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The Magic of Anansi

This animated short tells the story of Anansi, a little spider who is tired of being snubbed by other the jungle animals, especially Mr. Tiger. As Anansi plots and schemes to change things, he realizes he can't gain respect by putting others down. Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children’s stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen.
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  • Talespinners
    Talespinners
    2000 15 films
    Talespinners, for ages 5-9, includes seven tales of children who confront challenges with ingenuity and creativity. Each story brings facets of a different cultural community to the screen, through a setting, accent, folk element, tradition, particular food or vocabulary. Young viewers will be captivated by the adventures and determination of the Talespinners’ children. This collection includes four original tales and three inspired by books. The stories have particular appeal to modern kids growing up in a complicated world.

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Details

This animated short tells the story of Anansi, a little spider who is tired of being snubbed by other the jungle animals, especially Mr. Tiger. As Anansi plots and schemes to change things, he realizes he can't gain respect by putting others down.


Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children’s stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen.

Literature and Language Cultural Diversity and Multiculturalism Children and Youth All subjects
Epic Legends & Tales All channels
  • director
    Jamie Mason
  • animator
    Luigi Allemano
    Jamie Mason
  • narrator
    Winston Sutton
  • consultant
    Sheldon Cohen
  • animation production supervisor
    Marie Renaud
  • digital imaging specialist
    Normand Gauthier
  • lead infographist
    Itsik Romano
  • infographist
    Randall Finnerty
    Dominic Tremblay
    Jon Gasco
  • assistant infographist
    Michelle MacDonald
    Michel Provencher
  • assistant animator
    Serene El-haj Daoud
    Shira Avni
  • writer
    Sugith Varughese
  • adaptation
    Mary Withers
  • publisher
    Tutkam Books
  • picture editing
    Phyllis Lewis
  • sound editing
    Leopoldo Gutierrez
    Phyllis Lewis
  • original music composer
    Luigi Allemano
  • music recording
    Geoffrey Mitchell
  • music recording - assistance
    Patrick Viegas
  • re-recording
    Shelley Craig
    Geoffrey Mitchell
  • post-production coordination
    Andrée Lachapelle
    Richard Lesage
  • program administration
    Gisèle Guilbault
    Andrée Lachapelle
  • executive producer
    David Verrall
    Isobel Marks
  • producer
    Tamara Lynch

Education

Ages 7 to 9
School subjects
English Language Arts - Children's Stories/Fables Health/Personal Development - Identity Science - Life Systems/Ecology
This West Indian tale about self-respect and respect for others is a great introduction to an English Language Arts unit on fables/myths from other places. Have students find other tales with similar themes. Have students write or draw their own fables, publish them and have a reading for other students, staff members and parents. This tale is also a good way to introduce a Science unit on spiders and their webs.

More educational content

The Magic of Anansi
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Download-to-own (DTO) licence detail
Home licence (worldwide); Classroom licence (Canada only)

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