A caterpillar who can’t become a butterfly discovers he can still add color to the world in his own special ways. Featuring music and artwork by Amazing Grace star Grace Fisher, with critters created by children with disabilities in Santa Barbara..
This provocative, entertaining and utterly compelling film features a trio of tales about the way we seek, and sometimes find, meaning and purpose in our everyday lives. From a troubled artist haunted by the ghost of Vincent van Gogh to a temp worker trying to make sense of her life, these stories highlight the wonder at the heart of our existence, if only we have the eyes to see it. Screenwriter Edward B. Sherman directs this indie treat..
7 years after 911 the supposed mastermind behind the attacks is still at large, and the nation is entrenched in multiple Wars in the Middle East. Is Bin Laden the Evil behind the attack or a mere front man in a larger picture, a Bogeyman? We are told we are fighting a War on Terror, and that the Terrorists hate us for our freedom. If that is the case, why do our leaders take more and more of those freedoms away every day?.
A young boy asks an old man why the valley they live in is such a beautiful utopia and is called Happy Valley, and the old man explains it is because everyone there is contented and happy but, he adds, it wasn't always that way. In a flashback, he tells the boy that many years ago this paradise was nearly wrecked when greed swept over the land, and this led to poverty and misery before all the farmers came to their senses. Sounds like a film that should have been investigated by the HUAC committee..
According to Aesop, Philip, a little fish who lives at the bottom of the sea with his dogfish, catfish, shark and other classmates in the school of fish, desires to become the first flying fish. His horrified friends ostracize him for his strange wish, but he practices until he is able to fly, but the birds flee in terror at the sight of a flying fish. When a pelican invades the ocean-bottom and proceeds to scoop up Phillip's ex-playmates in his large bill, Philip takes to the air and drives off the villainous bird. Philip is now a hero and the fish establish a flying school in his honor...according to Aesop Terrytoon..
A stop-motion animation using mannequins in a forest setting impressionistically telling a Finnish folk story..
Part of a restored collection of rare early works by Nam June Paik, Electronic Fables is an example of Paik's early improvisations and experiments with electronic image manipulation, prior to his invention of the Paik/Abe Video Synthesizer. This piece also makes use of anecdotes by John Cage and other influential artists and cultural figures..
Take three animals, in the farm, in the desert and in the jungle. Put them together, although the meeting seems improbable. And you'll have the moral of the tale..
La Vanessa was the organiser of the first gay rights march in Chiapas State, Mexico. Four years after her murder in 1992, this study of mexican transvestite culture documents a period of fear marked by 29 brutal murders. It originally aired in '96 as part of Channel 4's Latino Nights line-up ("a season of programmes from and about Latin America"), and--aside from showing up at a few niche trans-festivals here and there--seems to have disappeared altogether after that..
Designed to encourage international co-operation and understanding (sponsored by the Mobil oil company), this film is an allegory in mime, presenting the relations of 'Everyman' with his neighbours..
Proto-claymation goes awry with talking teeth and a demonic decay character. Dancing vegetables highlight this great film..
Henry’s Busted Romance is a tale about a lovesick tomcat. Spotting a theatrical poster for Mademoiselle Kitty, he feels his passion surge and consults a fortuneteller for advice. “You are in love,” the cat is told and should pop the question at once. At the theater, the cat endures several acts (surely not players on the Keith-Albee Theatre circuit!), but makes little headway with Kitty, who leaves after the show with a top-hatted dog. When Kitty’s date proves to be a robber, our hero saves the day and returns with his ladylove to her home—and her brood of kittens. Tomcat makes a quick exit. As we are reminded in the final title card, “2600 Years Ago Aesop Said 'Anticipation is greater than realization.' ”.
Animation that illustrates five of Augusto Monterroso's fables..
When Al Falfa's house is overrun by mice, he gets a cat to keep them down. All too soon he finds that his mouser may deal with the mice, but now he has other cats coming to serenade her while he is trying to sleep..
An Homage to the Chaplin Era, This story focuses on a trump alike fella who decides to share his Christmas Spirit with everyone, yet fails to. Can he succeed at his quest?.
Adapted from a short story by Franz Kafka, Kafka's Little Fable is the story of a powerless mouse bound by fear who longs to escape his fate, only to be consumed by it instead..
"Winner of the First Annual San Jose State College Survival Faire film contest in 1970, this 3-minute animated film began as a story Alex Weiss wrote for his kids' nursery school newsletter. Babs Jackson did the cut-out art and I filmed it, one frame at a time. Cost was $10 - $6 for the film and $4 for processing. It brought in about $1,500 over the years in rentals. The Smothers Brothers TV show wanted to run it, but insisted the word "feces" be taken out. We said no and lost out on $3,000. Dumb." - Steve Giordano.
