Mio Mao

I saw this at the Annecy animation festival and loved it. Mio Mao. It didn’t have any voiceover on the festival version and to be honest I prefered it. The voiceover is rather surplus to requirements.

Barton Hill Animation Festival Films 2009

The Barton Hill Animation Festival has come and gone once more. Unfortunately we weren’t able to attend this year, but I’m pleased to see that the kids attending the festival have had the chance to create some more great short animations.

Trip to Planet Dangerous

Prince Harry the Brilliant and Mr Jealous Wealous

Pixilation Workshop

Anna et Froga

Here’s something I found completely randomly on YouTube. I don’t really know what they’re saying as my French requires people to speak at about 10 words a minute, but it’s something about the lottery I think! Anyway. I like it.

The Flumps

I used to love The Flumps. Ecky thump, they’re from Yorkshire just like me Grandma. Grandfather Flump still reminds me of me own Granpa too. This has that same folksy feel that all the best stuff from the seventies has. My favourite character was always white hatted Pootle though, just because he (or was it she?) was the naughtiest.

Morph and Chaz

Morph was one of those constants of my childhood. I really liked him and Tony Hart of course. Morph is a great comic character – he feels like an underdog, but somehow he always wins through in the end. Morph was of course the invention of Peter Lord of Aardman Animations. I remember seeing Peter Lord driving around Bristol in his old stylee Volvo. How unpretentious! I wonder if he’d approve of the F reg Subura Justy that I still have?

There are quite a few Aardman snippets to watch at their YouTube channel including this one:

Pushkin

Fantastic story about an old lady and a cat from Trevor Hardy, an animator from West Sussex, UK.

Monty Python meets Lego

This is some kind of joyous union – Monty Python in lego. In this short, highly polished piece, King Arthur and his knights arrive (almost) at Camelot. Cue Spamalot song and dance number.

Dog by Suzie Templeton

Something a little darker again here… Dog by BAFTA and Academy Award winning animator Suzie Templeton tells a story of a boy, grieving for his dead mother and seeking reassurance from his father. This is probably one you’d want to watch before showing to your kids in case it’s too dark!

The Flumps

Here’s a Flumpeting blast from the past. I loved this as a kid. Pootle was always a favourite character since he was a bit naughty. And I always loved Grandfather… I think because with his cap, glasses, moustache and ear for music… he rather reminded me of my own Grandpa!

More information on The Flumps can be found at Toonhound

Buy The Complete Flumps [1977] on DVD

Mitten (Varezhka)

Here’s an award winning 1967 film from Russian director Roman Kachanov. A charming tale about a girl who longs to have a puppy, but has to make do with a woolen mitten! Don’t worry if you don’t speak Russian – this short is non-dialogue.

More information about this film is here and here