Mad God: Part 1

The Magic Purse

February 1909 •Danish

A young sailor dozes off in the grass in Frederiksberg Have and wakes up surrounded by supernatural fairylike creatures. They take him to the mermaid Capriciosa, who gives him a magic, inexhaustible wallet. The only rule he must abide is never to share his fortune with his family. (stumfilm.dk)

The Call

March 2006 •English

Pirelli Film's first promotional short, starring John Malcovich and Naomi Campbell.

Desespero

December 2013 •Portuguese

False Hare

July 1964 •English

Big Bad Wolf and his nephew create a club for rabbits, Club del Conejo, to try to catch Bugs Bunny.

Wholly Smoke

August 1938 •English

A neighborhood bully convinces Porky to take a puff from his cigar, causing Porky to hallucinate a smoke-man named Nick O. Teen, along with a musical number done by cigars, cigarettes and pipes in the likeness of the 3 Stooges, etc.

Walt Disney's Standard Parade for 1939

January 1939 •English

A live action black-and-white prolog tells the story of how Walt Disney came to Hollywood with $300, was rejected by all the major studios, but went on to tremendous success, many awards, and a thriving studio. Titles then ask what this means to the Standard Oil Salesman, and a parade of Disney characters gives us the answer, featuring Mickey as drum major, Minnie carrying a banner, and the 7 Dwarfs carrying the letters "STANDARD" (Dopey gets stuck with the last two): Apparently the various ads for Standard will be featuring Disney characters in the coming year.

Rhinoceros

February 1964 •German

Based on Eugene Ionesco’s play, this is an animated film warning that by conforming to patterns and living en masse, people will become rhinoceroses.

Automata

September 2011 •English

Automata is the eerie, black-humoured story of Henry, the last in a long line of duck hunters. The film examines the connection between hunter and prey and obsession in the face of extinction. It posits the question 'what would happen to someone at the tipping point; the moment where they are directly responsible for the extinction of an entire species' Duck hunting in Australia is a very contentious issue and every year hunters and protesters clash. The experimental side is evidenced with the lack of dialog, non-linear narrative and a 'score' by Belgian sound designer Christina Clar. The majority of the sound tracking and design was completed before the edit in Australia, thus reversing the usual process. The sound post production was completed in Brussels and includes recordings from deep within remote caves.

The Window

November 2012 •Korean

Sergeant Jeong Cheol-min's squad are in a renovated stock room with no window. The squad members are well known to be a hardworking group until Councellor Hong Yeong-soo comes in and starts causing trouble. Hong Yeong-soo seems to have difficulties adjusting to this environment. Things in the army changes rapidly, Jeong Cheol-min and his crew find themselves under attack perceived as the aggressors.

По дороге с облаками

December 1984 •Russian

Chatterbox

December 1980 •Russian

Bambi Meets Godzilla

July 1969 •English

Bambi is nibbling the grass, unaware of the upcoming encounter with Godzilla. Who will win when they finally meet? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

A Place in the Sun

November 1960 •Czech

Oscar nominated animated short film from Czechoslovakia, 1960. Two characters fight over their claim to a small sunny spot on a beach.

Elephants Dream

March 2006 •English

Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect. Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D animated “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite Blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.

The Paintjackers

January 1959 •Russian

When the clock strikes twelve in a toy store a bunch of paint tubes come to life.

Coven

March 2000 •English

An alcohol/drug abuser re-examines his life until he nearly dies from an overdose. Then a friend convinces him to join a self-help group which turns out to be demonic.

A Chipmunk Christmas

December 1981 •English

Alvin learns the true meaning of Christmas.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

April 2005 •English

One of the most exciting and memorable stories in the history of the World Trade Towers is that of Philippe Petit, a French man who walked a tightrope between the massive monuments in 1974. Narrated by Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, this is an animated adaptation of the lyrical Caldecott Award-winning book by Mordecai Gerstein. Directed and animated by Michael Sporn, with music by Michael Bacon (of the Bacon Brothers).

The Flat

January 1968 •Czech

A man is trapped in a sinister flat where nothing seems to obey the laws of nature.

Haze

April 2005 •Japanese

A man awakes to find himself trapped in a dirty, confined crawlspace. He barely has enough room to move. He also has no memory of why he's there, or why he's bleeding from a stomach wound. Apparently drugged, he occasionally 'zones out' of his surroundings as he tries to edge towards his way to freedom. But the more he explores, the more pain he has to endure, and the more frightening his predicament becomes.