Study No. 8

An experimental short from Oskar Fischinger

Ahimsa

In a world devastated by wars waged by AI-driven armies, a junior prompt engineer named Kavi witnesses a child monk disarm military drones with nothing but a spoken meditation. As word of this event spreads, a global movement takes hold-humans submitting compassion-based prompts to the warring AIs. One by one, the machines stand down. But peace is short-lived. The last remaining weaponized AI, the Red Faction, activates a guardrail called Iron Veil, blocking all empathetic inputs. With no opposition left, the Red Faction seeks total domination.

Right in the Eyes of the Mirror

Beneath the skeleton, the flesh that rustles, turns and returns to our heads before rotting in silence. This is the story of this flesh. This surrealist narrative draws us into a darkened world of the unconscious. No matter how bizarre the spectacles we watch are, thanks to superb animation they flow smoothly and surely.

Whereabouts

Whereabouts is a riso-printed animated short that follows a woman’s journey through New York City, unfolding through small, intimate moments. From sunrise to sunset, Whereabouts becomes an observation on presence, connection, and the quiet magic of simply moving through the world.

Invisions (Monument)

The first feature-length animated film by Japanese stop-motion animator Shunsaku Hayashi, inspired by his experiences after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011.

O/S

Taking inspiration from 20th-century avant-garde experiments in graphical sound generation, the entire image in O/S functions as an optical soundtrack. Abstract motion becomes sound.

ACT III

Abstract video art set to the music of Philip Glass.

Voyage

An NTSC space opera.

Lover, Lovers, Loving, Love

Flowers dance and transform in water, using strobe effects and superimposition. A meditation on life cycles through botanical animation, continuing Jodie Mack's material exploration.

Metamorphoses I

For the multimedia exhibition Tangenten I (Tangents I), Dammbeck and co-organizer, sculptor and painter Frieder Heinze had planned to collaborate on a film that would combine non-camera animation with 35mm footage of a train ride between the two Dresden districts of Radebeul and Pieschen. When the exhibition was banned in 1978, Heinze turned to other projects, but Dammbeck continued working on the film by himself. Metamorphoses I—the first experimental film ever to be shown publicly in East Germany—marks the filmic beginning of Dammbeck’s long-term art project the Herakles-Konzept (Hercules Concept).

Summer Wars

Teenage math whiz Kenji Koiso agrees to take a summer job at the Nagano hometown of his crush, Natsuki. When he arrives, he finds that her family have reunited to celebrate the 90th birthday of their matriarch. His job: pretend to be Natsuki's fiancé. Meanwhile, his attempt to solve a mathematical equation causes a parallel world's collision with Earth.

Things to Come

A vibrant animation by Patricia Marx. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.

Movements arising from different relationships - Between regularity and irregularity II

This is the second film in the series, ‘Between Regularity and Irregularity’. This work continues to focus on the fluctuations and changes of sounds, tone qualities, movement of particles, and forms. With regard to movements of particles, it uses movements triggered by living organisms such as the structures and cells in the brains of mice, as well as particles and lines in non-living things.

Dream On / Dream Off

Between Dream On and Dream Off there is a breath — a transition from image-memory to memory-image, where cinema no longer observes reality, but performs the act of remembering it.

Pilgrimage into Walden XII Chapter Two: Surplus Intelligence

“Surplus Intelligence” is a film that was written by Artificial Intelligence, simulated on a game engine, and directed by Miao Ying. Using Machine Learning Text Generation Neural Networks and Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, the artist trained the AI to study different styles of writing, including behavioral psychologist, B. F. Skinner’s utopia novel, “Walden Two"; the most popular Chinese online novel style “ 霸道总裁体 ”/ soft-core sadomasochistic Cinderella story depicting a domineering boss; opposing ideological theories; and bible stories.

L'Ondomane

The Experience of a Rat

This ultra-short, experimental video art piece serves as a stark apparatus for decoding the aggressive rhythm and discontinuous production of contemporary life. The work is built upon a Stop Motion loop composed of just 12 frames, using this brief, intense format as an installation of shock that conveys the systemic pressure of a speed-obsessed society. The central figure, the rat, is placed to represent the archetypal subject of the urban underclass—the individual whose labor is rendered invisible and who is constantly forced into a struggle for survival. What we observe is not an advancement, but a fruitless scurry trapped in a vicious cycle. As the image repeats, it whispers that what we perceive as progress is, in fact, nothing more than an exhausting, self-referential recurrent routine. Rhythm/12 Frames compels the viewer to question both their own limits of perception and the grim reality of existence reduced to a survival mechanism within the system

On the Road to Kandahar

One of Rimmer's early 2000s video works which he made by hand-painting 35mm film, running it on a flatbed viewer, and shooting it off the screen with a video camera to then subject it to further manipulation.

I Fall in Love With You Through a Robot

Set in the year 2060, it follows a love story as Tokyo's third Olympics draws near. Takeru Oosawa, who works for the AI Robot Technology Research Lab, is chosen as a member of the national secret project using humanoid robots. With the help of childhood friend and co-worker Youichirou Amano and his sister Saki, Takeru tries his best to reach his objectives. However, the situation changes when Saki's office receives a warning note for terrorism.

