Discover

Everything in an animated world can grow, shrink or transform in the blink of an eye, and the simple cube in which Egg's narrator resides does all that, constantly—and so does the character.

It’s been a busy time at Quickdraw over the last few months, and we wanted to give an update for what to expect for our summer hours: we are hoping to open our doors and return to Saturday Free Swim! Read on for details --

The Woman Who Turned Into a Castle is a story from noted neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, whose work often focused on describing unusual mental states in order to illuminate the workings of the brain.

Filmed with a multiplane camera setup with five layers, the film only gives viewers glimpses of the whole, with constant motion on the other, blurred-out layers adding to the film's inner anxiety.

an animated short as part of the National Film Board's Five @ 50 Series: An Intimate Look at Contemporary LGBTQ2+ Lives and Iden­ti­ties. A neon-coloured tribute (conflicted as it may be) to a long-shuttered Edmonton gay bar, it is every bit as thoughtful, personal and provocative as you'd expect, and a worthy addition to Vivek's ever-growing artistic catalogue.

Despite being overshadowed by the two very different masterpieces he released on either side of it, Don Hertzfeldt's The Meaning of Life is still the kind of film most animators go their whole career hoping to create—funny, thoughtful, cynical and gorgeous in its own odd way.

If you're in need of a wholesome escape, Jacob Kafka's student short is a great place to get it. Silly, calm, and life-affirming, it's six well-spent minutes for the terminally overwhelmed.

Set in a version of Kolkata that has been made uninhabitable by rising water levels in a post-global warming future, Ghost studio's 2020 short is a tense 10 minutes of climate horror

Four new animated beauties for your perusal, including a video for Fleet Foxes, a colourfully choreographed self-portrait, a dark-comic twist on pixilation, and the tale of a studly wolf discovering the world of sex work.

The daughter of one of the engineers who worked on the creation and launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, Tracy K. Smith's poem is a touching tribute to her father's work—but it's the analog artwork by Brazilian animation director Daniel Bruson that truly elevates this short film

Two vastly different music videos, one using machine learning to create hyper-detailed close-ups of currency, the other painted in broad, blocky and vibrant strokes; plus two films from artists we've spotlighted in our Monday Shorts series, returning with even more impressive iterations of styles we already loved.

A clever spin on abstract animation, Sweater gives its director an excuse to indulge in the medium's affinity for swirling patterns, vivid colours, and kaleidoscopic arrangements, with some relateable slapstick added as a framing device

3D scanning on your phone, a new "Innovation Centre" in Calgary, and an adorable trailer, plus other news from the world of animation

Steeped in art deco elegance and ornate designs, Avarya is a visually rich addition to one of science fiction's longest ongoing converstions—one that has only gotten more urgent since it began nearly a century ago.

With its unique visual metaphors, subtle comic timing, and the sandpaper grit of cognitive dissonance, Lepage's darkly funny short captures a contemporary version of an age-old feeling.

Jobs at cSPACE, SAAG and the NMC, screening opportunities with the Calgary Black Film Festival, a Downtown Activation Grant, and national and municipal funding opportunities

An encounter with a street vendor prompts a young boy to confront his own mortality in this multilayered memento mori from the Tokyo University of the Arts

Animation Lockdown winners compete for The 48 Film Festival's inaugural prize

GIF contest, grant deadlines and free artistic "utensils" — here are the arts opportunities in Calgary this week.

Buoyed by a joyful score and Mirai Mizue's intricate draftsmanship, Dreamland is a narrative film in abstract clothing, a memorable blurring of the boundaries between animated genres.

GLAS and Annecy announce 2022 selections, Kate Beaton gets an AppleTV+ series, Animation Magazine chronicles Cartoon Movie, and AWN dives into the history of one of Canadian animation's most prominent studios

GLAS and Annecy announce 2022 selections, Kate Beaton gets an AppleTV+ series, Animation Magazine chronicles Cartoon Movie, and AWN dives into the history of one of Canadian animation's most prominent studios

Calls for artworks and residencies, job postings, and educational workshops are all part of this week's roundup of professional opportunities for Calgary animators

Quickdraw artists selected for HBOMax and WarnerMedia Access' new animated shorts program cohort

The return of CUFF's 48-hour filmmaking challenge, opportunities for queer and Indigenous creators, and a job posting from our neighbours at EMMEDIA round out this week's offerings

A sci-fi fable in the vein of Italo Calvini's Cosmicomics, Matisse Gonzalez' film is a brief, breezy story built around an immediately intuitive metaphor

Man on the Chair is a film focused on doubts, with a sense of uncertainty that goes beyond asking why we are here to whether we are here at all. Director Jeong Dahee doesn't seem especially interested in finding answers—it's the feeling of sitting within questions that seems to interest her.

