Fifth World

The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein

January 1992 •English

The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein is a 1992 short animated documentary directed by Joyce Borenstein about her father, the Canadian painter Sam Borenstein. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. In Canada, it was named best short documentary at the 12th Genie Awards.

Finding Jesus

December 2020 •English

Join faith-fueled friends, Muggles and Joy, as they visit the beautiful Finding Jesus Bay, a place where Christian stories are told night and day. Guided by the sea's best storyteller, Professor Shark, they hear all about the endless kindness and boundless love of their Creator.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

June 1996 •English

Isolated bell-ringer Quasimodo wishes to leave Notre Dame tower against the wishes of Judge Claude Frollo, his stern guardian and Paris' strait-laced Minister of Justice. His first venture to the outside world finds him Esmeralda, a kind-hearted and fearless Romani woman who openly stands up to Frollo's tyranny.

Meaning of Robots

March 2012 •English

This short film profiles the benevolent Mike Sullivan, who has been in the process of shooting a stop-motion robot sex film in his New York City apartment for the last ten years. Obsessed with the meticulous construction of the miniature robot porn stars, his apartment now overflows with thousands, leaving him only tiny paths to navigate and no place to film his epic.

Fragile Machine

March 2005 •English

Fragile Machine is an underground cg film about science, religion, and man's role in a new nature of which he has partial authorship. Through a unique combination of animation and music which some have likened to an 'electronic operetta' it tells the story of the first girl to be built in a factory instead of born from a womb.

Rashi: A Light After The Dark Ages

January 1999 •English

A winemaker overcomes the ignorance and illiteracy of his era to become a Torah commentator who defends the right to spiritual choice and freedom in the 11th century.

Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square

October 1998 •English

This film illustrates the life of the film director, Shui-Bo Wang in The People's Republic of China. We learn of the life of the director in his own words and images from a child steeped in the values of Chinese communism exemplified by Chairman Mao, to a young man striving to live up to those ideals both as an artist and a soldier.

Finding Babel

October 2015 •English

The subversive masterpieces of Russian-Ukrainian writer Isaac Babel challenged the reality of life under rising totalitarianism, and led to his arrest and execution in 1940. In Finding Babel, Andrei Malaev-Babel confronts complex traces of a turbulent history that echo in his grandfather's writing and in the conflicts of today's Ukraine and Russia. Babel's fiction is woven into Andrei's search with ethereal animation that puts the viewer, like Babel's readers, between fantasy and reality.

A Young Man Named Engels – A Portrait in Letters

November 1970 •German

With the young Friedrich Engel’s letters and drawings from the years between 1838 and 1842, a unique cinematic portrait is created. The viewer thus gets to know the young Engels personally, learning about the significant moments of his development from a bourgeois-liberal upbringing to the theoretical partner of Karl Marx. Later be awarded the Gold Dove at the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week.

Animated Hero Classics: Beethoven

January 2005 •English

Even as a young boy, Beethoven marched to the beat of a different drummer. Trained in the traditional music methods by his father, Beethoven was an accomplished pianist by the age of 12. But he yearned to try new sounds and persevered until audiences heard his music. By his early twenties, this persistent young man performed for Joseph Haydn, who compared him to the great Mozart. Sadly, Beethoven began to lose his hearing, but he threw himself even more deeply into his music, composing "Fur Elise," "Sonata Pathetique" and the dramatic "Fifth Symphony" years later, audience members heard what he could not and leapt to their feet in ecstatic appreciation for such passionate music. His creativity gave the world then, as it does today, music that stirs the soul. The video begins in 1827 with 30,000 people paying tribute to the great Beethoven in Vienna, Austria. Then the video switches to his life as a child...

Me and the Mosque

January 2005 •English

Using original animation, archival footage and personal interviews, this full-length documentary portrays the multiple relationships Canadian Muslim women entertain with Islam’s place of worship, the mosque. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. In North America, a large number of converts are women. Many are drawn to the religion because of its emphasis on social justice and spiritual equality between the sexes. Yet, many mosques force women to pray behind barriers, separate from men, and some do not even permit women to enter the building. Exploring all sides of the issue, the film examines the space – both physical and social – granted to women in mosques across the country.

Good Grief

April 2014 •English

Good Grief is a short stop motion animated documentary that explores the lessons we learn from dealing with grief and loss. Five real people share their true stories of losing something precious and what it has taught them about living.

Rambam - The Story of Maimonides

January 2005 •English

Rambam was born in Cordova, Spain in the 12th century. Known as the "Nesher Gadol" the "Great Eagle" - Rambam had the unique ability to see and perceive, with insight and clarity, the "big picture" - and man's relationship to the Divine. He was the first philosopher to unify - and reconcile the rational - with the reality of God. The legacy he left behind is astounding.

Legend of Crystania: The Motion Picture

July 1995 •Japanese

Ashram, desperate to find a home for his people, is tricked into selling his soul. 300 years later, Pirotesse's devotion to her king remains unshaken. In the sacred world of Crystania, amidst a civil war waged by shape-changing warriors, she searches for her beloved Ashram. She meets Redon, a young prince obsessed with avenging his murdered parents. Together, they confront Ashram's captor Barbas.

Miss Hokusai

May 2015 •Japanese

A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.

Drawn from Memory

April 1995 •English

Fierlinger concentrates his considerable talents as an animator to recount through fragmented memories, vivid recollections, and the occasional evocative photograph his life as the rebellious son of Jan Fierlinger, Czechoslovakian career politician.

Genghis Khan

January 1993 •English

Animated in an authentic graphic style with period music, the film tells the story of the first hunt of Genghis Khan as a small boy named Temujin. Directed by Miagmar Sodnompilin (Mongolia). Produced for Italtoons by David Ehrlich (USA).

A Bear Named Jesus

April 2023 •English

At Archer’s Aunty Gladys’ funeral, he hears a tap on the window — it’s a bear named Jesus, who has come for Archer’s mom. “A Bear Named Jesus” is an allegory for religious interference, with an aching yet humorous look at estrangement and mourning for the loss of someone still living.

Song of Raiyantsuuri

July 1994 •Japanese

An indentured Chinese laborer, brought to Japan to work in a coal mine during WWII, manages to escape his captors. He hides out in the Japanese countryside, so far from human habitation that he does not realize when the war ends, with ultimately tragic results.

Mestre Vitalino E Nós No Barro

February 2008 •Portuguese