Alchemists

Cordell Barker, director of the Oscar®-nominated films The Cat Came Back and Strange Invaders, is back with Runaway. Set to the rousing music of Ben Charest (Triplets of Belleville), this animated short takes you on a journey that is both funny and disastrous.

The NFB’s 11th Academy-Award winning film. This short animation follows Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer Sigrid Undset. Kasper attempts to answer some pretty big questions: can we trace the chain of events that leads to our own birth? Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter? As Kasper's quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in the big scheme of things after all.

This short animated film presents an allegorical portrait of a society where men have lost their autonomy in the struggle to be recognized by the very society that restricts their freedom. In the film, chairs are a symbol of success; without one, every man becomes a social outcast. Highly critical of power, privilege, and the weight of social norms, the film questions our present and our future. This technically and formally innovative film is accompanied by a sombre, hypnotic soundtrack and contains no dialogue.

An allegory of mankind heading for disaster, this animated short is a tragic vision inspired by the 4th movement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Drawing on the composer’s brilliant ability to evoke work and labour in his music, animator Patrick Bouchard brings earth to life through animated clay sculptures, creating a tactile nightmare in which man is his own slave driver.

In this Oscar®-winning animated short, Ralph's day gets off to a bad start when he dismisses his wife's orders to clear the snow from the front walk. When he comes home and finds the mailman dead on his front stairs, Ralph attempts a massive cover-up with disastrous results. One dead mailman leads to a case of mistaken identity, a runaway bride, and a very confused coroner. Life starts looking up for Ralph once he decides to stop worrying about it all.

In her latest animated short, Academy Award®-winning director Torill Kove explores the beauty and complexity of parental love, the bonds that we form over time, and the ways in which they stretch and shape us.

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The NFB’s 74th Oscar®-nominated film.

This short film tells the story of Vaysha, a young girl born with one green eye and one brown eye. But colour isn’t the only thing that’s different about Vaysha’s gaze. While her left eye sees only the past; her right sees only the future. Like a terrible curse, Vaysha’s split vision prevents her from inhabiting the present. Blinded by what was and tormented by what will be, she remains trapped between two irreconcilable temporalities. “Blind Vaysha,” they called her.

In this metaphoric tale of timeless wisdom and beauty based on the eponymous short story by Georgi Gospodinov, filmmaker Theodore Ushev reminds us of the importance of keeping our sights on the present moment.

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The NFB's 25th Oscar®-nominated film.

A humorous animation film about a fellow who builds his house in the best suburb he can afford. He has a picture bride, a picture window and a garden as pretty as a picture, but he wanted something special and, like Jack and the Beanstalk, he finally got it! What he got is a moral for all.

This short film from Eoin Duffy introduces a mysterious traveler journeying across time and space in search of the origin of life, God, and the universe. Looking for answers, he arrives at a devastating realization, yet the earth continues to spin.

Through sharp modernist shapes and a riveting score by Menalon, I Am Here takes a curious and contemplative approach to dark and complex themes. Featuring the voice of Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci's Inquest), the film is a thoughtful and open-ended exploration of existence itself.

This introspective short animation takes place In the village of Carcross, in the Tagish First Nation. Neighbourhood pillar Grandma Kay tell the local children the tale of how Crow brought fire to people. As the story unfolds, we also meet 12-year-old Tish, an introspective, talented girl who feels drawn to the elder. Here, past and present blend, myth and reality meet, and the metaphor of fire infuses all in a location that lies at the heart of this Native community’s spiritual and cultural memory.

Ride the commuter train with this animated short that questions what goes on it the hearts of minds of the train's silent passengers. Filmmakers Lewis Trondheim and Jean Matthieu Tanguy take a common, humdrum experience and turn it into a captivating journey tinged with some delicious, deadpan humour.

This film is part of the Comic Strip Chronicles, a collection of shorts celebrating the strong affinity between comic strips and animated film. Inspired by moments of everyday life, these films showcase the playful imaginations of renowned artists Guy Delisle, Zviane, Aude Picault, Lewis Trondheim, and Jean Matthieu Tanguy. Produced by the NFB, Canal+, and Sacrebleu.