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Allegories of War and Peace (25)
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Blue Like a GunshotMasoud Raouf 2003 5 minDiscover a short, animated film that explores the conflict between nature, civilization, and the absurd vanity of human warfare. With its interplay of shadow and light, this film is sure to sweep you away. -
BalablokBretislav Pojar 1972 7 minBretislav Pojar's animated short explores the human phenomenon of resorting to violence over reason. The cubes live happily amongst themselves until one of them encounters a ball. War erupts and they fight until they all become the same again – this time in the form of hexagons. All is right in the world until one of them stumbles upon a triangle… Winner of the 1973 Grand Prix du Festival for Short Film at the International Film Festival in Cannes.
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Bead GameIshu Patel 1977 5 minIn this animated short, thousands of beads are arranged and manipulated, assuming shapes of creatures both mythical and real. They continually devour, merge, and absorb one another in explosions of color.
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Bad SeedsClaude Cloutier 2020 6 minBad Seeds takes us to a bizarre world populated by carnivorous plants that can change shapes the way a chameleon changes colours. The veteran director of
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The Big SnitRichard Condie 1985 9 minThis wonderful wacky animation film looks at two simultaneous conflicts, a macrocosm of global nuclear war and a microcosm of a domestic quarrel, and how each conflict is resolved. Filled with warmth and unexpectedly off-the-wall humour, the film leaves it to viewers to decide which Snit has really been the Big One.
Love this film? -
Boat PeopleKjell Boersma & Thao Lam 2023 9 minAs a child in Vietnam, Thao’s mother often rescued ants from bowls of sugar water. Years later they would return the favour. Boat People is an animated documentary that uses a striking metaphor to trace one family’s flight across the turbulent waters of history.
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DominoesDaniel Schorr 2006 10 minDominoes animates the tiles of this age-old game to illustrate an oddly shaped domino's struggle to belong. Set to tunes inspired by Brazil's chorinho music, the film gives a new spin to the old domino theory as the characters ultimately learn about openness, flexibility, cooperation... and sharing one's dots.
This film is part of the ShowPeace series of lively animated films about conflict resolution. This series has received support from UNICEF and Justice Canada.
Technique: Cut-out animation -
Dinner for TwoJanet Perlman 1996 7 minWhen it comes to conflict, even chameleons won't change! Peace in the rain forest is disrupted when two chameleons literally get stuck in a conflict, with catastrophic results. Relationships are severed, opportunities are lost, innocent bystanders are harmed and violence seems imminent. Luckily for the lizards, a frog observing the fracas turns into exactly what they need - no, not a prince - a mediator.
Dinner for Two tackles conflict in a lively, humorous and provocative way. It shows that amidst the chaos that differences create, there are still paths to reconciliation.
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Ex-ChildJacques Drouin 1994 4 minThis short animation tells the story of a young boy and his father, both of whom are enlisted to fight in the war. The boy's pride soon turns to fear as the bullets whistle overhead. His father takes his place and is immediately shot and killed. Horrified, the boy understands that war is not a game. Based on article 38 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, this film illustrates the right of children under the age of 15 not to be recruited into the armed forces.
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Elbow RoomDiane Obomsawin 2002 8 minThis animated short tackles the subjects of personal space, conflict, and conflict resolution in the workplace. At the office, tempers flare as two coworkers who are sitting dangerously close find themselves bumping elbows and spilling ink. The film demonstrates four common approaches to interpersonal tensions: retreat, aggression, denial and - finally – negotiation. This film is part of the ShowPeace series of lively animated films about conflict resolution. This series has received support from UNICEF and Justice Canada.
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Gloria VictoriaTheodore Ushev 2012 6 minGloria Victoria unfolds on the still-smouldering rubble of a furious 20th century, propelled by the exalting “invasion” theme from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony (No. 7). Resembling a military march with bolero overtones, the music sweeps over imagery of combat fronts and massacres, leading us from Dresden to Guernica, from the Spanish Civil War to star wars. It is at once a symphony that serves the war machine, that stirs the masses, and art that mourns the dead, voices its outrage and calls for peace.
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HimLorna Kirk 2016 1 minHand-drawn charcoal drawings movingly depict the loneliness and bewilderment of a child seeking safety in a war zone, in this timely very short animation that uses found sound to explore the powerlessness of the refugee experience.
