Death is Smoking My Cigars

Song of the Flies

December 2021 •Spanish

The experimental animated film Song of the Flies (El Canto de las Moscas), translates the desolation caused by the violence of the Colombian armed conflict through the poetic voice of Maria Mercedes Carranza (1945–2003) and the audiovisual dialogue between 9 Colombian women. In 24 places, as a transit over the course of a day (Morning, Day, Night) a map of terror is drawn where massacres took place in Colombia in the 1990s. Archival images, the artists’ personal memories and the use of loops and analogue materials bring to life the landscapes ravaged by violence and build a polyphony of memory and mourning, a universal song of pain.

A l'Aube d'un Renouveau

August 2023 •French

In this farewell letter to Ana (aka Anorexia), I reveal the suffering associated with this illness. I sincerely express my deep desire to regain my freedom and vitality by sharing not only my progress but also my relapses. Through the interweaving of drawings and poetry, I share this quest for reconstruction, which I hope will help raise awareness of this mental illness and bring a little hope to people affected by it and those around them.

How the Moon Conquered Pop

January 2019 •German

Musicians inspired by the Moon. Since the Apollo landings, the Moon has entered popular consciousness like never before. A journey through pop music's lunar obsession.

My Name Is Nathan

July 2012 •English

A little boy troubled by a paper bird - Quote : "I am alone in my gondola, I am trapped in the sky, My name's Nathan, I don't like the real"

The Wings

January 2019 •English

A kinetic typography animation set to a reading of the poem "The Wings" by Sebastian Fox.

The Whimsical Council

June 2010 •French

A young man opens the window of his attic room and discovers a lunar landscape which submerges him and threatens to imprison him in an eternal sheet of ice. He closes the window to escape this vision and hears from deep inside his soul the sound of a poem being sung.

Rosaura

January 1978 •German

This film visualizes humanity’s quest to relentlessly pursue goals. In the human fight for progress, the march forward cannot be stopped, even when individual people become weary and die. This animated short is based on a poem by the Chilean filmmaker and poet Juan Forch. Chilean painter Hernando León created the design.

Hedgehog's Home

January 2017 •Croatian

In a lush and lively forest lives a hedgehog. He is at once admired, respected and envied by the other animals. However, Hedgehog’s unwavering devotion to his home annoys and mystifies a quartet of insatiable beasts: a cunning fox, an angry wolf, a gluttonous bear and a muddy boar. Together, the haughty brutes march off towards Hedgehog’s home to see just what is so precious about this “castle, shiny and huge.” What they find amazes them and sparks a tense and prickly standoff.

A Child's Garden of Poetry

April 2011 •English

Poems by some of the greatest writers of all time are brought to life through lyrical animation and readings by some of today’s most respected performers.

Night on the Galactic Railroad

July 1985 •Japanese

Giovanni currently lives a dreary life of near non-stop work. At school, his peers ridicule him incessantly, and his employer at work is distant and cold. As his isolation from society becomes unbearable, he suddenly finds himself on a train heading far away from his miserable home. Accompanied by Campanella, an acquaintance from school, Giovanni embarks on a journey that will define the rest of his life.

A Thousand and One Nights

November 1974 •Czech

Five different exploits of Sinbad the sailor where he gets mixed up with the pretty daughters of exotic potentates, with powerful monsters that threaten his existence, and with all sorts of teeming jungle life.

SeeingSeeing

May 2024 •English

Through meticulous cut-up, collaging and stop motion, Nico Vassilakis makes words dance across the screen, moving our eyes in all different directions. This video poem is dynamic and colourful, and brings into question what happens when we 'see' a word - where do we distinguish between the image a word forms in our minds, and the image it forms on a page or screen?

Marcel, your mother is calling you

January 1961 •French

Afterimages

August 2023 •English

A film-poem created for Counterclock Journal's 2023 Patchwork: Film x Poetry fellowship, featuring an original poem by Mackenzie Duan and animation by Evan Bode.

Un spectacle interrompu

January 2012 •French

The Blue Years

November 2018 •Spanish

Rubén tries to describe the color blue as "The color of dreams, of art, of the ocean and of the firmament", thereby unleashing half a century of poetry.

Lines

February 2021 •English

Six poems written by six young prisoners animated to tell their stories, thoughts, fears and hopes.

Synapses

April 1981 •English

Réne Manzor's debut short, a surreal story about a tramp trying to build a road through the desert.

Groter dan je bent

Invalid date •Dutch

The Infinite

July 2020 •Italian

Animation inspired by the poem “The Infinite” by Giacomo Leopardi.