Get Animated Online Programming

About this playlist

Get Animated! is a Canada-wide series of free screenings, master classes and activities marking International Animation Day (October 23–31, 2009).

Watch the NFB’s latest animated films on the big screen for free and attend special presentations with Oscar®-winner Chris Landreth (Ryan) and twice Oscar®-nominated Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back).You can also enjoy NFB’s exclusive online programming for Get Animated!

The NFB’s new 2-disc set Animation Express, a dazzling collection of films by today’s animation innovators, will also be on sale at screening venues.

Find a screening or a workshop in a Canadian city near you.

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Selected films (Contains 15 films)

  • Tzaritza
    Tzaritza by Théodore Ushev
    This animated short by Theodore Ushev combines warmth, humour and magic in a story about a young girl who misses her grandmother. When Lili finds a tzaritza (magic shell) along the seashore, she hatches a plan to bring her Grandma from Bulgaria to Montreal to make her father happy. Part of the Talespinners collection, the film features music by Normand Roger. [ more ]
  • Hothouse 5: Orange
    Hothouse 5: Orange by Sylvie Trouvé
    This animated short from the Hothouse 5 series poses some interesting questions - what if buildings pulsed, trees tapped out beats or shadows could whistle us a tune? Through the creative interpretation and animation of the city's natural rhythms, Orange orchestrates a unique urban dance. [ more ]
  • Hothouse 5: Git Gob
    Hothouse 5: Git Gob by Philip Eddolls
    In this animated short from the Hothouse 5 series, two creatures wonder, "What is a hole?" They have different points of view. Their debate leads to an idea, an idea that changes the world. This is a story of practical magic. [ more ]
  • Jeu
    Jeu by Georges Schwizgebel
    In this animated short, the filmmaker sets the viewer down in a landscape whose scenery constantly morphs and mutates. This helter-skelter world evokes the chaos of modern life. [ more ]
  • Engine 371
    Engine 371 by Kevin Langdale
    This animated short explores the construction of Canada's transcontinental railroad by examining the relationship between man, machine and nature. It also illustrates their similarities and contrasts and what part this fundamental struggle of man versus nature played in uniting a country. A film without words. [ more ]
  • Sleeping Betty
    Sleeping Betty by Claude Cloutier
    In this animated short, Sleeping Betty is stuck in bed, victim to a strange bout of narcolepsy. The King calls on his subjects to rescue her and they all respond to the call: Uncle Henry VIII, Aunt Victoria, an oddly emotional alien, a funky witch and a handsome prince. But will a kiss really be enough to wake the sleeping princess? The film, drawn in ink, is a classic example of the anachronistic and playful world of Claude Cloutier. [ more ]
  • Hungu
    Hungu by Nicolas Brault
    Under the African sun, a child walks in the desert with his kin. Death is prowling, but a mother's soul resurrected by music will return strength and life to the child when he becomes a man. Inspired by the grace and raw beauty of African rock paintings, Nicolas Brault paints a story without borders, with the humanity and elegance of a universal narrator. [ more ]
  • Drux Flux
    Drux Flux by Théodore Ushev
    Part figurative, part abstract, Drux Flux is an animated short comprised of fast-flowing images showing modern people crushed by industry. Inspired by One-Dimensional Man, by philosopher Herbert Marcuse, the filmmaker deconstructs industrial scenes and their terrifying geometry to show the inhumanity of progress. [ more ]
  • Nightmare at School
    Nightmare at School by Catherine Arcand
    Who hasn't felt apprehensive at the thought of starting high school? This is the central theme of this short animated film. Playing on imagination and humour, the director offers viewers a thought-provoking piece dealing with the transition that young people between the ages of 10 and 13 experience. Inspired by the work of Escher and Magritte, Catherine Arcand has created a graphically rich film through optical illusions and trompe-l'oeil effects. Her style aptly illustrates the theme of perceptions and is perfectly suited to conveying the dream world into which the film takes us. A film without words. [ more ]
  • The Brainwashers
    The Brainwashers by Patrick Bouchard
    In this animated short, two chimney sweepers clear all the memories from their victim's brain in a quest to determine what goes on in a man's head. A chilling film filled with fearsome puppets inhabiting a world of strange objects. [ more ]
  • Forming Game
    Forming Game by Malcolm Sutherland
    This animated short from Malcolm Sutherland is an engaging dance of shapes and sounds. The "game" is played by opening the box, unfolding the board and placing shapes on it that you manipulate with your hands. There are no winners or losers in this game; the fun is in the creative way the forms unfold. Features a score by Luigi Alleman and music by Ravi Shankar. [ more ]
  • HA'Aki
    HA'Aki by Iriz Pääbo
    In this short abstract-impressionist film the animation and music were made simultaneously in an organic process of symbiotic creativity. Filmmaker Iriz Pääbo tells the highly subjective story of a complete hockey game using a new cinematic vocabulary she calls "animbits." Pääbo readily admits she is not the biggest fan of Canada's national game, so the great, though highly underappreciated NHL stalwart of the '60s and '70s, Eric Nesterenko, was her hockey muse in this artistic journey. A lyrical and wonderfully unorthodox interpretation of hockey. [ more ]
  • Uncle Bob's Hospital Visit
    Uncle Bob's Hospital Visit by JoDee Samuelson
    When unexpected illness lands Uncle Bob in the hospital, he's transported from his safe and familiar surroundings to a foreign and chaotic new world. As his stay lengthens, his spirits and health decline until his former life is just a distant memory. It takes a special visit from a special visitor to motivate him to get well. This animated short is a charming look at the importance of cheer, hope and love in the healing process. [ more ]
  • Subservience
    Subservience by Patrick Bouchard
    In this animated short, bourgeois selfishness and the passivity of its servants take centre stage as a puppet show presents the tragicomedy of a society in its death throes. [ more ]
  • Come Again in Spring
    Come Again in Spring by Belinda Oldford
    This gentle tale about mortality works in subliminal ways. When an old man is visited by Death at his home in the meadows, he has to delve deep to secure more time for himself. Does he have the strength to find the answers he needs? Can we negotiate our time on earth? How do we reconcile our mortal fate? A lyrical look at a reality as old as humanity, yet as young as today. Based on a story by Richard Kennedy. [ more ]