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Allegories (21)

  • Arkelope
    Arkelope
    Roslyn Schwartz 1994 5 min
    Arkelope is an animated short that takes a pointed look at endangered species and human indifference. When a middle-aged couple come across a nature documentary on the decline of the arkelope while channel-surfing, they learn that although the species has managed to survive a variety of natural disasters, it is now in imminent danger of extinction due to man's short-sightedness. With a serious yet funny approach, this little film illustrates human passivity in the face of the ubiquitous TV set.
  • Attuned
    Attuned
    Steve Verreault  &  Sébastien Dave Tremblay 2020 4 min
    IMPORTANT: For the optimal experience, please use headphones and turn up the volume.

    Steve Verreault and Sébastien Dave Tremblay accompany the naturalist photographer and biologist Hugues Deglaire during an observation walk in the forest. Rich in meditations on the benefits of being in nature, this contemplative and colourful short film gives voice to the whispers of the forest. Filmed in two days in the vicinity of Matane, Attuned calls on the sensorial to evoke the symbiosis between man and nature.
  • Alchemists
    Alchemists
    Heidi Blomkvist 1991 11 min
    This short animation is a visual fantasy, a gripping tale that is "larger-than-life" in its themes: life, death and rebirth; creation and destruction; permanence and impermanence, spontaneity and control. Bold swoops of liquid colour surge with variations on Mozart's Requiem to a startling denouement. Alchemists will provoke reflection on creativity, relationships and the environment. Without words.
  • Blue Suns
    Blue Suns
    Chloé Leriche 2010 5 min
    A walk in the woods become a metaphoric journey in Chloé Leriche's short film. As a solitary figure moves through the forest, the texture of stone, the movement of water, all the infinite pageantry of the natural world is captured in its richness and detail. With the help of an orchestrated soundscape and composed cinematography, Blue Suns catches the miracle and mystery of this world as it unfolds.
  • Carface
    Carface
    Claude Cloutier 2015 4 min
    In this animated short, a Chevrolet Bel Air 1957 offers an ironic take on the iconic American ballad “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”. The Chevy’s bumper transforms into a pair of seductive lips, from which emerge the song’s reassuring lyrics, while a choir of cars performs a breathtaking dance number in the background.