Produced as part of the 11th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
The Lost Town of SwitezKamil Polak 2010 19 minIn 19th-century Poland, a traveller loses his way in the forest one stormy night. He witnesses the last days of a medieval town under attack by ruthless warriors. The grandiose tale of The Lost Town of Switez is carried along by the music of Irina Bogdanovitch. Kamil Polak has used advanced computer-assisted animation techniques to create a rich visual universe inspired by religious iconography and Polish romantic painting. The film was screened at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival.
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My Grandmother Ironed the King's ShirtsTorill Kove 1999 10 minImagine that your grandmother used to iron the king’s shirts! This tall tale turned out to be true for Oscar®-winning filmmaker Torill Kove, who expanded a family myth to create an entertaining animated short with a historical twist. My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts is Kove’s surprising and whimsical recounting of an unlikely career in service of an unusual monarch. And when World War II comes to Kove’s native Norway and the king is forced to flee, her grandmother’s skills play a key role in the guerilla resistance against the invading Nazis.
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NeighboursNorman McLaren 1952 8 minIn this short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles normally used to put drawings or puppets into motion to animate live actors. The story is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower.
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BloodTheodore Ushev 2017 38 sWE BLEED FOR WHAT? Made with the filmmaker’s blood, a testament to the ideals that we fight and die for.
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No Fish Where to GoNicola Lemay & Janice Nadeau 2014 12 minIn this short animation based on Marie-Francine Hébert's 2003 book of the same name, a friendship unites two little girls from opposing clans in a village where tensions are mounting. The citizens with the red shoes clearly despise those without, and one fateful morning, one of the girls and her family are accosted at gunpoint by their oppressors. The little girl barely has time to grab her beloved pet fish before the men are herded to one side and the women and children to the other. So begins our protagonist's long and painful journey as she seeks shelter for herself, her mother, and her fish. This modern tale compassionately and poetically addresses intolerance and the consequences of war.
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Of Lives UprootedPierre Marier 1988 9 minThis short film illustrates the impact of the civil war in El Salvador and Guatemala through the words and drawings of children who have known conflict or refugee camps. The film was adapted from an exhibition entitled Disrupted Lives, organized by Linda Dale and sponsored by INTER-PARES and CUSO.
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Tête à Tête à TêteMarv Newland 2005 12 minThis short animation film tells the story of three heads who share a single body. The heads live in perfect harmony until one day... one of them begins to have a mind of its own. The film playfully explores how we're all "connected" but at the same time need to think for ourselves and respect differences.
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The TrenchesClaude Cloutier 2010 5 minThis animated short by Claude Cloutier is a pictorial account of an attack on Canadian soldiers during WWI. On the edge of the battlefield, recruits are dreading the order to attack. At the signal, a young soldier leaps into a hell of fire and blood where the earth engulfs both the living and the dead. Blending archival images and Cloutier’s hypnotizing brushstroke, the film is a dazzling illustration of the futility of war.
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ToysGrant Munro 1966 7 minThis stop-motion animation takes a dark look into the war toys often given to children at Christmas time. Starting off as harmless objects, the toys quickly take on the gestures of real soldiers, mimicking the actions and penalties of a real war. This critical commentary on war and glamorized violence creates a real and frightening battle.
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Through My Thick GlassesPjotr Sapegin 2003 12 minIn Pjotr Sapegin's animated short, an old man tells his granddaughter of his experiences during the Second World War in an effort to distract her while putting on her winter hat. The tall tale is filled with strange characters, surprising plot twists and a world far beyond the little girl's comprehension. Using clay animation, the director takes a true story and gives it a tongue-in-cheek treatment. The film is dedicated to his mother.
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Under the RainbowSidney Goldsmith 1972 10 minA little good will goes a long way--between persons, and between nations. That is the lesson to be learned from this animated film. It begins with a confrontation between a man who grows flowers and a technologist who operates computers. A flower pops up in the computer room; a computer tape appears in the garden. Each man destroys the "foreign object." When they come face to face they discover that understanding is better than distrust, respect better than hostility.
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Vimy-RidgeDamien Hess 2006 2 minIn this short animation Damien Hess attempts to connect with the tragedy of the First World War, a conflict that helped define Canada. In this film he uses imagery of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial monument in northern France to summon up names, faces and shadows that are fading from our memory.
Produced as part of the third edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.
