steven cavalier’s 100 greatest animated short films
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- DirectorFrédéric BackThe industrialization of Montreal (Canada), as seen from the point of view of a rocking-chair.
- DirectorSuzan PittAn animated, surreal, visually stunning as well as rather uniquely imaginative candy-colored nightmare from indie artist Suzan Pitt.
- DirectorPedro SerrazinaStarsJoaquim de AlmeidaA poem. A tale made of silence and complicity. Light and shadows, the charm of the night, the moon as a passion... This is a tale about someone who tried to make the dream come true. This is the tale about the cat and the moon.
- DirectorStan BrakhageA "found foliage" film composed of insects, leaves, and other detritus sandwiched between two strips of perforated tape.
- DirectorLotte ReinigerAnimated version by Lotte Reininger of the well known story of Cinderella who finds her prince with the help of a fairy godmother. The animated short film sticks very close to the source material.
- DirectorNick ParkStarsJulie SedgewickA humourous and thought provoking view of what animals in zoos might be thinking about their captivity and surroundings.
- DirectorJoseph BarberaWilliam HannaStarsPaul FreesWilliam HannaWhen Tom's harassment gets out of hand, Jerry writes to his Cousin Muscles, a tough inner city mouse, and asks for his help.
- DirectorFerenc RofuszA fine day in the life of a fly presented completely from the fly's point of view. A fine day until something dreary happens, that is.
- DirectorKirsten LeporeA transoceanic conversation between two characters via objects in a bottle.
- DirectorLen LyeAnimated shapes dance to Cuban music. This was one of the first animations to be painted directly onto the film.
- DirectorJack KinneyBen SharpsteenStarsPinto ColvigCharles JudelsBilly BletcherDonald Duck has a nightmare that he lives in Germany slaving under the Nazi regime.
- DirectorChris ShepherdStarsIan HartChris FreeneyDallas MessiasOur narrator looks fondly back at his childhood in Liverpool and the antics of his best friend Johnno. Well known for being a showman and a keen one for joking and the like, Johnno starts to change for the worse after he announced that his father has died.
- DirectorMike JittlovStarsMike JittlovRichard KayePaige MooreA Hollywood filmmaker (Mike Jittlov) makes a short for an evil film studio. Unbeknownest to him, the producer has placed a bet of $25,000 that he won't come up with anything with a use. Luckily, our film creator gets the help of his friends.
- DirectorBarry PurvesStarsMichael MaloneyWith visual aids, a narrator tells a story of forbidden love in Feudal Japan, but life has other plans.
- DirectorKarel ZemanStarsKarel ZemanAn artist takes inspiration from the rain outside.
- DirectorKôji MorimotoStarsHedy BurressTress MacNeilleKath SoucieA young girl and a group of children discover that an abandoned house contains a wondrous nature to it.
- DirectorDave FleischerSteve MuffatiStarsBud CollyerJoan AlexanderJackson BeckSuperman battles a criminal mastermind and his robot army.
- DirectorBurt GillettStarsBilly BletcherPinto ColvigDorothy ComptonThe Three Little Pigs each build a house of different material. The Big Bad Wolf comes along and blows away the straw and stick homes, but is unable to destroy the house of bricks.
- DirectorStephen R. JohnsonStarsPeter GabrielAnna-Marie GabrielMelanie GabrielPeter Gabriel's video for his 1986 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, a collaboration with Aardman Animations which set new standards for the industry and became one of the most awarded videos in history.
- DirectorNorman McLarenStarsGrant MunroJean Paul LadouceurA surreal story of two neighbours' destructive feud over a flower.
- DirectorJohn HalasA part alien, part human character floats, flies, sails and swims through psychedelic landscapes.
- DirectorWinsor McCayStarsWinsor McCayGeorge McManusRoy L. McCardellThe cartoonist, Winsor McCay, brings the Dinosaurs back to life in the figure of his latest creation, Gertie the Dinosaur.
- DirectorDavid StotenTim WattsStarsFrank GorshinIn a witty homage to Kirk Douglas's films, all three characters ARE Kirk Douglas at various stages of his career. The short action takes place in a news room. A young reporter looking for his big chance pleads with his editor to give him a breaking story.
- DirectorTex AveryStarsElvia AllmanSara BernerDaws ButlerThe characters of the traditional fairy tale demand a new approach to the story as a sexy urban comedy with Red as a nightclub singer.
- DirectorYuri NorsteinStarsVyacheslav NevinnyyMariya VinogradovaAleksey BatalovA little hedgehog, on the way to visit his friend the bear, gets lost in thick fog, where horses, dogs and even falling leaves take on a terrifying new aspect.
- DirectorMark BakerA country couple and their shepherd endure drought, flood, a monstrous bear, hunters and tourists during a somewhat odd few days in their normally quiet life.
- DirectorSally CruikshankStarsSally CruikshankKim DeitchQuasi, a duck, spends the day at a bizarre amusement park with fellow duck Anita and a robot named Rollo, but his rude and annoying behavior soon becomes impossible for his companions to tolerate.
- DirectorSatoshi Tomioka
- DirectorHarry SmithAn experimental film from artist Harry Smith and part of his Number series of various animated scenes.
