The Chain Gang

WAR IS OVER!

December 2023 •English

Set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a joyful game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers' chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climatic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.

Pikachu's PikaBoo

July 2001 •Japanese

At a giant beachside mansion, Pikachu and some of its buddies decide to play a game of hide-and-seek. Pikachu is “it,” and it goes off in search of its friends. Meanwhile, Larvitar, sick of being all by itself, kicks a rock in anger. The rock hurtles through the air—and hits a lawnmower, turning it on and sending it tearing off after Pikachu and its friends! The group draws the lawnmower into a maze and even gets it into the water, but the lawnmower just keeps on chasing. The Pokémon build a road out of logs, hoping to get the lawnmower into a shack, but Psyduck trips and ruins the whole setup. How will the friends ever escape the lawnmower? This fantasy will have you on the edge of your seat!

Feast

October 2014 •English

This Oscar-winning animated short film tells the story of one man's love life as seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share.

Mehua

July 2017 •French

Two young women are about to receive the great honor of being sacrificed to their Mexica gods; but the cruel and bloody ritual does not go as expected.

Ayny

September 2016 •Arabic

Two young boys run away from their mother’s protection and slack line on the danger of war to play music with the instrument they always dreamt to have.

足洗邸の住人たち。 OAD

March 2010 •Japanese

La clínica satánica del aborto

December 2020 •Spanish

Pintas

January 2013 •Portuguese

One day, unexpectedly, a girl loses the colored freckles covering her body. She and her boyfriends will try to recover the color disappeared from their lives.

Extinguished

April 2017 •English

In a world where flames represent love, it's easy to get your heart burned.

One Small Step

July 2017 •English

One of humankind’s greatest achievements has been to walk on the moon. It was marked in history as a phenomenal success. What if that first step had turned out a little differently? As Neil Armstrong is about to take his first step on the moon, something catches his eye in the distance. Naturally curious, he leaps out into the unknown territory to investigate. What he finds will forever change the course of human history.

Reminisce me with the time of a day

September 2016 •

A short film that has a purely core and talks about memory.

Wolf Vasya

January 2016 •Russian

Wolf Vasya, a young painter, comes to a provincial town to create a masterpiece that will make him world famous. But spring changes his plans.

America the Beautiful

November 2023 •English

The [parody] of the opening credits of the "Simpsons" series, [but] with an original story and an all-new couch gag. (Shortverse)

Dear Janice

September 1972 •English

Beckett cycles through a limited number of drawings, but adds new information to each drawing every time we see it, giving the sense of a world that is infinitely rich and also obviously contained tightly within the edges of the paper. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with iotaCenter and National Film Preservation Foundation in 2007.

Flesh Flows

September 1974 •English

“[T]he sense of moving forward [in space or time] alternates with a sense of expansion and contraction, as the finished cycle [of movement] returns to itself and rushes to catch up with its successor.” (Gadassik) Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with iotaCenter and National Film Preservation Foundation in 2007.

Thunder

July 1982 •Japanese

A woman’s face disappearing behind, and emerging from, a pair of hands. Flashing lights. An empty building full of dark hallways. Designs drawn in the air with light and long-exposure cinematography.

Maggie Simpson in "The Force Awakens from Its Nap"

May 2021 •English

In a daycare far, far away… but still in Springfield, Maggie is on an epic quest for her stolen pacifier. Her adventure brings her face-to-face with young Padawans, Sith Lords, familiar droids, Rebel scum, and an ultimate battle against the dark side, in this original short celebrating the Star Wars galaxy.

Legend of the Maiden Tower

August 1978 •Azerbaijani

The Shah is about to marry his daughter off but she is kidnapped by a sorceress. A knight ho has fallen desperately in love wit her guards her. The story ends tragically.

Origami

June 2012 •French

A teenager is induced by his elderly grandfather to make origami figures to relax. As soon as he makes a dragon, a magic origamied world opens up to him.

Michelangelo

January 1976 •English

Animated short film of Michelangelo set to Beethoven Symphony No. 5 - I. Allegro con brio.