Imprints

In this non-narrative animated film inspired by composer François Couperin's harpsichord composition "Barricades mystérieuses," Jacques Drouin explores a whole new way of using the pinscreen to create animated images. He pivots the screen and uses low-angled light to capture images in high relief. The result is like a sculpture whose expertly modelled forms are revealed through film. A film without words.

Winter Days

An animated film based on one of the renku (collaborative linked poems) in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō. The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material – the visuals for each of the 36 stanzas were independently created by 35 different animators. As well as many Japanese animators, Kawamoto assembled leading names in animation from across the world. Each animator was asked to contribute at least 30 seconds to illustrate their stanza, and most of the sequences are under a minute (Yuriy Norshteyn's, though, is nearly two minutes long).

Ex-Child

The story of a young boy and his father, both of whom are enlisted to fight in the war. The boy's pride soon turns to fear as the bullets whistle overhead. His father takes his place and is immediately shot and killed. Horrified, the boy understands that war is not a game.

REST

When immersed in the contours swelling and waning in the forest of needles, the mundane world drifts away, and we only live to breathe.

Mindscape

In this short, an artist creates a painting of the landscape he sees, then finds he can literally climb into the picture to see the fantastic world inside.

Nightangel

When a man becomes blind, his life is all turned around. He can only use his touch to get around in his house. The objects become enemies. But an angel is looking over him.

Jacques Drouin: In Relief

This documentary is a portrait of the animator of Le Paysagiste, from his childhood in Eastern Quebec to his career at the NFB. Trained at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Drouin became in some ways the heir to Alexandre Alexeïeff when he began working with the Alexeïeff-Parker pinhole screen in 1974. Recounting his relationship with the filmmaker and inventor, coming back with lucidity and precision on the whole of his own filmography, Jacques Drouin delivers here a precious testimony on creation. Enriched with numerous excerpts and unpublished images from the filmmaker's personal archives, Jacques Drouin en relief is both the adventure of a lifetime and a valuable lesson in cinema.

Trois exercices sur l'écran d'épingles d'Alexeieff

Animated short film made in three parts on the pin screen by Alexeieff-Parker. With these three exercises, director Jacques Drouin experiments with the play of light and shadow alone. Original, this experience presents us with a reality that is not truncated although it may appear as follows: the faculty of wonder will be able to create the necessary link between everyday life and the way it was rendered.

Here and the Great Elsewhere

This abstract yet compelling philosophical tale uses the Alexeïeff-Parker pinscreen as a metaphor for the particles that make up the universe. Through 4 tableaux that explore her character’s thoughts, filmmaker Michèle Lemieux takes a look at the profound reflections of this everyman, whose questions are part of humanity’s eternal quest for meaning.

A Hunting Lesson

This short animated film follows Antoine, a young boy fascinated by his mysterious neighbour, a man rumoured to have once been a big game hunter. Antoine is eager to learn about hunting, but the lesson he learns from the wise older man is not at all what he had expected: Antoine is left with a profound reverence for life.

The Painting

Utilising the Alexeïeff-Parker pinscreen technique, this visually poetic non-narrative film revisits Diego Vélasquez’s 1652 portrait of Queen Mariana of Austria with genuine feeling.

Mighty Man

Originally a comic aimed at black South Africans, Mighty Man was later made into a movie, released in 1978. Mighty Man was branded as South Africa's equivalent of Super Man, fighting gangsters and drug lords. The spoken language is is Zulu and the film is presumed ‘Lost’.

Kosmos

The mystery of the crystals under closer examination. What is it that makes them possess magic powers as claimed by mystics of all ages? Through growing crystals directly on film their mystical qualities shine straight to the screen. Unfiltered, only aided by light which gracefully breaks its rays into rich visual textures.

Wildest Dreams

The geeky owner of an antique shop accidentally releases a beautiful genie from her imprisonment. She grants him three wishes.

Věnec

Stewpot Rhapsody

Three generations of a single family live together under a common roof in an uncoordinated choreography. The mother, acting as an orchestra conductor, tries without success to gather everyone around the same table for dinner.

The Flames of Nule

The film tells the story of Anna, Rosa and Maria, weavers from Nule in Sardinia, who are taking part in a tapestry competition. Whilst Anna and Rosa try to impress the judges making by perfect and beautiful carpets, Maria surprises the village by creating an unexpected textile. Designer, illustrator, and animator Carolina Melis' short film Le fiamme di Nule uses animation and live footage to portray the story of the three weavers in the Sardinian village of Nule. The story was inspired by a trip Meils took to the village, where she became fascinated with their traditional textile-making techniques.

Bloodlust

An attempt to constitute a human / machine dialogue. It shows the filmmaker’s blood as seen / heard with the eyes / ears of the machine which is a film projector with optical sound. He affixed his blood onto clear film leader by cutting into the flesh and then pressing the film leader onto the wound. Additionally he had blood taken with a syringe and afterwards dripped it on the film leader. fresh and clotted blood was used.

In the Name of the King III

Hazen Kaine, an American contract killer living in Sofia, Bulgaria, gets more than he bargains for when he enters into a contract with the mob. One last job before he gets out and starts a new life for himself. The targets: the three children of royal billionaire Andon Dupont. Seems simple enough, or so he thought. Hazen apprehends the children, and before he can blink an eye, a simple necklace worn by one of the children sends his life spiraling back to medieval times. Now completely out of his element, Hazen fights for his life as he tries to escape a medieval army and a fierce fire-breathing dragon.