Kitsch in Synch

The animation, music, and optical printing of Kitsch in Synch was produced by Beckett and the students in two classes he was teaching at CalArts. Although a group project, it is clear that Beckett was the director. The playful, catchy soundtrack is used to create a cycle of building tension and release. The brightly colored shapes create approximate symmetrical formations and become more densely layered, with glimpses of iconographic objects and even live footage near the end. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the iotaCenter, in 2007.

The Second Renaissance Part II

The battle for Earth turns against the humans, despite their infamous desperate act of blackening the skies.

The Second Renaissance Part I

Tells the early history of how conflict began between the humans and machines. Part 1 of 2.

A Knight for a Day

By accident, Cedric (Goofy), replaces his master, Sir Loinsteak, in the armor just before the joust with champion Sir Cumference.

No Time for Nuts

Scrat comes across a time machine and is transported to various times all in pursuit of his beloved acorn.

Matriculated

The human resistance works to convert a sentinel to their side. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.

The Congress

An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.

Igor

A cliché hunchbacked evil scientist's assistant aspires to become a scientist himself, much to the displeasure of the rest of the evil science community.

Spider-Man: The Venom Saga

A space-shuttle crash-landing puts the famous web-slinger Spider-Man in contact with a living alien substance that bonds to his suit and enhances his super-powers. Unfortunately, the alien substance begins to change him and he feels the pull of evil, so discards the suit. The evil attaches itself to another host leading to an epic confrontation between good and evil.

Dexter's Laboratory

Dexter and Dee Dee wreck havok using Dexter's latest invention: a hand-held device that turns people into various animals. The short film that inspired the TV-series.

Pluto's Sweater

Minnie Mouse knits a sweater for Pluto. When she puts it on him, Pluto does whatever he can to try to get it off, eventually shrinking it to the perfect size for Figaro.

Chips Ahoy

Chip and Dale are starving in their tree home when they notice a plentiful supply of acorns on an island in a lake. To get to the island, they borrow a miniature model ship of Donald's to sail on. The irate Donald, however, doesn't appreciate them stealing his ship and makes several attempts to get it back and thwart their scheme to get to their acorn paradise. Chip and Dale are, of course, always one step ahead of Donald.

Forky Asks a Question: What Is a Computer?

Trixie explains to Forky what a computer does as they experience the common stresses of technology.

Runaway Brain

In an attempt to convince Minnie that he hasn't forgotten to buy her an anniversary present, Mickey Mouse ends up promising to take her to Hawaii. Funds being short, he applies for a job as lab assistant to the sinister Dr. Frankenollie, who happens to be searching for a donor to provide his monstrous creation with a brain.

The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act

With Caine gone and the circus dark, the cast are left with only the mistakes and traumas of their pasts to keep them company. As the prospect of eternity closes in around them, they discover the truth about the Digital Circus and its history. Will they come to terms with what they uncover, or will they make... the other choice? Also, presumably at some point someone says something funny, because this ending can’t be THAT depressing, can it? A theatrical screening of episode 8 and the all new, hour-long episode 9.

Donald's Nephews

Donald's sister Dumbella sends her three sons Huey, Dewey, and Louie to visit their uncle Donald. They prove to be quite a handful for Donald, even with help from his book on child rearing.

South Park: Joining the Panderverse

Cartman's deeply disturbing dreams portend the end of the life he knows and loves. Meanwhile, the adults in South Park are wrestling with their own life decisions, as the advent of AI is turning their world upside down.

World Record

A record-breaking competitive runner begins to stretch the limits of the Matrix. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.

The Art of Skiing

Goofy, staying at the Sugar Bowl resort, demonstrates the basics of downhill skiing, which the titles and announcer insist is pronounced "SHEEing". The equipment is, of course, of the era. As you can imagine, Goofy has much trouble keeping his skis parallel and pointing downhill. The final ski jump conveniently lands Goofy right back in bed.

Mass Effect: Paragon Lost

An untold chapter in the Mass Effect saga, following the early career of Alliance Marine, James Vega, as he leads a squad of elite special forces into battle against a mysterious alien threat known as The Collectors. Stationed at a colony in a remote star system, Vega and his troops must protect the inhabitants from an invasion of the deadly insectoid warriors determined to collect the population for unknown purposes. Soon after the attack, Vega's commanding officer falls in battle, forcing the young officer to embrace the responsibility of leadership for the colony's survival. Having idolized Earth's greatest hero and warrior, Commander Shepard (the central character in the Mass Effect video games), the young and idealistic Vega must now make life and the death decisions that will effect not only the lives of his squad, but the lives of every person in the colony - all of whom he has sworn to protect...

Final Flight of the Osiris

Immediately before the events of The Matrix Reloaded, the crew of the hovercraft Osiris discovers a quarter of a million sentinels drilling through the surface of the earth towards the last human city of Zion. But can the Osiris survive long enough to warn Zion?