Art That Moves: The Work of Len Lye

Len Lye (1901-1980) was a pioneer of experimental animation, and also of kinetic sculpture. This short film dramatically presents 18 minutes inside the head of the artist as a teenager. The opening scenes are set in New Zealand in the year 1917, on the day when Lye (setting out on his bicycle to deliver newspapers) makes his excited discovery that motion can be the basis for a radically new approach to art.

Charlotte

The true story of Charlotte Salomon, a young German-Jewish painter who comes of age in Berlin on the eve of the Second World War. Fiercely imaginative and deeply gifted, she dreams of becoming an artist. Her first love applauds her talent, which emboldens her resolve. When anti-Semitic policies inspire violent mobs, she escapes to the safety of the South of France. There she begins to paint again, and finds new love. But her work is interrupted, this time by a family tragedy that reveals an even darker secret. Believing that only an extraordinary act will save her, she embarks on the monumental adventure of painting her life story.

Untitled (Heat up the Nickel)

We hear a whole catalogue of technical, moral, and financial instructions, ranging from practical to absurd, each introduced by “It works . . . ,” as in “It works in the shops and in all of the malls; it works when you cut off your microscopic balls. . . . It works if you heat up the nickel, if you save up the dime, and on a blackballer I wasted my prime. . . However, a single glance at the homeless protagonist and his forlorn setting suffices to clarify that none of this advice has worked all that well for him.

The Final Day

Yadira, a creative young Cuban girl, struggles packing on her final day home. Embarking on an immigration journey alone, her suitcase feels too small to carry everything her heart holds.

Critiqué

An acclaimed artist gets a bad review and deals with it the only way he can.

Interview Record of New Artists

The Stolen Princess

This wonderful story happened in the age of valiant knights, beautiful princesses, and battling sorcerers. Ruslan, a wandering artist dreaming to become a knight, met beautiful Mila and fell in love with her; he didn’t even suspect that she is the King’s daughter. However, the lovers’ happiness wasn’t meant to last too long. Chernomor, the evil sorcerer, appeared in a magic vortex and stole Mila right before Ruslan’s eyes to transform her power of love into his own magic power. Without further ado, Ruslan sets out on a chase after the stolen princess to overcome all obstacles and to prove that real love is stronger than magic.

Eclectic Shorts by Eric Leiser

Eric Leiser displays his boundless creativity in this short collection; A stunning compilation of works presented with a mixture of live action, stop motion animation, puppetry and pixilation techniques, produced between 2001 and 2006.

Miss Hokusai

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

The Spring of Huang Jueping

An artist looks back on his younger years at the Chongqing Art Academy in the turbulent 1990s. The selection and demands used to be killing. He was close friends with two boys and a girl. They fought with local youngsters and tried to give each other pep talks. Parallels with the childhood years of his parents, during the Cultural Revolution, also show violence and gun battles. Semi-autobiographical, with motion capture.

Brush the Teddy's Toes

A paediatrician asks Louis 'to brush the teddy's toes', indicating that Louis's own are somehow developing differently... (http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b8ab5d636).

Gloria's Call

In 1971, graduate student Gloria Orenstein received a call from Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington that sparked a lifelong journey into art, ecofeminism and shamanism. This short film uses art, animation and storytelling to celebrate this wild adventure. Now more than 40 years later, award-winning Dr. Gloria Feman Orenstein is a feminist art critic and pioneer scholar of women in Surrealism and ecofeminism in the arts. Her delightful tale brings alive an often unseen history of women in the arts.

Untitled (Rat)

An anthropomorphic rat repeatedly wakes up in its bed, leaves, presumably goes about its life, and returns back home in the evening. All we are offered by way of context is a single, hand-drawn shot of the rat’s proletarian room.

Who Named the Lily?

‘Who Named the Lily?’ celebrates and laments the complicated history of the Crystal Palace. Monster Chetwynd plays the ‘Fact Hungry Witch’, who explores the story of the Amazonian waterlily, and reveals its links to engineering. The artwork brings to light the politics of Paxton’s developments in industry and architecture, however, the protagonist of this story is the waterlily – a catalyst for ground-breaking technological advancement.

