Rare animated shorts from the Film Forum vault

Did you know that the NW Film Forum has a vault full of film reels at the back of their building, past the kitchen and under a staircase? Did you know that this vault contains some animated gems that probably have not seen the light of a projector in years if not decades? Well, they are screening some of them in a special one-off program curated by their special guest archivist!

The program is called Search and Rescue and includes four animated shorts outlines below (incldues one by John Hubley with possibly the voice of Meryl Streep!). The rest of the program also looks pretty cool. Oh, and did I mention that all proceeds from this screening go towards supporting the continued work of their archivist? Pretty cool. The screening is July 5th at 7:00PM.

Here are the four animated films:

“Why do you smile, Mona Lisa?” (1967, 13 mins) – An amusing re-imagining regarding what took place the day Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. Who would’ve known cats were so integral to Da Vinci’s process. Grand Prize winner for animation at the Bergamo Festival 1966.

“Fire!” (1975, 9 mins) – The acrylic paint technique used in animating this tale of a forest before and after a devastating fire is the primary captivator in this film.

 

“Automania 2000” (1961, 10 mins) – A cartoon set on the stage of a future wherein people live in their cars and have provisions conveniently brought to them via floating pods in the sky.  A sneaky spot of commentary on the state of consumerism, that isn’t far off the mark (except for the cars that give birth. Which is a shame really.)

 

 

 

“Everybody rides the carousel” (1975, 21 mins) – Part two of a feature length animation based upon the psychological development of personality. Submerge yourself in the hallucinatory and chilling depiction of the human psyche.  This one is directed by John Hubley! And may include the voice of Meryl Streep – she did some of the voices, but it’s hard for me to tell if her section is included in this installment.

 

 

The live-action shorts include and early Roman Polanski short, a scary sounding children’s fable, and a mini documentary about energy from 1974.