The Animals and the Brigands

The Gingerbread House

August 1951 •Czech

Baek-il

August 2022 •English

The Korean legend of Ungnyeo, a bear reborn as a woman, becomes a percussive and mesmerizing riff on the themes of transformation and quarantine. Produced as part of the 13th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.

Tops and Roots

September 1974 •Russian

A working man went to the forest garden to plant a turnip, where he met a very lazy and, as it later turned out, foolish bear. The man managed to outwit the beast twice without giving him a single gram of the crop.

Kdo je nejmocnější

January 1952 •Czech

Pocahontas

June 1995 •English

Pocahontas, daughter of a Native American tribe chief, falls in love with an English soldier as colonists invade 17th century Virginia.

A Golden Horseshoe

January 1984 •Armenian

A stranger promises to one greedy man to fulfill his every wish. And he desires to be able to turn everything he touches into gold.

Raining Cats and Frogs

December 2003 •French

It's a catastrophe! A flood has hit our planet and an unusual group of people are all that remains. Led by Ferdinand, a modern day Noah, this little group have managed to defy the furiously raging elements. People and animals alike are dragged through this incredible whirlpool of an adventure.

Šváb

January 1948 •Czech

Aucassin a Nicoletta

January 1981 •Czech

Siegfried

January 1992 •German

Many hundreds of years ago, Siegfried snatched his invisibility cloak from the dwarf Alberich. Understandable that this is not good to speak Siegfried. But he always likes to tell how it happened. And also of all the other dangerous adventures of Siegfried. How he defeated the dragon and became almost invulnerable, there would not have been a small linden leaf. The kidnapping of Brunhild from Iceland and why Hagen von Tronje became Siegfried's mortal enemy. And of course Gunther's betrayal of Siegfried. And one question Alberich still has to this day: what really happened to the treasure of the Nibelung? Is he still lying on the bottom of the Rhine?

Sita Sings the Blues

February 2008 •English

Utilizing the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the epic Indian tale of exiled prince Ramayana and his bride Sita is mirrored by a spurned woman's contemporary personal life, and light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets.

The Fire-Fairy

May 1979 •Russian

In the forest two gold digger saw a fire nymph, foreshadowing is rich in gold deposits, and had a fight. This greatly angered the nymph. This story told grandfather to his grandson. Suddenly the very same girl appeared in front of them from the flames of the candles, and tease the boy ran out of the hut. After a while the boy again met with Ognevushka, and she invited him to her house. In winter, the old man found out that they had in the house over the potatoes. Trying to earn a livelihood, changing home-made wooden spoons on potatoes, he fails. Then Fedya went to the forest to visit Ognevushka, hoping to take the potatoes. In response to the request Ognevushka lent the boy magic shovel. Which in the same year Fedya with his grandfather comfortably survived until the summer.

Prince Bayaya

January 1951 •Czech

Bayaya, a young peasant, protected by the spirit of his dead mother, arrives at the castle of the King, where he entertains his three daughters. He soon realizes that the three princesses are nagged by evil spirits. The little peasant manages to rid them of them, fights a duel with a wicked lord who wanted to marry one of the three princesses. He finally wins the heart of the youngest sister while saving the soul of his mother who was in purgatory.

Grandpa Planted a Beet

January 1946 •Czech

The first Czech cartoon based on a fairy-tale about grandpa, grandma, their granddaughter, dog and cat who all wanted to pull a big beet out from the ground. The picture shows children that a big task can only be fulfilled by joint effort.

The Golden Fish

January 1951 •Czech

A poor fisherman catches the golden fish that promises him to fulfil three wishes if he sets her free again. He does so and the fish fulfils two of his three wishes. However, she refuses to fulfil the third one, the last one in which the fisherman’s wife wants to be equal to God.

Dashavatar

June 2008 •Hindi

Two children are transported through time to learn about the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu and discover that Vishnu took on various incarnations to combat evil in every era.

The Dog and the Cat

February 1938 •Armenian

This is a story about the origin of hostility between a cat and a dog. Based on the ballad of Hovhannes Tumanyan.

Vodník ve mlýně

September 1947 •Czech

Laughter and Grief by the White Sea

January 1987 •Russian

A celebration of the culture of the Pomors who live around the White Sea.

Faust

September 1994 •Czech

A very free adaptation of Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.