Category: animation & cartoons

Boogie-Doodle

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National Film Board of Canada (1940)

Boogie-Doodle is a 1940 drawn-on-film visual music short by Norman McLaren, set to the boogie-woogie music of African-American jazz pianist Albert Ammons.

Though released by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in 1941, Boogie-Doodle was actually made by McLaren in New York City in 1940, a year before he was invited by John Grierson to Canada to found the NFB’s animation unit. McLaren, who had been influenced by the hand-painted films of Len Lye, was in New York exploring the technique on a grant from the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, creating Boogie-Doodle along with three other cameraless films: Dots, Loops and Stars and Stripes.

The animation in Boogie-Doodle coincides exactly with Ammon’s musical piece, with McLaren’s animation beginning at the very first bar and concluding at the final note.

Et Cetera

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– Jan Švankmajer (1967)

Unlike most of Jan Švankmajer’s films, ‘Et Cetera’ uses 2d animation. It’s a clever and somehow saddening film: although the three little stories are extremely simple, they seem to tell something about the condition humaine. ‘Et Cetera’ uses great electronic music, which adds to the surrealistic atmosphere.

Caninabis

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National Film Board of Canada (1979)

Kaj Pindal’s animated short from the late 1970s features a canine narcotics officer who burns out after sampling a little too much product. Driven by his love of cannabis, a street dog displays incredible promise for the drug squad when he chases down a local dealer. He makes headlines worldwide as he takes on smugglers and crime lords. But when his drug habit and his work inevitably collide, a clear message emerges: dogs and cannabis don’t mix.
Bummertown, USA