Castle of Liars

Merry Madagascar

November 2009 •English

While trapped on the island of Madagascar, the Central Park Zoo escapees receive a visit from Santa--crash landing on their territory and getting amnesia to boot! The animals must help Santa assume his rightful place in the universe, while King Julian laps up the opportunity for his subjects.

Tomte Tummetott und der Fuchs

January 2007 •German

Prep & Landing

December 2009 •English

Wayne gets a new rookie partner, Lanny, after his previous partner got the promotion he wanted. Lanny has to remind Wayne of the Spirit of Christmas and the importance of being an elf in Santa's Prep and Landing elite unit.

Elephants Dream

March 2006 •English

Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect. Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D animated “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite Blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.

Danemon Ban: The Monster Exterminator

January 1935 •Japanese

The boozy mercenary of the title, based on the actual historical figure of Naoyuki Ban (1567-1615), attempts to rid a haunted castle of spooks.

Steve's First Bath

January 2014 •English

Flint must quickly alter his plans for a romantic date with Sam after his monkey-cleaning invention goes awry.

Attack of the 50-foot Gummi Bear

January 2014 •English

Flint's mischievous gummy bear grows to 50-feet by using his new food-modifying invention.

Earl Scouts

October 2013 •English

The Foodimals join Earl's scouting program but are very competitive.

Super Manny

October 2013 •English

Manny saves an adorable kitty with his many skills.

Teeny-Tiny and the Witch Woman

May 1980 •Czech

A deliciously scary story about a boy who outsmarts an old witch-woman before she can have him and his brothers for dinner.

How Animated Cartoons Are Made

September 1919 •English

Wallace Carlson walks viewers through the production of an animated short at Bray Studios.

Doing Their Bit

October 1942 •English

Nancy and Sluggo do their bit for the USO.

Achooo Mr. Kerrooschev

September 1960 •English

A cut-out of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev sails over newspaper articles as they take place. Combines live photography and collage animation in one film.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

April 2005 •English

One of the most exciting and memorable stories in the history of the World Trade Towers is that of Philippe Petit, a French man who walked a tightrope between the massive monuments in 1974. Narrated by Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, this is an animated adaptation of the lyrical Caldecott Award-winning book by Mordecai Gerstein. Directed and animated by Michael Sporn, with music by Michael Bacon (of the Bacon Brothers).

Superman 75

October 2013 •English

An animated short about the 75 years of Superman.

Big Buck Bunny

April 2008 •English

Follow a day of the life of Big Buck Bunny when he meets three bullying rodents: Frank, Rinky, and Gamera. The rodents amuse themselves by harassing helpless creatures by throwing fruits, nuts and rocks at them. After the deaths of two of Bunny's favorite butterflies, and an offensive attack on Bunny himself, Bunny sets aside his gentle nature and orchestrates a complex plan for revenge.

Caminandes: Gran Dillama

November 2013 •English

A young llama named Koro discovers that the grass is always greener on the other side (of the fence).

Caminandes: Llama Drama

February 2013 •English

Koro wants to get to the other side of the road.

Experimental Animation

January 1933 •English

Len Lye scraped together enough funding and borrowed equipment to produce a two-minute short featuring his self-made monkey, singing and dancing to 'Peanut Vendor', a 1931 jazz hit for Red Nichols. The two foot high monkey had bolted, moveable joints and some 50 interchangeable mouths to convey the singing. To get the movements right, Lye filmed his new wife, Jane, a prize-winning rumba dancer.

Mad God: Part 1

January 2014 •English

Mad God is a fully practical stop-motion film set in a Miltonesque world of monsters, mad scientists, and war pigs.