Rectangle & Rectangles (1984)

Divisional Articulations

Repetition and distortion drive this audiovisual collaboration between composer Lux Prima and visual artist Max Hattler, where fuzzy analogue music and geometric digital animation collide in an electronic feedback loop, spawning arrays of divisional articulations in time and space.

Allegro non troppo

The film is a parody of Disney's Fantasia, though possibly more of a challenge to Fantasia than parody status would imply. In the context of this film, "Allegro non Troppo" means Not So Fast!, an interjection meaning "slow down" or "think before you act" and refers to the film's pessimistic view of Western progress (as opposed to the optimism of Disney's original).

Alice

A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare - no matter how twisted or odd that way must be. A memorably bizarre screen version of Lewis Carroll’s novel "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland".

The Flat

A man is trapped in a sinister flat, where nothing seems to obey the laws of nature.

Boys Go to Jupiter

A teenager in suburban Florida desperately hustles to make $5,000 in this dreamy and surreal animated coming-of-age story.

Me + Her

Creating a universe between two small pieces of Cardboard. When Jack and Jill of Cardboard City are separated by Jill's torrid illness, Jack must think outside the box to assure they will be together again.

Enigma: Nazo

Enigma is something of a more glamorous version of White Hole, with a wide variety of elaborate textures (often composed of iconographic and religious symbols) converging towards the centre of the screen.

Touch Air

An homage to the influential practice and philosophy of artist Nasreen Mohamedi. The film incorporates Mohamedi’s personal notes and her unique singular vision, drawing upon the aesthetics of the bare line, and its metaphysical journey eliminating physical borders/barriers.

Yellow Submarine

The wicked Blue Meanies take over Pepperland, eliminating all color and music. As the only survivor, the Lord Admiral escapes in the yellow submarine and journeys to Liverpool to enlist the help of the Beatles.

Revue Starlight: The Movie

The stage emulates life and compresses it, setting free skills learned over lifetimes in brief but dazzling displays for the amusement and judgment of others. For the performers, it is the ultimate risk, and some will rise while others must fall. Nowhere is this truer than at the Seisho Music Academy, where music, dance and real weapons all come into play in the creation of the next great Star. Karen and Hikari’s destinies have been linked since a childhood promise, but their journeys here have taken very different paths. Now, after Hikari leaves, Karen must discover who she is without her opposite, while Hikari must rediscover her own course. Nor are they the only girls who must reassess and change if they want to achieve their dreams, as the dance, magic, and swordplay continue!

Tripping the Rift: The Movie

What begins for Chode and crew as a routine mission to protect a pissed-off princess will soon become a filth- splattered saga of dismembered royalty, indestructible clown assassins and desperately horny housewives.

The Button

Every time a Soviet apparatchik presses a button, something explodes.

Revolution or Bust

A surreal music video where a pop-up world of greed, rebellion, and revolution unfolds as cherubs, a devil, and a modern-day Jesus clash in a satirical battle for justice.

Sunstone

Experimental computer animation from pioneering artist Ed Emshwiller.

The Grandmother

To escape neglect and abuse from his parents, a young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother.

Spotless Dominoes

A child, a cat, a starry night but, in this world of innocence, dream and magic, obscure forces of evil awaken. This animated short revolves around the adventures of a young, horned boy and a group of six devil-like vermin that can combine themselves to make one large creature.

Son of the White Mare

A horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim their ancestors' lost kingdom.

The Tune

Del is a song writer for the obnoxious Mr. Mega, and in love with Didi, Mega's secretary. His quest to write a hit tune brings him to the wacky world of Flooby Nooby, where he just might learn to write songs from the heart. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.

Mamori

Mamori transports us into a black-and-white universe of fluid shapes, dappled and striated with shadows and light, where the texture of the visuals and of the celluloid itself have been transformed through the filmmaker’s artistry. The raw material of images and sounds was captured in the Amazon rainforest by filmmaker Karl Lemieux and avant-garde composer Francisco López, a specialist in field recordings. Re-filming the photographs on 16 mm stock, then developing the film stock itself and digitally editing the whole, Lemieux transmutes the raw images and accompanying sounds into an intense sensory experience at the outer limits of representation and abstraction. Fragmented musical phrases filter through the soundtrack, evoking in our imagination the clamour of the tropical rainforest in this remote Amazonian location called Mamori.