- DirectorGeorges SchwizgebelA solitary man without a shadow rises from his desk, dons his hat, and leaves his apartment. He walks through a city to a large door, knocks, shows his invitation, and is admitted to a colorful scene. He walks through drawing rooms and gardens. He speaks with a man in a top hat who offers him a life of romance, but in that life there is betrayal. Is there a place in the world for our man without a shadow?
- DirectorSylvain ChometStarsJames PidgeonMichoue SylvainAndrea Usher-JonesIn seductive central Paris, an undernourished gendarme willing to go to great lengths to feed himself hatches a desperate, yet utterly cunning plan.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsDon HertzfeldtA series of dark and troubling events forces Bill to reckon with the meaning of his life - or lack thereof.
- DirectorChuck JonesMaurice NobleStarsRobert MorleyA simple line attempts to woo his true love, a dot, away from the unkempt squiggle she prefers. But he'll have to learn to bend before she'll notice him.
- DirectorRun WrakeA girl sees a rabbit running across a field. Thinking it would make an excellent muff, she pursues it with a knife. It escapes her, but her brother kills it. She slices it open, and out pops an animated idol that, when bothered by insects, turns them into feathers, bottles of ink, and jewels. Thinking of the riches of royalty, the boy and girl put the idol outside in a vat of plum jam and proceed to eviscerate various farm animals to draw hundreds of wasps and flies. The idol complies, and soon they've filled a bedroom with boxes of jewels. Off they go to town to trade the feathers and ink for more jam, but while they're gone, the idol is busy. Comeuppance may await.
- DirectorTerry GilliamA bizarre comedy short by Terry Gilliam telling various absurdly comic stories.
- DirectorGraham HeidWilfred JacksonStarsElvia AllmanMarie ArbuckleBarbara BrewsterAs a thunderstorm approaches, birds, mice and other creatures try to stay safe and dry in an old mill.
- DirectorJohn HubleyStarsBill LeeThurl RavenscroftAnnette WarrenThe musical tale of a murder trial by a jealous lover.
- DirectorMichael Dudok de WitStarsJames LauferA father says goodbye to his young daughter. Time passes and the daughter moves through life age by age, but within her there is always a deep longing for her father.
- DirectorKunio KatoStarsMasami NagasawaTo save his house from rising flood waters, an old man uses bricks to build it higher, then he relives events from his past while searching for his dropped pipe.
- DirectorPriit PärnSeveral episodes, each focusing on a different figure. Towards the end they all come together to replicate the famous painting by Édouard Manet that provides the title.
- DirectorRobert CannonJohn HubleyStarsMarvin MillerThe story of a little boy who would only talk in sound effects. With story by Dr. Seuss (and Bill Scott of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame) this cartoon won the Oscar for best short subject (animated) for 1950.
- DirectorChuck JonesStarsMel BlancThe short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.
- DirectorRalph EgglestonStarsRalph EgglestonA group of snooty birds roosting on a telephone wire get their just deserts when a goofy bird drops in.
- DirectorJonathan HodgsonStarsPeter BlegvadLouis SchendlerSome children are fascinated by a lonely house in the neighbourhood they have been told to stay away from.
- DirectorÉmile CohlThe first all-animated film in history, a series of scenes without much narrative structure, but morphing into each other.
- DirectorJimmy T. MurakamiDianne JacksonStarsDavid BowieRaymond BriggsMel SmithOn Christmas Eve, a young boy builds a snowman that comes to life and takes him to the North Pole to meet Father Christmas.
- DirectorAleksandr PetrovStarsGordon PinsentKevin DuhaneyYôji MatsudaAn old fisherman goes out on his fishing trip and makes a huge catch, the biggest of his life.
- DirectorBarry CookStarsCharles FleischerKathleen TurnerApril WinchellDuring a picnic, Baby Herman follows a beaver into a perilous sawmill - with Roger Rabbit in frantic pursuit.
- DirectorRobert BreerAbstract figures rapidly shape-shift until finally settling into the form of a man and his dog, but only for a moment.
- DirectorPatrick RodioStarsTony DevonVince StefaniKatie Rimmer
- An image of a boy in a rowboat is zoomed out to the cosmic vastness of space and then zoomed into the infinitesimal microreality of him.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerThree surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
- DirectorTim HopeStarsWaen ShepherdIn the middle of woods inhabited by wolves, an astrologist imagines what it would be like to be a werewolf, running and howling through the woods in a schizophrenic blur instead of sitting in his home watching videos. Then the moon calls to him.
- DirectorJohn HubleyStarsMark HubleyRay HubleyTwo boys go outside at night to capture a bird.
- DirectorDave FleischerWillard BowskyStarsJack MercerMae QuestelLou FleischerThe legendary sailors Popeye and Sindbad do battle to see which one is the greatest.
- DirectorRichard CondieStarsJay BrazeauIda OslerRandy WoodsA couple have a fight over a scrabble game unaware that a full scale nuclear war has started.
- DirectorCaroline LeafStarsMort RansenSarah DwightJohn HoodThis film deals with a Jewish family in Montreal, Canada as they care for a dying grandmother and the young boy who is impatient to get the room he was promised as soon as she kicks the bucket.