A bit of a short round-up this week. It's almost like there's some more significant news out there.

This week's opportunities include a call for submisisons for an Earth Day zine, sessional work at AUArts, and info on CADA's upcoming project grants

We aren't saying that the AV Club's animation is the sole reason this new crossing is being built, but we aren't not saying that, either

Nata Metlukh pokes fun at social cues misfiring with a fun house-mirror reflection of our social incompetence

Media arts awards, emerging artist scholarships, artist talks and community check-ins make up this week's arts opportunities for Calgary artists

Looking back at Glucose four years later, it's easy to see why folks were so excited. For lack of a better word, and at the risk of sounding absurdly unhip, it just looks and sounds cool.

A new video from Chad VanGaalen, behind the scenes of the opening credits of Netflix's The House, shakeups at the NFB, and other news from the world of animation

An incubator program for Black filmmakers, a remote ani-jam in Halifax, and a series of creative economy strategic workshops round out this week's Calgary (and remote) arts opportunities

An animation that focuses on the subtle movements and rhythms that unconsciously happen at an owambe, a Nigerian street party. As people come together in joy, their hearts begin to beat to the same rhythm, as if united in happiness.

A new video from Chad VanGaalen, behind the scenes of the opening credits of Netflix's The House, shakeups at the NFB, and other news from the world of animation

A shorter collection this week, but still some interesting opportunities, including permanent roles at CADA, summer internships, and more festival deadlines

Kibwe Tavares' sci-fi short is far from your typical architecture school project, but his eye for the intersection of class, race, and the built environment is all over this film.

QAS members in print and on screen around the world

A restoration of a bizarro Romanian sci-fi gem, fusing mo-cap and animation pipelines in Unreal, GIRAF selections winning awards, and other news from the world of animation

An odd assortment of job postings and calls for submissions this week, including zombie Jesus, arts mentorships, festival calls and potential murals

We're looking for independent and artful animated films to share with our audience in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Even before seeing a frame of Erika Grace Strada's student short, the title brings some very specific imagery to mind. It suggests alien landscapes, strange creatures, and a healthy dose of cosmic horror—and it delivers most of that. The jaunty soundtrack dispels any sense of dread, but with a different score, the film's opening could easily set the stage for some true cosmic horror.

Seeing so many talented local artists get the chance to be part of something so joyful, and that'll be seen on such a large scale, is a real treat

A teaser for Guillermo's Pinocchio, behind the scenes of an Apple II classic, feature film announcements, and a first glimpse at Studio Ghibli's theme park

Visual experiments, poetic emotional journeys, and playful explorations of culture and storytelling—it's another half-dozen new additions to our ongoing Vimeo channel

A short documentary based on the writing of a real sweeper master, The Chimney Swift is whole lot bleaker than Mary Poppins' "Chim Chim Cheree" would lead you to believe

The Calgary-shot Fraggle Rock reboot is out! Plus trailers for Inu-Oh, Shenmue the Animation, and The Cuphead Show, animated GLAAD Media Award nominees, and other news from the world of animation

Plenty of interesting opportunities this week, including calls for Calgary festivals, mentorship and scholarships for Alberta media artists, an international residency at Hiroshima, and a chance to help steer the Alberta animation and VFX industry

An animation legend transforms a Renaissance painting into a densely woven dance of shapes and colour.

Trailers for Netflix's The House and Cuphead's latest DLC, plus Slovenian stop-motion, awards announcements, Makato Shinkai's new feature, and Bugs Bunny vs. The Walrus

A look back on a year full of preparation and anticipation—with more than its share of bright spots along the way

The opening image of Panta Rhei is a long shot of a beach. On the left, a humpback whale lies on the sand belly up. In the centre, the film's protagonist, a marine biologist named Stefaan, stands motionless. The camera is far back, the two figures dwarfed by the barren beach and the drab grey sky.

New trailers from Studio Ponoc and Sony animation, deleted scenes from Bojack Horseman, and new uploads of classic Sally Cruickshank round out this week's quick links

Our programming director shares his thoughts on some new, classic, and obscure Christmas animations

We'll have limited availability from Dec. 19 through January 17—thanks for your patience, and happy holidays!

Freeze Frame is a stop-motion film made from ice, and there is an inherent tension between that technique and that material. Stop motion is a slow, tedious practice that creates the appearance of motion from static materials. But ice is never really static. As soon as it's out of the freezer, it is already in the process of disappearing.

All-star tutorials, stop-motion interviews, industry news, and other items that caught our eye this week.

