Neighbours ***
1952, McLaren, Can 1st; big screen
Two neighbours find a flower exactly in the middle of their houses, and quarrel over who it belongs to.
Groundbreaking pixelation animation, crudely done but opening up all the possibilities its kind presents. The story, of two quarrelling neighbours fighting until almost naked (over a flower) is by today's standards disturbing with its homoerotic overtones. But the moral is valid, if obvious.

The Wolfman ***
2000, Hope, GB 1st; big screen
A demented wolf flies on a rocket into a planet.
Award-winning, breakthrough animation for Hope; a bizarre little beast of a film which was later made into a Playstation 2 commercial.

Street of Crocodiles ***
1986, Quay, GB 1st; big screen
A society which breeds robot-like workers, with no room for individual thinking.
Animated short from the Quay brothers, an indictment of the society it depicts, starring brainless, eyeless puppets.

The Bible ***
2004, Amundlien, Nor 1st; big screen
A one minute, quickfire dissection of The Bible.
An animated mockery of The Bible which ends with a Big Bang of sorts. In essence, this is it; no further reading required.

Leonidestorm/Leonid Shower ***
2004, Næss/Engaas, Nor 1st; big screen
Animation to various soundbites of people's wishes in life.
An affecting short which presents a mixture of paradoxical and complimentary visuals to the audio, giving the piece a sense of mounting immediacy.

Save Me ***
1994, Hilton, GB 1st; big screen
The survival of a disaster due to a miracle.
Abstract short which for the most part uses animation and multi-layered sound to conjure up a real sense of atmosphere.

Mick