René Chénier

Sátira en forma de comedia musical sobre el poder del petróleo. Los coches cantan y bailan mientras el planeta se derrumba

This micro-epic short film is an inspired tribute to visionary avant-garde composer Walter Boudreau: his life, work, mischief, and boundless artistic curiosity. Both a documentary biopic and a wildly abstract hallucination, the film conceives of Walter Boudreau as a radical explorer, struggling against the inert mass of the cosmos, charting bold new paths of artistic freedom and audaciously expanding the frontiers of our known musical universe.

This funny short animation was written and created by Tali (At Home with Mrs. Hen) and is inspired by the filmmaker's misadventures as a school bus driver in the Eastern Townships. Our protagonist dreams of becoming a bus driver in order to cruise down quiet country lanes and connect with nature, her young charges and their parents. But her idyllic view of her new job is sorely tested after she meets her surly boss, named Killer, and discovers that winding roads can prove treacherous in winter, especially with a faulty clutch. Through her cheeky humour and oblique look at the reality of people living in the Quebec countryside, Tali delivers a film that is unique, witty and touching. - Written by NFB

This short animation draws on advanced digital technologies to offer a new vision of dance in cinema. With motion capture (MoCap) and particle processing, designers Denis Poulin and Martine Époque create virtual dancers free of their morphological appearance. In this balletic and hypnotic film, dynamic traces carry the motion of the real dancers behind the on-screen movements. Addressing environmental themes by way of metaphor, CODA is a fused universe where space and time collide, deploy, and dissolve. In this technically and formally innovative film, luminous bodies in the infinite space of the cosmos transform and evolve to the rhythms of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

This short animation draws on advanced digital technologies to offer a new vision of dance in cinema. With motion capture (MoCap) and particle processing, designers Denis Poulin and Martine Époque create virtual dancers free of their morphological appearance. In this balletic and hypnotic film, dynamic traces carry the motion of the real dancers behind the on-screen movements. Addressing environmental themes by way of metaphor, CODA is a fused universe where space and time collide, deploy, and dissolve. In this technically and formally innovative film, luminous bodies in the infinite space of the cosmos transform and evolve to the rhythms of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Three books: a film festival catalogue, a dictionary, the Bible. Three works whose materiality has become obsolete by the digital dematerialization. A commentary on the fragility of culture.

This animated film is above all a love story told with emotion and delicacy. A man loves a woman; both of them love literature. We discover the murmur of their lives, the harmony of their feelings—and we learn how their affection for novels and poetry marks their existence beyond death. The fruitful alliance of filmmaker Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s imagery and the words of Quebec poet Hélène Dorion results in a subtle, sensitive film that resonates in the viewer’s heart and mind. In its hybridization of styles and techniques, The Day Is Listening is also a most modern and daring work: its director has deftly expanded the spectrum of traditional hand-drawn animation, incorporating mosaics of real images that express a myriad of intertwining memories as well as the pulse of urban life.

Theodore Ushev’s acclaimed 20th century trilogy concludes with this brilliant fusion of 3D and Russian constructivist-styled animation. Recycling elements of surrealism and cubism, this animated short by Theodore Ushev focuses on the relationship between art and war. Propelled by the exalting “invasion” theme from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony (No. 7), the film presents imagery of combat fronts and massacres, leading us from Dresden to Guernica, from the Spanish Civil War to Star Wars. It is at once a symphony that serves the war machine, that stirs the masses, and art that mourns the dead, voices its outrage and calls for peace.

Animated short about a dog's role in his family

Una historia sobre la eterna búsqueda humana de un hogar, que empieza como deben empezar este tipo de aventuras, con un sueño utópico. Tras un viaje en el que han tenido que llevar a rastras, de forma inverosímil, su preciada bañera, Solomon y Berta son dos recién llegados a una tierra que les promete el merecido reposo tras su largo periplo. (FILMAFFINITY)

This is the story about a boy not like the others that dreams about finding his place in the world.

Edmond no es como los demás. Cuando sus compañeros de trabajo se burlan de él colocándole un gorro de asno, de pronto Edmond tiene la revelación de su verdadera naturaleza y parece que se siente a gusto con su nueva identidad. Aunque ello marque aún más la distancia entre él y los demás. Franck Dion nos cuenta con delicadeza la historia enternecedora de este tierno marginal, y aborda el tema de la dificultad de ser uno mismo frente al conformismo social. (FILMAFFINITY)

This tribute to Denis Marleau takes a simple and forthright approach to one of the major themes of his work: the relationship between material reality and consciousness, or more specifically, Freud’s concept of the Uncanny, which often emerges when dissonance between material reality and consciousness rises to the surface. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2012 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards.

Corto animado inspirado en la vida de Kaspar Hauser, un huérfano del siglo XIX que se crió en una cueva oscura, con la única compañía de un pequeño caballo de madera, y que después fue adoptado por una familia en una ciudad.

Dancer in three dimensions and glowing from the inside.

En un avión, un par de personajes sueñan con una vida en común. (FILMAFFINITY)

In this animated short, a young couple washed onto a strange, inhospitable shore, attempts to transform the land into an Eden. Through great effort they prosper, learning to conquer nature and their environment. But what will their victory mean? Alternately a vision of paradise and purgatory, with allusions to the Book of Genesis and prehistory, the film tells the story of human beings and their conquests, offering a dark, critical view of the rise and fall of civilizations.

Los hombres lobo que viven en este lugar apartado son especialmente salvajes: cuando no atacan cualquier cosa que se mueve, gastan su tiempo discutiendo y peleando. Impulsada por el instinto, un joven hombre lobo persigue flamencos rosados ​​a través de la naturaleza, alejándose mucho de casa. Antes de que él lo sepa, está en un lugar que no conoce: el mundo de los humanos.

En el hospital, un niño quiere pasar un momento de intimidad a solas con su madre enferma, pero un grupo de visitantes, que el niño desconoce, no le va a dejar. (FILMAFFINITY)

Cortometraje antibelicista sin palabras realizado con tinta india y pincel artístico, sobre un grupo de soldados canadienses en la Primera Guerra Mundial. (FILMAFFINITY)

From the NFB: He is a young man; an optimist drawn to dark music and the themes of death and suffering. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has gained a reputation for his dedication, musicality and charisma. Combining documentary and animation, this short film captures his energy and passion, both in performance and in conversation.

Cortometraje de corte experimental compuesto por imágenes de la selva del amazonas capturadas por Karl Lemieux y el músico especializad en grabación de ambientes Francisco López. (FILMAFFINITY)

Partly figurative, partly abstract, Drux Flux is an animation film of fast-flowing images showing modern people crushed by industry. Inspired by One-Dimensional Man by the philosopher Herbert Marcus…

The selfishness of the bourgeoisie and the dull passivity of its servants are the theme of this puppet animation presenting the tragicomedy of a society in its death throes, taking refuge in absurd behaviour.

How unbelievably boring is the life of a solitary cowboy living in the middle of a vast prairie, surrounded by stupid chickens clucking and a shapeless bovine! Not surprising then if his temper turns fowl. Based on a strip cartoon by the Swiss writer Ibn Al Rabin, Cot Cot is a hilarious parody of the western, featuring a cowboy at the end of his tether and a cow that's much smarter than she looks.