dizzy Gillespie, Dudley MooreTwo soldiers, voiced by Dizzy Gillespie and Dudley Moore, patrol the border between their countries. One of them drops his hat, and a dialogue (and an improvised jazz duet) about the possibility of peace throug...
-
05:46Episode 8Urbanissimo
Episode 8
Directed by John Hubley • 1966 • United States
A renegade walking city pollutes everything in its path in this jazzy allegory set to the music of Benny Carter.
-
Windy Day
Episode 9
Directed by John Hubley and Faith Hubley • 1968 • United States
Starring Emily Hubley, Georgia HubleyTwo little girls explore their views on marriage, death, babies, and love in this gently poignant, Academy Award–nominated idyll suffused with the offhanded wisdom of childhood.
-
15:37Episode 10Zuckerkandl!
Episode 10
Directed by John Hubley • 1968 • United States
Starring Robert Maynard Hutchins, Phil LeidaProminent educational philosopher Robert Maynard Hutchins wrote and narrated this dryly humorous parody of the theories of Sigmund Freud.
-
08:52Episode 12Cockaboody
Episode 12
Directed by John Hubley and Faith Hubley • 1973 • United States
Starring Emily Hubley, Georgia HubleyFaith and John Hubley visualize the spirit of childhood imagination in this slice-of-life short set to recordings of their daughters Emily and Georgia at play.
-
1:12:56Episode 13Everybody Rides the Carousel
Episode 13
Directed by John Hubley • 1976 • United States
Inspired by psychologist Erik Erikson’s theories of human social development, this singular animated journey takes viewers through the eight stages of life, from birth to death. The freewheeling watercolor visuals of animators John and Faith Hubley,...
-
08:06Episode 14Tall Time Tales
Episode 14
Directed by Faith Hubley • 1992 • United States
Starring Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, Max RosenthalFaith Hubley explores the nature of time through a riot of colorfully surrealist visuals.
-
08:50Episode 15Witch Madness
Episode 15
Directed by Faith Hubley • 1999 • United States
Faith Hubley’s abstract animation documents the persecution of women as witches throughout history.
