Movies: Michael Fukushima

A figure floats in landscapes and spaces without a ground plane. There is only water. The reflected skies are endless and mirrored interiors are doubled in height. This film explores experiences within environments that are recognizable but surreal. ...

The tale of a tragic love story set in Newfoundland. When illness takes the woman he loves, a simple man raises his voice in melancholy song as a last farewell. The film, based on a song by local musician Emile Benoit, is anchored in a beautiful, rem...

Megann Reid evokes the solitude and warmth of a bath. Drawn with water colour pencil crayons on frosted acetate, the animation was done under a digital camera. This film was made as part of the second edition of the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship....

“A primary metaphor for dance is simply transformation,” explains Peggy Baker as her image dissolves into a flurry of loose contour drawings and ink splatters. Built around an intimate interview with the acclaimed Canadian dancer and choreographer, ...

Marielle Guyot uses her computer skills with great artistic sensibility to bring the sea to life, death, and hopefully, life again. This film was made as part of the second edition of the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship....

An “epic” adventure and a magical environmental fairy tale. Amy Lockhart uses cutouts, drawings and collage (captured and manipulated as digital multi-plane animation) to conjure up her whimsical world. This film was made as part of the second editio...

Seeking shelter from a thunderstorm, a man sits in a pub watching the ice in his glass melt away. Howie Shia marries his graphic illustration style with subtle animation and a haunting soundtrack to conjure up anxiety and foreboding. He used pen and ...

A little creature watches the transformation of a feather and follows a whale to where icebergs melt, leaving birds with nowhere to land. The materials used include old gloves, costume jewellery and Plasticine. Technique: puppet and object animation ...

Canada 3-D is a 60 second video, 3-D whirlwind tour of what it means to be Canadian, through the lens of director and animator, George Geertsen. Apparently it means a lot--everything from early explorers to one room schoolhouses, the Depression, the ...

This short animation is bleak and apparently grim, but it is an assertive statement on self-determination and the fundamental need for both dark and light. This film was made as part of the first edition of the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship....

Thea Pratt explores the exhilarating moment of a poetic dive. The movement of the puppet diver is influenced by Norman McLaren, Leni Riefenstahl and Busby Berkeley. Dancing light, frothing oceans, rolling rivers and calm lakes describe in photographi...

A “water poem,” set in a Japanese ofuro hot bath. It explores water as a medium and repository for collective stories and was created in a hybrid new media form using animation, video and split screens. This film was made as part of the first edition...

A marvellous example of extreme animation. Jacob Bauming shows us a whirling dervish of sensory overload, with a tenuous connection to snazzy “aquatics,” using them as a trigger for his wild and manic imagination. This film was made as part of the fi...

A tale of Victorian-era folly ends in tragedy. Kevin Langdale's graphic style brims with the majesty of human ambition and the indomitable and sometimes destructive power of the natural world. This film was made as part of the second edition of the N...