Sketch Film #1

Sketch Film #1 (Tomonari Nishikawa, 2005, 3 min., super 8, silent, 18/24fps, b&w, USA) As a painter carries a sketchbook and practices drawing, I carried a Super 8 camera and shot frame by frame, as an everyday exercise to make animations of lines and shapes found in the public space. The entire film was edited in camera and hand-processed afterwards.

Sketch Film #3

Sketch Film #3 (Tomonari Nishikawa, 2006, 3 min., super 8, silent, 18/24fps, b&w, USA/Japan) The third film in the series, which starts with a sequence of paired images: a focused image and a blurred image of the same subject, which was caused by a diagonal camera movement. Later, it shows an experiment to produce an apparent depth by rotating an apparent shape. It was edited in camera and hand-processed afterwards.

Dante's Lunch

Every dog has his day, but poor Dante can't seem to catch a break.

A Teacher of Singing

Hippo came to the teacher of singing, but all the efforts of the maestro do not help (neither hearing nor voice). It was necessary for the student to simply swallow the teacher, and he sang with a beautiful, alien voice.

King Lavra

A king hides an embarrassing secret - and it causes him to execute every barber who cuts his hair.

Double King

A king steals crowns from various other rulers.

Prep & Landing: Totally Tinsel Collection

Prep and Landing: On Christmas Eve, a high-tech team of elves from an elite unit known as "Prep & Landing" ensures homes around the world are prepared for Santa's visit. But when two hilarious little elves face unexpected challenges and are pushed to their limits, it'll take a great big effort to save the season. Prep and Landing: Naughty vs. Nice: The outrageous yuletide adventures of Christmas elves Lanny and Wayne continue in this totally tinsel adventure that reminds us there's room for everyone on the 'nice' list. Santa's stealthiest little elves must race to recover classified North Pole technology, which has fallen into the hands of a computer-hacking naughty kid, in an effort to stop Christmas from descending into chaos.

The Merry Circus

Trnka brings to life a surrealist circus of tightrope-walking fish, musical monkeys, balancing bears, and high-flying acrobatics in this whimsical feat of cutout animation made in collaboration with leading Czech painters of the era.

The Séance Is Over

Bat Time

When night dawns on the farm a little bat wakes up. The little bat wants somebody to keep its company. It doesn't want to be alone. It is looking for a friend.

The Cat Who Walked by Himself

The story about the wild creatures of the wild forest and one impudent Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to him.

The Fifth One

A persistent trumpeter tries to join a string quartet that doesn't want him.

The Ceremony

Six people are grouped in front of a wall as if for a photograph. The entire ceremony is supervised by a seventh person, who, like a photographer, looks at the group from different angles and rearranges the group by hand-signals.

Summer Ghost

An urban legend says that lighting fireworks at an abandoned airfield will beckon the "summer ghost," a spirit that can answer any question. Three teenagers, Tomoya, Aoi, and Ryo, each have their own reason to show up one day. When a ghost named Ayane appears, she reveals she is only visible to those "who are about to touch their death." Compelled by the ghost and her message, Tomoya begins regularly visiting the airfield to uncover the true purpose of her visits.

Yellow Fever

What does beauty look like? In this award-winning short, Kenyan filmmaker Ng’endo Mukii combines animation, performance, and experimental techniques to create a visually arresting and psychologically penetrating exploration of the insidious impact of Western beauty standards and media-created ideals on African women’s perceptions of themselves. From hair-straightening to skin-lightening, YELLOW FEVER unpacks the cultural and historical forces that have long made Black women uncomfortable, literally, in their own skin.

Playthings

Paper cutouts over images of mixed colorful liquids, creating hypnotizing swirls and aesthetic explosions, as well as combining original and futurological sounds. Starting with the relentless hunting of antelopes, the geometric cutouts show the constant struggle between the warring groups. We have been observing it since the primeval times, when the tools of the battles were arches and spears, through the times of the domination of swords, later replaced by firearms. The increasing automation and power of war machines, the emergence of tanks and aircraft, eventually the use of weapons of mass destruction lead to total annihilation