Imprints

Ex-Child

1994

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.

Jacques Drouin: In Relief

2009

This documentary is a portrait of the animator of Le Paysagiste, from his childhood in Eastern Quebec to his career at the NFB. Trained at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Drouin became in some ways the heir to Alexandre Alexeïeff when he began working with the Alexeïeff-Parker pinhole screen in 1974. Recounting his relationship with the filmmaker and inventor, coming back with lucidity and precision on the whole of his own filmography, Jacques Drouin delivers here a precious testimony on creation. Enriched with numerous excerpts and unpublished images from the filmmaker's personal archives, Jacques Drouin en relief is both the adventure of a lifetime and a valuable lesson in cinema.

A Hunting Lesson

2001

This short animated film follows Antoine, a young boy fascinated by his mysterious neighbour, a man rumoured to have once been a big game hunter. Antoine is eager to learn about hunting, but the lesson he learns from the wise older man is not at all what he had expected: Antoine is left with a profound reverence for life.

Trois exercices sur l'écran d'épingles d'Alexeieff

1974

Animated short film made in three parts on the pin screen by Alexeieff-Parker. With these three exercises, director Jacques Drouin experiments with the play of light and shadow alone. Original, this experience presents us with a reality that is not truncated although it may appear as follows: the faculty of wonder will be able to create the necessary link between everyday life and the way it was rendered.

Panasonic: Glider

1981

A computer-animated paper airplane.

Animals' Winter

1999

When winter comes, it is hard for those who try to escape from the colds alone, relying only on themselves. The heroes of one of the most famous folk tales come to this conclusion. The tale became the literary basis of the film. The age-old folk wisdom is embodied here in a simple story.

Lunar Path

1994

There is only one day left until the New Year, and Little Fox still hasn’t figured out what to give to his friends. The crow advised him to climb into the attic, and there in an old chest they found the costumes of Father Frost and the Snow Maiden. At the request of the Moon Bunny, the Little Fox dressed as Father Frost and went to the Moon to congratulate the constellations gathered at the Star Ball. For this, the Moon Queen Selena granted the Little Fox's wish, giving him a bag of gifts for his friends.

The Fog From London

1992

Little Fox found a bottle of fog in the forest. For his release from the magic vessel, the Fog from London promised to fulfill any wish of the Little Fox.

Head

1975

An ingenious, witty essay on making filmed, photographed, drawn, painted, and Xeroxed images move. Reverberating between multi-media versions of the same events, playing with disjunctions between figure and ground, HEAD is a 'trickfilm' meditation on portraiture; the animator, as actor, lives through his drawings, which in turn become actors who influence his own self-image. An insider's diary on the process of creation, HEAD is a brilliant encyclopedic exploration of the circular relationship between the animator and his creation, of the nature of animated illusion itself.

Эй, на том берегу!

1992

The Story of Mahajanaka

2014

There was a king, Mahajanaka, of Mithila in the kingdom of Videha. He had two sons, Aritthajanaka and Polajanaka. When the old king died, the elder brother, Aritthajanaka, became king, and the younger brother his viceroy. In time the new king became suspicious of his brother's popularity with the people and, fearful for his throne, had Polajanaka put in chains. But when Polajanaka proclaimed his innocence, miraculously his chains fell off and he was able to escape to a small village near the frontier of the kingdom. Since he was a strong leader, he attracted many followers.

A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation

2010

When his father dies unexpectedly, a young man seeking to cope with his grief goes on a powerful emotional journey through time and space.

Twittering Birds Never Fly: The Clouds Gather

2020

In the hyper-masculine criminal underworld, a masochistic high-ranking yakuza and his newly-assigned bodyguard become increasingly drawn to each other.