Francine Langdeau

The Head Vanishes

Jacqueline has lost her mind a bit, but whatever, for her trip to the seaside, she has decided to take the train by herself, like a big girl!

No Fish Where to Go

Marie-Francine Hébert based the script for No Fish Where to Go on her book, which was published in 2003 and illustrated by Janice Nadeau. Directed by Nicola Lemay and Nadeau, this modern tale compassionately and poetically addresses intolerance and the consequences of war.

Gloria Victoria

Theodore Ushev’s acclaimed 20th century trilogy concludes with this brilliant fusion of 3D and Russian constructivist-styled animation. Recycling elements of surrealism and cubism, this animated short by Theodore Ushev focuses on the relationship between art and war. Propelled by the exalting “invasion” theme from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony (No. 7), the film presents imagery of combat fronts and massacres, leading us from Dresden to Guernica, from the Spanish Civil War to Star Wars. It is at once a symphony that serves the war machine, that stirs the masses, and art that mourns the dead, voices its outrage and calls for peace.

Hollow Land

In this evocative film about the eternal human search for home, Berta and Solomon arrive in a land that promises respite from their many journeys. But have they found utopia... or just another stop on their long journey?

Edmond Was a Donkey

Edmond is a misfit at the office. When his co-workers pull a prank giving him donkey ears, Edmond realizes his true nature: he, in fact, is a real donkey.

Romance

While on an airplane, a traveller's spirit plunges into a dream world. Here, under the influence of the unknown, the logic of his desires prevails, and a romantic saga takes shape.

Mamori

Mamori transports us into a black-and-white universe of fluid shapes, dappled and striated with shadows and light, where the texture of the visuals and of the celluloid itself have been transformed through the filmmaker’s artistry. The raw material of images and sounds was captured in the Amazon rainforest by filmmaker Karl Lemieux and avant-garde composer Francisco López, a specialist in field recordings. Re-filming the photographs on 16 mm stock, then developing the film stock itself and digitally editing the whole, Lemieux transmutes the raw images and accompanying sounds into an intense sensory experience at the outer limits of representation and abstraction. Fragmented musical phrases filter through the soundtrack, evoking in our imagination the clamour of the tropical rainforest in this remote Amazonian location called Mamori.

Tower Bawher

This animated short by Theodore Ushev is like a whirlwind tour of Russian constructivist art and is filled with visual references to artists of the era, including Vertov, Stenberg, Rodchenko, Lissitsky and Popova.

Accordion

Exploration of the connections between sex, love and technology.

Through My Thick Glasses

An elderly man tells his granddaughter his personal story of the Second World War. His life as a child and all the strange characters he populates it with takes the little girl to a bizarre world she doesn't understand.

Marianne's Theatre

The curtains of a theatre open onto a smaller puppet theatre presided over by Marianne. The ringmaster waves her baton at three shadowy acrobats that climb one by one out of her hat. Each performs his number, although not without some difficulty. The clumsiness of the first, the mischievousness of the second, and the fieriness of the third trigger a few clashes that ultimately lead to chaos. How can Marianne create harmony without losing control? Will her show flop? Who's really calling the shots, the little puppet or her acrobats?

The Brainwashers

A man is taken to the doctor's office, but it's not for an ordinary checkup. A huge syringe is thrust into his head. Out of the syringe oozes a sticky yellowish liquid that magically turns into two sinister-looking men. These are the opening images of this chilling animation film, in which two chimney sweeps clear all the memories out of their victim's brain. Fearsome puppets inhabit a world of strange objects. What goes on in a man's head?

Islet

For an Inuit fisherman, technology means absurdity. Floating out on a block of ice, he doesn't have any other choice to grab onto some flying fish to save himself.

Under the Weather

Canadian animated short

Two Sisters

Viola writes novels in a darkened room. Marie, her sister and only companion, takes care of her every need. Together, they are an island unto themselves, quiet and complete in their isolation. And then the abrupt arrival of a stranger throws their tenuous order into chaos. An animated short etched directly onto tinted 70 mm film.