Bunnyhood

What could possibly be more important than feeding your daughter?

Twice Upon a Time

In the world of the Murkworks where nightmares are made, the evil Synonamess Botch hatches a scheme to make non-stop nightmares. Only Ralph and Mumford, misfits from the cheery land of Frivoli where good dreams are made, can stop him.

Everything Will Be OK

A series of dark and troubling events forces Bill to reckon with the meaning of his life… or lack thereof.

Millennium Actress

Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life... but also his own.

Behold the Man

Dialogue between a man from Earth and an alien about the advantages and darker sides of earthly civilization.

Macabre Metrics

A young, wannabe streetwear influencer dying to make an impact on the world gets a lot more than he bargained for when a shy but obsessive fan decides to help him become a star for his own gain at the expense of everyone else involved. Macabre Metrics is an almost feature-length, visually experimental exploration into the world of image culture set in Seoul. Shot entirely on iPhone with animated sequences.

The Door

The residents of a building have found novel ways to enter and exit as their front door is broken. However, once the door is repaired they continue to avoid the door.

Marquis

On the eve of revolution, French activist and author Marquis and his talking penis, Colin, await judgment in the Bastille for allegedly plotting against the state. While Marquis dedicates himself to his art and Colin longs for action, the provocative pair unwittingly rouse the interest of competing ideological factions.

Drums West

This newly rediscovered short was created in Jim's home studio in Bethesda, MD around 1961. It is one of several experimental shorts inspired by the music of jazz great Chico Hamilton. At the end, in footage probably shot by Jerry Juhl, Jim demonstrates his working method.

Shearing Animation

An abstract animated film inspired by the work of jazz musician Chico Hamilton.

Rejected

A hilarious collection of animated television commercials that were rejected because of their creator's failing grip on sanity.

White Tendons

A lost traveler encounters a talking clown puppet that won’t stop looking at a mysterious orange light.

Bleak Times

Set to a backdrop of desolate snowy mountains, a young boy and his brother stumble into a surreal and twisted journey. Trying to escape their surroundings they are pursued by mysterious figures and have to confront themes of isolation, death and identity.

Ah Pook Is Here.

A disturbingly organic-looking figure speaks to us of life, politics and death as the symbol of the common man toils away. Written and narrated by William S. Burroughs.

Monsieur Tête

Monsieur Tête, an ordinary bureaucrat, rebels against the world and the ideas of the people around him. Because of his marginal behavior, his head is broken, like everyone else.

Yùl and the Snake

13-year-old Yùl has come along with his big brother, Dino, to clinch a bad deal with Mike, a thug with a car and a fearsome dog. When the situation starts to turn sour, a weird snake appears by Yùl's side.

The House

Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.

A Paw Over Dark

A washed up actor performs night after night in a grimy theater to a nearly empty audience. However, everything changes when a clueless dog jumps on stage.

Potets

The father tries to explain the meaning of the word "potets" allegorically to his sons, but they demand a direct answer. Only at the end of the movie it becomes clear that "potets" is...

Cat's Cradle

Images of two women, two men, and a gray cat form a montage of rapid bits of movement. A woman is in a bedroom, another wears an apron: they work with their hands, occasionally looking up. A man enters a room, a woman smiles. He sits, another man sits and smokes. The cat stretches. There are close-ups of each. The light is dim; a filter accentuates red. A bare foot stands on a satin sheet. A woman disrobes. She pets the cat. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2006.

Mothlight

Seemingly at random, the wings and other bits of moths and insects move rapidly across the screen. Most are brown or sepia; up close, we can see patterns within wings, similar to the veins in a leaf. Sometimes the images look like paper cutouts, like Matisse. Green objects occasionally appear. Most wings are translucent. The technique makes them appear to be stuck directly to the film.