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Animation (Shorts)

Animation (Shorts)

A companion to our Animated Features, this collection of animated short films ranges from playful comedies to imaginative fables and experimental manifestos. The Exquisite Short Films of Kihachiro Kawamoto showcases works from one of the world’s greatest stop-motion animators. Shorts such as Mary & Myself, The Girl with a Rivet Gun, and The Great Malaise employ inventive animation to explore womanhood from a distinctly feminist perspective.

Dizzying digital animation techniques can be found in the experimental works Coda and CMYK, while dreams and fantasy meet in poignant narratives like Mystery of the Secret Room and The Mountain of SGaana. Frequently blending traditional animation, avant-garde experimentation, and political expression, these shorts showcase the full range and creative possibilities of the medium.

In addition, 8 of these short films won Academy Awards.

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Animation (Shorts)
  • Special Delivery

    Directed by John Weldon and Eunice Macaulay • Animation • 1978 • 7 minutes

    The first big mistake Ralph makes is not clearing the snow from the front walk, and his life goes downhill from that point on. By the end of the story, the mailman has fatally slipped on his job, Alice, his wife, doesn't ...

  • Bob’s Birthday

    Directed by David Fine and Alison Snowdon • Animation • 1993 • 12 minutes

    Surprise birthday parties can be risky. Especially when the guest of honour is turning 40! When Margaret plans a celebration for her husband, Bob, she underestimates the sudden impact of middle age on his mood. A witty, of...

  • The Sand Castle

    Directed by Co Hoedeman • Animation • 1977 • 13 minutes

    A fable of great humour and appeal, The Sand Castle is the story of the Sandman and the creatures he sculpts out of sand. Under his direction, they build a castle and celebrate the completion of their new home, only to be interrupted by an ...

  • Marx for Beginners

    Directed by Bob Godfrey • Animation • 1978 • 6 minutes

    How many people have actually read the work of Karl Marx? Based on the book by the Mexican cartoonist Rius, MARX FOR BEGINNERS is a hilarious animated film that highlights Marx's most influential ideas, and places them into the context of we...

  • Jutra

    Directed by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre • Animation • 2014 • 13 minutes

    With an ingenious assembly of archival footage and animated sequences, Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre brings us a clever and astute cinephile portrait of Claude Jutra, the director of Mon Oncle Antoine. Continuing the undertaking she...

  • The Girl With The Rivet Gun

    Directed by Anne de Mare, Kirsten Kelly • Documentary • 2021 • 15 minutes

    Built entirely by women filmmakers, THE GIRL WITH THE RIVET GUN is an unconventional animated documentary short based on the adventures of three real-life 'Rosie the Riveters' - Esther Horne, Susan Taylor King and Mildred ...

  • The Exquisite Short Films of Kihachiro Kawamoto

    Directed by Kihachiro Kawamoto • Documentary • 2014 • 99 minutes

    Kimstim is proud to present this collection of short films from one of the world's greatest stop-motion animators: Kihachiro Kawamoto. Famous for his beautiful, expressive puppets, Kawamoto began his career in the 1950s. Honing his...

  • Ryan

    Directed by Chris Landreth • Animation • 2004 • 14 minutes

    Ryan is based on the life of Ryan Larkin, a Canadian animator who, 30 years ago, produced some of the most influential animated films of his time. In the film, we hear the voices of prominent animators and artists discussing Ryan's work,...

  • Balakrishna

    Directed by Colin MacKenzie & Aparna Kapur • Animation • 2019 • 15 minutes

    When an extraordinary new resident – Balakrishna, an Indian elephant – arrived in the town of East River, Nova Scotia, in 1967, no one was more in awe of the creature than young Winton Cook, who became inseparable from hi...

  • Bam

    Directed by Howie Shia • Animation • 2015 • 7 minutes

    A modern adaptation of the myth of Hercules, BAM tells the story of a young boxer struggling to negotiate between his shy, bookish nature and a divinely violent temper. Where does this rage come from? Is it psychological or environmental - or...

