The Visitor

Emerging filmmaker Jesse Gouchey's animated short pokes fun at selectively-bred mammoth sheep, whose out-of-proportion form makes them vulnerable to tipping over, and a very fat Farmer who tries to save them, with dire consequences.

Produced as part of the 8th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

A man wakes in a sea of sand dunes. He clutches a metal suitcase as if it holds something of great value. In the distance looms a distorted and inhuman city from which the man has apparently fled. An experiment in science-fiction/mystery, Flee wonders how many possible histories and possible futures can be implied in a single minute.

Produced as part of the 8th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

In this short animation, a polar bear must try his luck finding a job in the big city when the last of his Arctic ice environment disappears. It’s hard fitting into the human world, however, so this bear finds a more creative solution to his predicament.

Produced as part of the 8th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

A sleeping computer dreams of humans forms, transforming their digital data into abstract and playful shapes. Movements, emotions, and musical lines are added layer upon layer until the complexity overloads the system and the dream ends. Reverie.exe combines Microsoft Kinect motion capture and music-driven visuals in an exploration of the connection shared between humans and machines.

Produced as part of the 8th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

A revolution is kicked off when one little cloud has enough of the sun’s tyranny.

Produced as part of the 8th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

In this animated short from the Hothouse 5 series, two creatures wonder, What is a hole? They have different points of view. Their debate leads to an idea, an idea that changes the world. This is a story of practical magic.

Produced as part of the 5th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

In this short animated film, a little banjo-picking monster is trying to find her way at a signpost by the railway tracks. She sets out and finds what she is looking for in a rather surprising way.

Produced as part of the fourth edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

In this animated short, an oafish ghoul and his soft exposed brain are met with ruin when the brain is unexpectedly killed. Though paralyzed, the ghoul attains a fresh brain and is fed with new life.

Produced as part of the 5th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

This short animation film is about two little men floating into the deep blue sky, tied to balloons. But then each decides the sky belongs to him.

Produced as part of the fourth edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

In this short animation film Dale Hayward brings to life his watercolour on paper.

Produced as part of the fourth edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

This is a combination of stop-motion puppet and drawn animation. We observe a forlorn woman on a Halifax dock, whose loneliness is lifted by the passing of a fishing trawler. A metaphor on the connectiveness of water and water's capacity as a medium of freedom.

Produced as part of the first edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. Theme was "Water and Our Relationship to It".