The Awakened Dreamer

Fantastic Laloux(fr)

A short documentary about the life of director and artist René Laloux, featuring an interview with Laloux from 2001.

Das Prinzip Dada(fr)

One hundred years ago, Dadaism challenged ideological, aesthetic and political conventions. Like David Bowie or Terry Gilliam, many artists have been influenced or fascinated by this anti-conformist movement.

Mild Madness, Lasting Lunacy(fr)

This walk in the daily life of several psychiatric institutions, allows us to meet extraordinary people who let us enter their privacy.

Beyond Oil(fr)

Documentary on industrial lubrification.

Paul Grimault, image par image(fr)

Les Damnés de la Commune(fr)

Exclusively created with period engravings, this animated feature explores the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the ensuing Paris Commune revolution in 1871.

Drôle d'oiseau(fr)

By the Lake(fr)

Bokanowski returns to the complex - and mind-bending - optical array of pinholes, mirrors, prisms, and refractive substrates of his earlier film, La Plage to create the whimsical and playful Au bord du lac. The film is composed of mundane, everyday scenes of recreation and leisure on an idyllic, sunny day at a park that overlooks a lake - rowing a boat, playing a game of volleyball, rollerskating, bicycling, reading a newspaper, sunbathing, riding on horseback, or strolling on the promenade - shot through optical distortions to create fractured and knotted images that resemble embellished, gothic fairytale illustrations or appear to resolve into morphing, geometric patterns of fluid motion. Evoking the vibrant colors and sun-soaked palette of an invigorated Vincent van Gogh in Arles, Bokanowski transforms the quotidian into an infinitely mesmerizing dynamic kaleidoscope of shape-shifting textures and self-reconstituting objects of organic, abstract art.

Là où poussent les coquelicots(fr)

Seeing the Great War, no longer content with simply recounting it, but showing it and embodying it: this is what comics offer today. By questioning archives and history, the comic book authors featured in this film engage in a dialogue with the depths of time. They bring the First World War back to life in our imagination: their drawings are more than just lines.

Pouce, on tourne(fr)

S'il n'en reste qu'un, nous serons ces deux-là(fr)

The Role of Chance(fr)

"The Role of Chance" ("La part du hasard") focuses exclusively on drawing and painting techniques used by the painter Henri Dimier. Shot over several weeks in the same artist's studio, the film shows works in their different phases, processes rarely explained or little known. It also addresses many practical issues (choice of paper, pigment grinding, reports drawings, put the tiles, cliches, etc) as well as broader questions of method and inspiration (use of space, the role of contours, power of suggestion perspectives, use of random processes). Patrick Bokanowski sought with this film to restore the spirit of this teaching, showing how to bend a note or sometimes revealing an essential mystery of creation.

Logorama(en)

Two cops portrayed by Michelin Men chase an armed Ronald McDonald through the streets of a fictionalized, stylized city.

U(fr)

Since her parents passed away, Princess Mona lives by herself in a castle with two hideous, ghastly characters, Goomi and His Lordship. One day her sobs draw the attention of a unicorn, called U, who wants to comfort and protect Mona for as long as she needs. U becomes Mona's companion, her confidant and her inseparable friend. While Mona grows into a beautiful princess, a group of charming, peaceful and fanciful Yeah-Yeah’s settles in the neighboring forest. They have no particular special powers, yet they soon bring about major changes in everyone's lives, especially in Kulka, the dreamy musician.

The Circus(fr)

In the vestibule of a hospital room, a young boy waits to see his dying mother. The clamor and spiralling movements of bodies around him intensify, forming a grotesque circus—a cacophonous circle that pushes the child back, depriving him of one final touch of his mother's hand. Using rotoscoped drawings suggestive of charcoal sketches, as well as 3D and object animation techniques, The Circus compels viewing with its unsettling realism. Colour is employed metaphorically to subtly express the promise and the memory of maternal affection. Nicolas Brault's highly personal film, suffused with poetic modesty, casts a poignantly sincere gaze on the heartbreak of a child facing the fearful, mysterious experience of his mother's death.

Asterix and Cleopatra(fr)

Popular animated hero Asterix and his faithful sidekick Obelix travel to ancient Egypt to help Cleopatra build a new summer home. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar have made a bet, with Caesar wagering the project cannot be completed in a few weeks time. With the help of a magic potion, Asterix comes to the rescue of the Queen of the Nile as Caesar and an angry architect plot against them.

Asterix the Gaul(fr)

In the year 50 BC, Gaul is occupied by the Romans - nearly. But the small village of Asterix and his friends still resists the Roman legions with the aid of their druid's magic potion, which gives superhuman strength. Learning of this potion, a Roman centurion kidnaps the druid to get the secret formula out of him.

Kirikou and the Wild Beasts(fr)

Kirikou's Grandfather says that the story of Kirikou and The Witch was too short, so he proceeds to explain more about Kirikou's accomplishments. We find out how little boy became a gardener, a detective, a maker of pottery, a merchant, a traveler and a doctor.

Little Monkey(fr)

A young monkey, initiated by his master, will pass his transition to adulthood. He will have to fight fire, metaphor for his fear of growing up, by taming the sound of the sacred djembe, symbol of independence.

Persepolis(fr)

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.