Drawn

We’re putting a bunch of HD movies online today over at NFB.ca – and one of the films on offer is a beautiful HD full-length version of the Oscar-nominated animated short, Madame Tutli-Putli (watch above).

Madame Tutli-Putli is the dark and beautiful creation of animators Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski – from the animation house, Clyde Henry.

Other HD animated films on offer are the Oscar-winning CG animated-short, Ryan (Chris Landreth) – which looks stunning in HD, btw, the Oscar-nominated short Walking (Ryan Larkin), Oscar-nominee The Cat Came Back (Cordell Barker) and a 3D version of Drux Flux by Theodore Ushev – which you can also watch right on your monitor if you have a pair of glasses kicking around. Otherwise you can order a free pair of 3D glasses here.

Good morning! This short animated film by Théodore Ushev is like an animated shot of adrenaline. (More films by Théodore Ushev)

Nothing like a little Russian constructivism to get you pumped up for your day. Enjoy!

Also check out Ushev’s blog.

Jeu is one of my favourite animated shorts of the last few years. Paint-on-glass animation is a technique for animated films by manipulating slow-drying oil paints on sheets of glass.

This film is a series of nine animated cycles composed of 400 paintings that “destroy and reconstruct” themselves like a set of Russian matryoshka dolls. The director’s son, Louis Schwizgebel-Wang, performs the accompanying piano piece (Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto).

After the jump, you can watch an interview with Georges Schwizgebel where he talks about the techniques employed in his films.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this animated short, Vice Versa, by Jacques Khouri, an animation professor at Savannah College of Art and Design. Be sure to watch in full screen for the full effect; its use of multiple panels to tell parallel stories reminds me of Chris Ware’s work.

I was also reminded of Norman McLaren’s classic short, Neighbours:

The animated films of Michal Levy combines jazz music with moving shapes and colours. Above, a piece called One. Her work reminds me of what Norman McLaren did with the music of Oscar Peterson in Begone Dull Care:

Michal’s site has her videos in hi-def, along with storyboards, animatics, and an extensive look into her sketchbooks and processes:

I love this absurd little, one-minute animated film by Phillip Eddols.

In this animated short, 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.

Read on for a short Q&A with the Eddolls himself…

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I love the trailer for Rains, a new animated short film from David Coquard-Dassault. The expansive urban backgrounds and cartoony characters remind me of Jean Jacques Sempé‘s stuff.

Looks like the film is currently doing the festival rounds and just won a Jury prize at the Clermont-Ferrand short film festival in France.

More animated films at NFB.ca

Hungu is an animated film by Nicolas Brault inspired by African rock paintings. The NFB (where I work) put it in the YouTube Screening Room as part of Black History Month. Already 360,000 views.

The animation is a combination of sand animation and digital 2D. Here’s a video where Brault describes the process. Pretty cool.

NFB.ca launches today. NFB.ca is the National Film Board of Canada’s new online film site that puts hundreds of animated films, documentaries, and experimental films back in front of the people that created and paid for them.

The Sweater by Sheldon Cohen

Here are a few of the most popular animated films (two Oscar-winners). Note that you can watch the films in various levels of quality; if you’re on high-speed, I definitely recommend the highest quality resolution. There are embed codes for all the films too if you want to post on your site.

The Cat Came Back by Cordell Barker

The Logdriver’s Waltz by John Weldon

Neighbours by Norman McLaren

Explore all the animated films here.

I’ve been working this site for the last year with a small but passionate team of people at the film board trying to get the site ready for this year – which is the NFB’s 70th anniversary. The site has been in public Beta for the last six months while we were testing various features.

UPDATE: Here’s a list of upcoming films on the site too.

Also of interest:
Follow the Film Board on Twitter
Cartoons for Kids on NFB.ca
List of Oscar Winning Films on NFB.ca

Canadian cartoonist Seth is curating a series of films from the National Film Board of Canada. (This is particularly exciting for me, since I work at the NFB).

If you’re lucky enough to live in southern Ontario, you can see the films at the University of Waterloo until January 4, 2009 (more details here).

However, the rest of us can watch one of his selections – Paul Tomkowitz: Street Railway Switchman – right here. It’s a nine-minute 1953 documentary about a Polish-born Canadian who contrasts his adopted home of Winnipeg with his native country.

Check out The Beguiling for more related Seth art.