  • Blood Manifesto

    Directed by Theodore Ushev • Animation • 2014 • 2 minutes

    A sharp knife cuts the hand of filmmaker Theodore Ushev. A thin stream of his blood comes to life on a white page.All over the world, idealist revolutionaries shed their blood to denounce injustices. Yet blood is also the very symbol of l...

  • The Danish Poet

    Directed by Torill Kove • Animation • With Liv Ullmann • 2006 • 14 minutes

    This Oscar®-winning 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...

  • Carface (Autos Portraits)

    Directed by Claude Cloutier • Animation • 2015 • 5 minutes

    In this short animated film, 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 so...

  • Oscar

    Directed by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre • Animation • 2016 • 12 minutes

    Brilliantly mixing animated sequences and archival footage, Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre paints a touching portrait of virtuoso pianist Oscar Peterson. As with her previous films (McLaren's Negative and Jutra), Saint-Pierre pursues...

  • Neighbours

    Directed by Norman McLaren • Animation • 1952 • 8 minutes

    Two neighbours live side by side in harmony until a flower grows on the dividing line between their properties. Who does it belong to? The argument that follows ends up with both neighbours in their graves. The most famous of Norman McLar...

  • Oscar-Winning Animated Shorts

    7 items

    A collection of Oscar-winning animated shorts from the National Film Board of Canada.

    Bob’s Birthday - Surprise birthday parties can be risky. Especially when the guest of honor is turning 40!

    The Danish Poet - This short animation follows Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a ho...

  • The Clockmakers

    Directed by Renaud Hallée • Animation • 2013 • 4 minutes

    In this experimental animated short from Renaud Hallée, we travel inside a mysterious mechanism made up entirely of revolving gearwheels, triangles and lines. In this whirling, hypnotic world, dozens of tiny gymnasts leap, somersault and t...

  • Hedgehog's Home

    Directed by Eva Cvijanovic • Animation • 2017 • 10 minutes

    In a lush and lively forest lives a hedgehog. He is respected and envied by the other animals. However, Hedgehog's unwavering devotion to his home annoys a quartet of insatiable beasts. Together, they march off towards Hedgehog's home an...

  • A Game of Three Halves (series)

    5 items

    Directed by Matthew Bate & Case Jernigan • Documentary & Animation • 2021 • 23 minutes

    A five-part animated series that uses the unbridled creativity of handcrafted animation to reveal funny, profound, and illuminating stories from inside the world of football fandom. Premiered at Hot Docs 2021.

  • My Little Underground

    Directed by Élise Simard • Animation • 2012 • 7 minutes

    To find light, we must first journey through the darkness. So begins Elise Simard's My Little Underground, a sombre and beautiful autobiographical story that follows a young girl's bus ride home in winter. Drifting between real and imagined...

  • Muybridge's Strings

    Directed by Koji Yamamura • Animation • 2011 • 13 minutes

    Can time be made to stand still? Can it be reversed? Koji Yamamura's Muybridge's Strings is a meditation on this theme, contrasting the worlds of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge-who in 1878 successfully photographed consecutive phases...

  • The Mountain of SGaana

    Directed by Christopher Auchter • Animation • 2017 • 10 minutes

    The Mountain of SGaana spins a magical tale of a young man who is stolen away to the spirit world, and the young woman who rescues him. Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter's dream-like gem brilliantly entwines traditional animation ...

  • I Don't Feel Anything Anymore

    Directed by Noémie Marsily & Carl Roosens • Animation • 2016 • 9 minutes

    He’s a magician. She’s a firefighter. Isolating themselves from the chaos of a world in turmoil, the two lovers live in a crane basket high in the sky, where they go about their daily business. Their challenge: keep their h...

  • Gloria Victoria

    Directed by Theodore Ushev • Animation • 2012 • 7 minutes

    Third part of a trilogy on the relationship between art and power, Gloria Victoria is the work of a gifted filmmaker and visual artist, a virtuoso of collage and recycling that summons surrealism as much as Dracula, Cubists of the horror ...