Cliff: A Portrait of an Artist

Acclaimed Canadian artist Cliff Eyland looks back on his life after a successful double lung transplant.

Entergalactic

Ambitious artist Jabari attempts to balance success and love when he moves into his dream Manhattan apartment and falls for his next-door neighbor.

My Art is Not Dead

A poor artist accidentally discovers the use of blood to paint his works and now he's on the search for the perfect color.

The Falling Shadow

A wise old man teaches a boy the art of building. The boy develops outstanding skills. He builds the most magnificent palaces, but something inside him atrophies. The flip side of humanity, the shadow, grows beyond him.

Hasan Everywhere

Hasan Everywhere is an animation which broaches the subtlety of a relationship between a man and a woman who bear the passports of enemies, to sympathetically deal with the subjects of death, grief, lost opportunity; but mostly it seeks to demonstrate the possibility of friendship triumphing over the deepest of rifts between two people. In that regard it is most unusual among the standard fare of animated shorts.

The Invisible Moustache of Raoul Dufy

A short animated biopic of popular and fashionable French painter Raoul Dufy.

Loving Vincent

A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.

Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet

Exiled artist and poet Mustafa embarks on a journey home with his housekeeper and her daughter; together the trio must evade the authorities who fear that the truth in Mustafa's words will incite rebellion.

Anomalisa

An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.

Mad God

A silent figure known as The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

As the Clone Wars sweep through the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker and his new Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano plunge into a dangerous mission to rescue the kidnapped son of crime lord Jabba the Hutt.

Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars

Federation trooper Johnny Rico is ordered to work with a group of new recruits on a satellite station on Mars, where giant bugs have decided to target their next attack.

Rock Dog 2: Rock Around the Park

When Bodi and his band 'True Blue' leave Snow Mountain to tour with pop sensation Lil' Foxy, they learn that fame comes at a price.

Where Is Anne Frank

The film follows the journey of Kitty, the imaginary friend to whom Anne Frank dedicated her diary. A fiery teenager, Kitty wakes up in the near future in Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam and embarks on a journey to find Anne, who she believes is still alive, in today's Europe. While the young girl is shocked by the modern world, she also comes across Anne's legacy.

Asparagus

A symbolic reflection on issues of female sexuality, art and identity constructs.

Entergalactic

Ambitious artist Jabari attempts to balance success and love when he moves into his dream Manhattan apartment and falls for his next-door neighbor.

The Congress

An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.

A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures

Born on a Baja, California beach in 1959, new hatchling Sammy races across the beach to the ocean while avoiding being caught by seagulls and crabs. Thus begins Sammy's incredible fifty-year ocean journey where he overcomes obstacles, both natural and man-made, while trying to fulfill his dream of travelling around the world. Along the way he meets his best friend, a fellow turtle named Ray, and never forgets about Shelly, a turtle he saved that first day on the beach and the one he's always loved.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender

Avatar Aang, the world's last Airbender, learns of an ancient power that could save his culture from extinction. With the help of his friends, he embarks on a global quest to find it before it falls into the wrong hands and threatens to upend the peace they sacrificed everything to achieve.

Twenty Something

Follows Gia, who has to deal with the challenges and insecurities of "adulting" during her 21st birthday.

Mater and the Ghostlight

Mater, the rusty but trusty tow truck from Cars, spends a day in Radiator Springs playing scary pranks on his fellow townsfolk. That night at Flo's V8 Café, the Sheriff tells the story of the legend of the Ghostlight, and as everyone races home Mater is left alone primed for a good old-fashioned scare.

Surviving Sid

Sid the Sloth takes a school of children out on a camping trip from home, only to find that in typical Sid style, he is not a very good guide and the children he takes with him don't have a very good time.

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters

Po and the Furious Five uncover the legend of three of kung fu's greatest heroes: Master Thundering Rhino, Master Storming Ox, and Master Croc.

Killer Bean Forever

When things go bad in Beantown, top assassin Killer Bean is called to clean-up the mess. Detective Cromwell finds himself in the middle between Killer Bean and mob boss Cappuccino.

The House

Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.

America: The Motion Picture

A chainsaw-wielding George Washington teams with beer-loving bro Sam Adams to take down the Brits in a tongue-in-cheek riff on the American Revolution.