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The Hand
Movie
Directed by Jiří Trnka • 1965 • Czechoslovakia
Please note this title is not available to subscribers in the US“The Walt Disney of Eastern Europe”, Jiří Trnka was one of the most influential figures in Czech animation history. This subversive allegorical short, one of his most poignant creation...
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The Magic Screen: animated shorts by Yuri Norstein
6 items
Yuri Norstein is one of the great artists in the history of animated film. His blend of whimsical and bold imagery, his keen eye for the allegorical, and his mastery of an array of techniques – from stop-motion to impressionistic pencil sketches and his patented “glass panel” animation – have wri...
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The Kidnapping of the Sun and Moon
Movie + 2 extras
Directed by Sándor Reisenbüchler • 1968 • Hungary
Inspired by Carpathian folklore and based on the epic poem by Ferenc Juhász, this mesmerising animated short by the great Sándor Reisenbüchler imagines a world destroyed and then rebuilt. A fearsome, seven-headed dragon swallows the sun and moon,...
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Mind the Steps!
Movie + 1 extra
Directed by István Orosz • 1989 • Hungary
A late socialist take on M. C. Escher from the master of the mathematical and the absurd, István Orosz. Mind the Steps! reimagines a typical apartment block in Budapest from the ever-shifting perspective of a young boy. The architecture and its inhabitan...
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Jirtdan
Movie + 2 extras
Directed by Aghanaghi Akhundov and Yalchin Efendiyev • 1969 • USSR/Azerbaijan
Produced at the start of the golden age of Azerbaijani animation, Akhundov and Efendiyev’s Jirtdan (meaning “small” or “dwarf”) is a magical little treat in which the titular tiny hero and his brothers must outwit the ...
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Mattie the Goose-Boy
Movie + 1 extra
Directed by Attila Dargay • 1977 • Hungary
A classic of Hungarian animation from the legendary Pannónia studio, Attila Dargay’s charming take on one of the nation’s favourite folk myths doubles as a playful anti-authoritarian rebuke. Following a cunning young goose shepherd in his efforts to get...
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The Scarlet Flower
Movie + 1 extra
Directed by Lev Atamanov • 1952 • USSR/Russia
The Scarlet Flower is a 1952 Soviet adaptation of fairy tale classic Beauty and the Beast from master animator Lev Atamanov. Before embarking on an overseas journey, a merchant father asks his three daughters what they would like him to bring back fo...
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Wizards
Movie + 1 extra
Directed by Dóra Keresztes and István Orosz • 1985 • Hungary
Recalling the avant-garde artistry of Chagall and Kandinsky, as well as the folk traditions of the Carpathians, this short from master animators Dóra Keresztes and István Orosz is a fine example of the Hungarian psychedelic school. Dep...
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The Little Mermaid
Movie + 1 extra
Directed by Ivan Aksenchuk • 1968 • USSR/Russia
This exquisite Soviet animated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale tells the story of a water-dwelling maiden, Rusalochka, who trades her voice for legs after falling in love with a human prince. The story transitions between th...
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Tale of Tales
Movie + 1 extra
Directed by Yuri Norstein • 1979 • Russia
The undisputed masterpiece from the reclusive Yuri Norstein, Tale of Tales is widely regarded as one of the finest animations of all time. In only 29 minutes, Norstein traverses personal and national history in almost abstract sequences that mimic the wo...