This week's volunteer opportunities and job postings in the local arts community

Collecting the kind words that were said about our online animation festival

The numbers have been crunched, and we can say with mathematical certainty that these were your favourite films

After hours of viewing and careful deliberation, it's time to announce the winners of this year’s jury prizes at GIRAF17

A Spirit made of pure white light roams the earth at a time-scale we can barely comprehend. What would humanity look like to a being that moves in geological time?

This officially makes it a tradition: We're once again writing about the signal film for our GIRAF animation festival. But can we help it when the films are this good?

We’ve been focusing so much on the films and artists in this year’s festival that we might’ve missed mentioning a few details, so here are five things you might not know about GIRAF17

The simplicity of Salise Hughes' How to Draw Clouds makes it a really difficult film to write about. As the synopsis says, it's a "meditation on the desire to hold on to the ephemeral," and at only two minutes long, it makes its point concisely and poetically. Honestly, what else is there to say?

Cage Match is essentially a stress dream, drawn from the same subconscious source that brought you the test you forgot study for and the job you forgot you still had—just ramped up to 11. What starts off looking like just a moment of claustrophobia quickly becomes a battle royale between beefy super-wrestlers.

In honour of International Animation Day and the Halloween weekend, enjoy 13 spooky selections from Quickdraw's ongoing Vimeo channel.

From its opening shot—a car interior bathed in red light, the protagonist small and blurry outside the windshield, hints of tree branches and utter darkness behind her—100,000 Acres of Pine sets a sinister mood that it never lets fade.

Trailers for two new Netflix features, and news from the world of independent animation.

There's plenty of activity from Quickdraw's community to announce this week, so here are some of the highlights

Cholo is an independent Calgary-based artist, working primarily in digital illustration. Born in the Philippines and raised in Canada, they are a self-taught visual artist who’s worked in various mediums including digital illustration, graphic design, painting, printmaking, and very recently, animation.

Diana Reichenbach's short is about "the relationship of light, sound, and space" — the feeling you get from how those elements interact, and the blurring between the senses when the synchronized sound and image hit just right.

Animation and dance share an obsession with understanding movement, breaking down complex acts into their component parts, and understanding the expressive potential of even the subtlest gestures.

A/R gets a boost, Dozens of North gets a release date, and EMMEDIA is hiring a new Artistic Director

Opening with an overhead shot of a grandmother's hands inspecting a tea set, the film is as patient and unhurried as its subject, and as comfortable as the most pleasant family gathering.

It's strange to say that a story about a one-eyed being who accidentally destroys a planet full of life feels deeply personal, but in this case, it's the truth.

Laika's next project, film restoration, and an interview with King Gizzard

Set in small-town Saskatchewan in the year 2037, it's the story of a trendy noodle shop exploring the newest frontier in hipster cuisine: psychedelic, polydimensional comfort food.

Four news stories that caught our eye this week

Frankly, some things are more fun when you choose not to overthink them.

A brief glimpse at what's happening in the world of animation

A pair student films using fuzzy, felted puppets to explore the darker side of human nature, Mantzaris' films play like two sides of the same psychological coin.

Interesting tidbits from the world of animation

Yearbook is a bittersweet film, but it’s a deeply affecting one, a reminder that life is more important than legacy, and how easy it is to get lost dwelling on the wrong things. That it can do all that while still being this briskly paced, this concise, and this funny is truly impressive.

A kinetic film scratcher, visual music maker, animated traveler of time and space, light sensitive, looper of loops and collector of motion picture projection bulbs to bring total enlightenment.

A leafy creature roams the wasteland, a lone figure of life and warmth gathering its energy and releasing it in flame-like bursts, which eventually spread through the land, urging new growth from old roots.

Four quick links on animation developments that caught our eye

The film's climax is a psychedelic trip, a glorious, glitchy vision of aquatic life and ego death that couldn't be further removed from the 2D scrolling of its opening.

We know you've been waiting patiently, and we are happy to say registrations are open now

Parks' ability to bring fresh eyes to her materials makes Foreign Exchange stand out. Zoomed in, cropped, collaged and recombined, her compositions force new perspectives as the most familiar elements become, well, foreign.

A feminine, feminist reframing of the act of creation, Ross’ film revels openly in its sexuality. Adam depicts the process as tender and tactile, not cold and clinical. It’s a creation fueled by desire, one just as linked to the needs of the body as any of the acts that would follow from it. 

The human form becomes plastic beyond belief, faces stretching and distorting, bodies opening up, skin peeling off and re-applied as clothing. It's a nightmare realm, as surreal and disturbing as Bosch's most vivid fantasies.

The second half of our recent additions to the ongoing Indie Animation Mixtape Vimeo channel