    A biting satire of our Big Oil-based civilization, Carface is a musical comedy of spectacular proportions, in which acclaimed animator and illustrator Claude Cloutier (The Trenches, Sleeping Betty) pokes at our contemporary insouciance about the environmental perils that threaten the planet.
  • Deserter
    Deserter
    Michel Murray 1991 19 min
    In this short fiction film, the observation satellite Zenon has, on its own, left its assigned orbit and is refusing to send back vital data concerning the Earth's water reserves. Those in charge of the Research Center that sent the satellite up are threatening to destroy this free and intelligent "spirit" if Estelle, the scientist controlling it, cannot make her "friend" see reason.
  • Divine Fate
    Divine Fate
    Ishu Patel 1993 10 min
    This colourful short animation tells the tale of a mythical universe whose existence is threatened by the arrival of unthinking and uncaring visitors. From Oscar®-nominated animator Ishu Patel comes a thought-provoking metaphor for our times: a cautionary tale with a pro-environmental theme.
  • The Garden of Ecos
    The Garden of Ecos
    Co Hoedeman 1997 10 min
    In this animated short, animals and plants are living peacefully together in a large garden until predators attack and ravage their habitat, stealing food and destroying plants. This creates an imbalance that leads to war. A fable that poetically describes how conflicts between 2 different groups in the same community can upset the natural balance of an ecosystem.
  • Islet
    Islet
    Nicolas Brault 2003 7 min
    Combining figurative abstraction with magic realism, this animated short depicts a world in which whales fall out of the sky and fish turn into balloons. It is a black and white evocation of the real world, transformed by the director's special sense of whimsy. With bold lines reminiscent of the stark simplicity of Inuit art, this cautionary tale is a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things. We are all affected by the fate of the Arctic, which each year is disappearing a little farther into the ocean.
  • Le Bleu perdu
    Le Bleu perdu
    Paul Driessen 1972 7 min
    An animated cartoon envisaging the kind of world that children of the future may well inherit when the last vestige of blue is blotted from the sky by the spreading mantle of smog. In this story a little boy sets out, equipped with celestial wings, to discover whether what an old man has told him is actually true, that there is blue above the grey. When he finds it he concludes that blue is where paradise is; the grimy earth is the netherworld. A film without words; titles in French.
  • Lord of the Sky
    Lord of the Sky
    Ludmila Zeman  &  Eugen Spaleny 1991 12 min
    In this animated environmental parable, we find a people living in harmony with nature, until carelessness leads to the ravens' revenge. We follow a boy's courageous journey to the spirit world to find the only one who can save his village from the resulting darkness--the Lord of the sky. An artistic unity of form and content, Lord of the Sky is a dazzling combination of 3-D models, puppets, special effects and cut-out paper animation. Its intricate, beautifully rendered drawings reflect the natural environment and cultural heritage of the Pacific Northwest. The film speaks strongly of the need for ecological balance in the world.
  • Metamorphosis
    Metamorphosis
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    Nova Ami  &  Velcrow Ripper 2018 1 h 24 min
    A poem for the planet, Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper's film Metamorphosis takes the pulse of our earth and bears witness to a moment of profound change: the loss of one world, and the birth of another. Metamorphosis captures the true scale of the global environmental crisis. Forest fires consume communities, species vanish, and entire ecosystems collapse. Economic growth, tied to increased speed of resource extraction, has created a machine with the capacity to destroy all life. But this crisis is also an opportunity for transformation. Through a tidal flow of stunning images, Metamorphosis carves a path from the present to the future, and offers a bold new vision for humanity and the world.
  • Mother Earth
    Mother Earth
    Terre Nash 1991 10 min
    This short documentary is a celebration of life on planet Earth. Made from haunting visual images selected from 50 years of NFB productions, the film looks at human beings, their place on earth, and their deep interconnection with all other beings. Evocations of forces that threaten the planet and all its inhabitants also offer avenues for reflection. Musical score by Loreena McKennitt.
  • Albertosaurus
    Albertosaurus
    Munro Ferguson 2017 36 s
    DARE TO PANIC. A poke at climate-change deniers.
  • The Quiet Racket
    The Quiet Racket
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    Gerald Potterton 1966 7 min
    This short film tells the amusing tale of a man who feels the common urge to escape the city's noise for the weekend. Made without words, but with a wide range of other sounds, this film tracks our hero to a perfect haven of… pandemonium. The countryside, it turns out, is not as unspoiled and quiet as the poets proclaim.
  • The Treasure of the Grotoceans
    The Treasure of the Grotoceans
    Co Hoedeman 1980 15 min
    Octopus-like puppets cut from foam rubber are the central characters in this delightful underwater fantasy with its message about ecology and conservation. Two Grotoceans sent on a special mission find all kinds of surprises awaiting them as they roam the sea in search of treasure.
  • Terra
    Terra
    Alan Pakarnyk 2005 4 min
    Animator Alan Pakarnyk uses radiant colour and simple composition in a seemingly random kaleidoscope of motion to depict nature at work. Sweeping the viewer through a whirlwind cycle of the seasons, the film crashes violently from one image to the next. Terra’s images are matched by a surging score from Winnipeg composer Randolph Peters. Without words.
  • Two and Two
    Two and Two
    Abraham Côté 2009 3 min
    A man reads a newspaper; a tree falls. A copy machine hums; a tree falls. As the hours go by, a forest disappears. Since 2004, the travelling studios of Wapikoni Mobile have enabled Quebec First Nations youth to express themselves through videos and music. This short film was made with the guidance of these travelling studios and is part of the 2008 Selection - Wapikoni Mobile.
  • Under the Weather
    Under the Weather
    Tali 1997 6 min
    This animated short follows a group of happy vacationers sunbathing... under cloudy skies. Despite the weather, they look cheerful, eating ice cream and hot dogs, frolicking in the sand. When the sun finally breaks through the clouds, everyone deserts the beach. The film presents a fanciful yet awkward scenario in which the strange behaviour of one person may be the delight of another.
  • What Rhymes with Toxic
    What Rhymes with Toxic
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    Lynn Smith 2021 5 min
    Chemical sludge is spilling into the lake. For the city councillor responsible, it’s just a big nuisance. For the wildlife, it’s a catastrophe. One turtle, in her desperate hour, summons up the courage to leave her home and speak truth to power. Turns out there’s more at stake than just the lake.
  • White Noise
    White Noise
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    Simon Beaulieu 2019 1 h 17 min
    A reflection on the fate of humanity in the Anthropocene epoch, White Noise is a roller-coaster of a film, a whirlwind of sounds and images. The fourth feature-length work by Simon Beaulieu, this film essay plunges viewers into a subjective sensory adventure—a direct physical encounter with the information overload of daily life. White Noise transforms the imminent collapse of our civilization into a visceral aesthetic experience.