Animation Showcase

The Mouse that Soared

Kyle Bell / USA / 2009 / 6 mins / animation

Step right up and behold the harrowing and hair-raising aerial adventures of a flying circus mouse! Witness the rise of our orphan foundling as he learns valuable lessons in life and flight from two well-intentioned adoptive songbirds! Fasten your safety belts as our little faux-feathered hero reflects on his unlikely beginnings on his flight path to becoming a coveted circus sensation! Come one, come all to this high-flying tale of overcoming adversity and beating near-impossible odds! --From the Official Site of The Mouse that Soared, where you can read about the dizzying number of awards that Mouse has won.

Filmmaker Kyle Bell is scheduled to attend.

Runaway

Canada / 2009 / 9 mins / animation

directed, written, and animated by Cordell Barker with original music by Benoit Charest

Happy passengers are having a great time on a crowded train, oblivious to the unknown fate that awaits them around the bend. The ensuing crisis leads to a class struggle that is as amusing as it is merciless. Naturally there are victims, but in the end everyone is equal. Cordell Barker, who directed The Cat Came Back and Strange Invaders, is once again at his best with Runaway. Set to the music of Ben Charest (composer of The Triplets of Belleville), Runaway takes you on a journey that is both funny and disastrous. From the Official Site of Runaway.

Runaway is a contender for the Academy Award for Best Animation - Short Subject

The Cat Piano

Australia / 2009 / 8 mins / animation

Narrator Nick Cave Directors Eddie White & Ari Gibson Poem Written by Eddie White Producer Jessica Brentnall Executive Producers Nick Cave, Sam White, Hugh Nguyen

In a city of singing cats, a lonely beat poet falls for a beautiful siren. When a mysterious dark figure emerges, kidnapping the town’s singers for his twisted musical plans, the poet must save his muse and put an end to the nefarious tune that threatens to destroy the city. From the Official Site of The Cat Piano

The Cat Piano is a contender for The Academy Award for Best Animation - Short Subject

Variété

Netherlands / 2009 / 5 mins / animation

Director: Roelof van den Bergh Script: Roelof van den Bergh Key animation: Roelof van den Bergh Produced by Arnoud Rijken & Michiel J. Snijders Music by Aram Kachaturian

Variété is a comical animation film about a plate spinner. The young artist starts his act by placing his parents on the revolving plate. He spins them around fast, balancing them high on top of the long pole. Then he does the same with a girlfriend and a school teacher. While he keeps several poles with plates with people in balance, he slowly grows older. His act becomes more and more hectic and difficult when more people keep turning up on stage to get spinned on plates; friends, a demanding boss, a wife... Soon plates begin to fall. From the Official Site for Varieté.

Varieté is a contender for The Academy Award for Best Animation - Short Subject

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

Ireland / 2008 / 5 mins / animation

Written and Performed by Kathleen O'Rourke Directed by Nicky Phelan Producer: Darragh O'Connell Music by Gregory Magee

If you haven't met Granny O'Grimm yet, you are in for a very unusual perspective on the traditional fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. (may frighten young children and delight their elders)

Learn more at the Official Site of Granny O'Grimm.

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty is a contender for the Academy Award for Best Animation - Short Subject

Contemporary Arts Alliance wishes to acknowledge the partnership of Brown Bag Films in presenting Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty.

La Dama & La Muerte (Lady and the Reaper)

Javier Recio Gracia / Spain / 2009 / 8 mins

In Spanish with English subtitles

She wants nothing more than to join her husband in the hereafter, but when the reaper comes he isn't alone; an egomaniacal doctor does everything in his considerable power to keep the reaper from his quarry. Who will prevail in this struggle of wills?

La Dama & La Muerte is a contender for the Academy Award for Best Animation - Short Subject

Contemporary Arts Alliance wishes to acknowledge the partnership of Kandor Moon in presenting La Dama & La Muerte.

The Island

Trevor Anderson / Canada / 2009 / 6 mins

The filmmaker considers, with the help of animation, a piece of fan mail he received. A humorous and personal--not to mention humorous--response to homophobia.