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Once Upon a Time... (Ages 5-8)

14 films
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This playlist is geared towards children as young as six years old and is meant to offer them a sense of how people relate to each other and how they themselves fit into the world. Themes of love, grief, revenge, forgiveness, bullying, and humility are woven throughout the playlist, allowing for easy connections to both the curriculum and the students’ lived experiences. Pour visionner cette sélection en français, cliquez ici. Films in This Playlist Include Sleeping Betty The Legend of the Flying Canoe The Sweater The Danish Poet Soup of the Day Nunavut Animation Lab: Lumaajuuq Here and There MacPherson …

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Once Upon a Time... (Ages 5-8)

This playlist is geared towards children as young as six years old and is meant to offer them a sense of how people relate to each other and how they themselves fit into the world. Themes of love, grief, revenge, forgiveness, bullying, and humility are woven throughout the playlist, allowing for easy connections to both the curriculum and the students’ lived experiences.

Pour visionner cette sélection en français, cliquez ici.

Films in This Playlist Include
Sleeping Betty
The Legend of the Flying Canoe
The Sweater
The Danish Poet
Soup of the Day
Nunavut Animation Lab: Lumaajuuq
Here and There
MacPherson
The Cat Came Back
The Mountain of SGaana
Hedgehog’s Home
Little Red Riding Hood
The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin
Spinnolio

Playlist

  • Sleeping Betty
    Sleeping Betty
    Claude Cloutier 2007 9 min
    In this animated short, Sleeping Betty is stuck in bed, victim to a strange bout of narcolepsy. The King calls on his subjects to rescue her and they all respond to the call: Uncle Henry VIII, Aunt Victoria, an oddly emotional alien, a funky witch and a handsome prince. But will a kiss really be enough to wake the sleeping princess? The film, drawn in ink, is a classic example of the anachronistic and playful world of Claude Cloutier.
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  • The Sweater
    The Sweater
    Sheldon Cohen 1980 10 min
    In this animated short, Roch Carrier recounts the most mortifying moment of his childhood. At a time when all his friends worshipped Maurice "Rocket" Richard and wore his number 9 Canadiens hockey jersey, the boy was mistakenly sent a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey from Eaton's. Unable to convince his mother to send it back, he must face his friends wearing the colours of the opposing team. This short film, based on the book The Hockey Sweater, is an NFB classic that appeals to hockey lovers of all ages.
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  • The Danish Poet
    The Danish Poet
    Torill Kove 2006 14 min
    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.
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  • Soup of the Day
    Soup of the Day
    Lynn Smith 2013 3 min
    This animated short presents a dilemma faced by a couple every time they go out to eat. Will their culinary differences douse the flames of romance, or will love prevail? Set to a rollicking doo-wop song by Canadian songwriter Alexander (Zander) Ary, the film brings Lynn Smith's gouache paintings to life as she animates directly under the camera. This short is a tasty comic narrative that skips along an array of tantalizing dishes. Vocalists Susie Arioli and Zander Ary each bring a unique interpretation to this funny, charming song.
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  • Nunavut Animation Lab: Lumaajuuq
    Nunavut Animation Lab: Lumaajuuq
    Alethea Arnaquq-Baril 2010 7 min
    This animated short by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril tells a tragic and twisted story about the dangers of revenge. A cruel mother mistreats her son, feeding him dog meat and forcing him to sleep in the cold. A loon, who tells the boy that his mother blinded him, helps the child regain his eyesight. Then the boy seeks revenge, releasing his mother's lifeline as she harpoons a whale and watching her drown. Based on a portion of the epic Inuit legend "The Blind Boy and the Loon."
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  • Here and There
    Here and There
    Diane Obomsawin 2006 9 min
    In this animated short, filmmaker Diane Obomsawin shows how childhood can be a chaotic time, especially if you're bouncing back and forth between two continents.

    With engaging candour and gentle humour, Obomsawin fleshes out an uncertain identity and takes control of her life. Using drawings on paper and digitized snippets of fabric, she creates a whimsical world of simple lines and pastel tones.
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  • MacPherson
    MacPherson
    Martine Chartrand 2012 10 min
    This animated film by Martine Chartrand (Black Soul) recounts the friendship between a young Félix Leclerc and Frank Randolph Macpherson, a Jamaican chemical engineer and university graduate who worked for a pulp and paper company. An inveterate jazz fan, Macpherson inspired Leclerc, who wrote a song about the log drives and entitled it “MacPherson” in honour of his friend. Paint-on-glass animation shot with a 35mm camera.
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  • The Cat Came Back
    The Cat Came Back
    Cordell Barker 1988 7 min
    This hilarious animated short is based on the century-old folk song of the same name. Old Mr. Johnson makes increasingly manic attempts to rid himself of a little yellow cat that just won't stay away...
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  • The Mountain of SGaana
    The Mountain of SGaana
    Christopher Auchter 2017 10 min
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  • Hedgehog's Home
    Hedgehog's Home
    Eva Cvijanovic 2017 10 min
    Winner of over 35 international awards, Hedgehog's Home is an animated film by Eva Cvijanović. Based on the classic story by Branko Ćopić, a writer from the former Yugoslavia, it is a warm and universal tale that reminds us there truly is no place like home.
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  • Little Red Riding Hood
    Little Red Riding Hood
    Rhoda Leyer 1969 5 min
    This animated short retells the classic tale of a pretty little girl, her grandmother and a conniving old wolf. Preserving all of its delight, innocence and anticipation, this children’s classic leaps from the storybook to the screen through the magic of animation.
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  • The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin
    The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin
    Janet Perlman 1981 9 min
    This short animation is a zany version of the classic fairy tale, with the leading role played by a mistreated, romantic penguin, with hilarious results. Cinderella Penguin loses her magic flipper as she runs to meet her midnight deadline, but all ends well when Prince Charming finds the right webbed foot and the nasty step-family is brought to heel.
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  • Spinnolio
    Spinnolio
    John Weldon 1977 9 min
    In this animated short, the traditional folklore tale of Pinocchio takes a wry turn. This time around, the hero, a carved wooden puppet named Spinnolio, is totally devoid of mobility and human consciousness. Noted for his "cool head" and unruffled personality, he makes a totally passive, though quite successful go at life, until his employer decides to replace him with a computer. A reflection on consciousness, the work ethic, interpersonal relationships and the citizen in society.
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  • The Legend of the Flying Canoe (La Chasse-galerie)
    The Legend of the Flying Canoe (La Chasse-galerie)
    Robert Doucet 1996 10 min
    New Year's Eve, late 1800s. A group of loggers in an isolated lumber camp yearn to celebrate with their loved ones, but the river is frozen. If the men want to see their families, their only choice is to make a pact with the Devil to ride in a flying canoe. Original music and animation preserve the spirit of this Quebec legend.
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