Opéra Imaginaire
Like Fantasia (1940) or Allegro Non Troppo (1977), L'Opéra Imaginaire (1993) is an assembly of animated short films based on classic music greats. Directed by some of the best European animators and artists, L'Opéra Imaginaire takes us through dance, theater, music and painting masterpieces. It uses several animation techniques, like stop-motion clay animation or CG characters.
Jimmy T. Murakami
Ken Lidster
Monique Renault
Christophe Vallaux
Pascal Roulin
Jonathan Hills
Raimund Krumme
Stephen Palmer
Hilary Audus
Guionne Leroy
José Abel
Casts & Crew
Ana Lucia Alves
Sébastien Chollet
Alain de Greffe
Mehdi Manglunki
Fundji Ngelessy
Rubina Owadally
Also Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami
With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.
A young farmer assembles a band of diverse mercenaries to defend his peaceful planet from an evil tyrant.
Short film.
Animated British TV Movie
Breath governs life and is also the sign of changes in emotion.
Unaired TV special based on humor magazine.
Short film.
Because Urbanus does all kinds of pranks, he has to go to an improvement institution. There, Dr. Schrikmerg uses him as a guinea pig for his new invention: he makes a sort of robot from Urbanus.
Ben the Baker, along with his wife Helena and their adopted children, must work together to save their Christian friends from Nero and his Roman soldiers. Ben is a Story Keeper: one who is entrusted to share the story of Jesus Christ during this time of heavy persecution.
The film begins with a live-action sequence set in Boston in 1857, the site of a live reading by renowned novelist Dickens. As he begins his 'story of ghosts' a woman in the audience screams because she has seen a mouse and Dickens points out that this is appropriate since his story begins with a mouse. At this point the story turns into the animated version and Dickens explains that the mouse, na
Also Directed by Ken Lidster
An ejaculate of sperm swim through a uterus. At the branches of the Fallopian tubes, half go one way and half the other. Down one tube toward the sperm bounces a female head, singing, happily on her way. Four sperm zero in; she panics but can't avoid them. Pow! they hit her full force and disappear into her. The decision she makes and what she does next change the course of her life in a major way.
A thin shadow figure starts swallowing balloons in an attempt to make himself more solid, and develops body, surface texture, markings and a face. Meanwhile, a lonely young girl is attracted by the balloons' hissing sounds, and is drawn to the shadow's lair. The grinning shadow quickly ties her up, but, overconfident, becomes entangled in his own machinery, and has the body squeezed out of him. All that's left is one of the balloons, which the girl takes with her as she leaves, now quite happy.
Short animated film from Ken Lidster
Also Directed by Monique Renault
Historical view on the role of women within the law
A big woman an a little superman are engaged in an erotic play.
1981 animation asks Question 1: Is there equality in similar jobs for men and women? Question 2: What do the women see behind the fence, that sets them off laughing?
An animated short film of dancers from Monique Renault and Gerrit van Dijk.
An animated cartoon about the Creation myth reviewed and corrected by two women. God the magician has decided to create a paradise: Switzerland. He covers it with trees and cows, until Adam is born. After exploring his paradise, Adam creates Eve from one of his ribs. Man is shown as an erect penis, woman by a limbless trunk.
Also Directed by Pascal Roulin
A young British Indian army officer discovers Princess Lakmé's beauty. Under her charm he does not notice the surrounding dangers. This film is part of the compilation of musical films "Imaginary Opera" produced by Pascavision.
Also Directed by Raimund Krumme
The film is based on a scene in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. The inmates of the Seville prison are kept in dark cells without daylight. Now, for the first time after years, they are allowed to see the sun. Light as a metaphor for freedom.
Animated short by Raimund Krumme
Short animation by Raimund Krumme
Two men, each holding one end of a rope, perform an intricate dance on, in, and through a square figure.
For anyone who has ever confronted a difficult decision in which none of the solutions seems like the right one, CROSSROADS will have a special resonance. Made at a time when the director was facing great uncertainty in his life, the film is an extended, often humorous, look at a man pulled in too many directions, in a world in which everything keeps changing and all roads seem to lead back to the beginning.
Based on a true incident involving a fatal riot at a Brussels football stadium, Spectators explores the behavior of crowds and the manipulation of the masses. At once ambiguous and deeply revealing, the film captures the emotional state of an audience gradually losing control.
Also Directed by Stephen Palmer
A blind man awakes in what may be a forest. (What he touches or hears is in color; the rest of the world, when it is visible to us, is in black and white.) First he explores his surroundings. Then fear takes over, what he hears and touches and imagines, frightens him. He gathers his courage to assert himself, almost with bestial intensity. He realizes that people have gathered to watch him as a policeman tries to coax him out of danger.
Also Directed by Hilary Audus
The Queen Witch is plotting to stop time and rule the world forever with the help of a magic potion, containing 13 newts, 13 toads and 13 kittens. But she only has 12 kittens and with the help of her army of Karate Witches she sets out to capture the 13th kitten and complete the spell.
Written by Raymond Briggs, this beautifully animated film tells the story of ten-year-old John. After being woken up early one morning. John finds a big invisible something sitting on his bed.
The tale of a black cat who gets caught up in a Halloween battle between an army of good pumpkins and a hoard of evil witches and their spells. Set in America mid-west in the 1950’s, it’s a classic story of regeneration and the triumph of good over evil, and at its centre is the special relationship between the cat and one of the pumpkins.
Featuring the same charming animation style of the original, and new music by former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows, this sequel was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Snowman (1982). A family, including young Billy and his elderly dog, is moving into the house from the original story, now in suburbia. As Christmas approaches, Billy stumbles across a box hidden by James, the boy from the original story. Night draws in, snow falls, Billy uses his new find, and a magical adventure begins...
When a little girl loses her teddy bear in the polar bear enclosure at the zoo, she is surprised but very happy when the polar bear turns up at her home to return it. Adapted from Raymond Briggs book.
Also Directed by Guionne Leroy
Clay animation film by Guionne Leroy, based on the music of Henry Purcell's opera "King Arthur"