Flying cows, mysterious gods and lyrical pandemonium: Don Hertzfeldt has made Animation Mixtape just for you. The dazzling 85-minute program features exciting, animated shorts from up-and-coming filmmakers, Academy Award nominees and classic pieces that originally inspired Don to start making his own iconic work. Including a new animated introduction from Don and never before seen work from famed underground animator Bruce Bickford.
Director / Curator: Don Hertzfeldt • 2025
Watch the Trailer:
Introduction
(Don Hertzfeldt, 2025, 3 minutes)
Martyr's Guidebook
(Maks Rzontkowski, 2024, 9 minutes)
Tony is a good boy, who can't say no, even when it's destroying him. He also lives with a giant angel.
Maks Rzontkowski filmmaker, designer, and music producer, crafts delicate stories characterized by a unique blend of sadness and awkwardness. He specializes in compact forms and observations, drawing inspiration from human quirks, paradoxes, and communication missteps, which serve as a reminder of how our small imperfections contribute to our humanity.
https://maksrz.com/
Zoon
(Jonatan Schwenk, 2022, 4 minutes)
Small shimmering animals are in heat. A two-legged forest dweller encounters the lustful group. He and his companions snack on the little creatures and soon a feast begins.
Jonatan Schwenk, born in 1987 in Germany, is a director, author, animator, producer, and sound designer. His animated short films have gained international recognition at major festivals.
http://www.jonatan-schwenk.com/
Pineapple Calamari
(Kasia Nalewajka, 2014, 9 minutes)
Pineapple Calamari is a little horse who dreams of becoming a racing champion. He is taken care of by two sisters, who share a very special connection. When tragedy befalls this happy family, their social life takes a dramatic turn into the unexpected.
Born in gloomy Warsaw Kasia Nalewajka studied Natural Sciences then Graphics. Combining her bizarre curiosity towards animals and an interest in pictures and illustration, she developed a passion for animated films.
https://www.instagram.com/kasianalewajka/?hl=en
Wednesday with Goddard
(Nicolas Ménard, 2016, 5 minutes)
A personal quest for spiritual enlightenment leads to romance and despair.
Nicolas Ménard is a Québécois animation director, artist and designer. His clear graphic language translates to a variety of mediums, from hand drawn animation to stop-motion.
https://www.nicolasmenard.com/
Selected Line Animation
(Bruce Bickford, 2025, 2 minutes)
Bruce Bickford (1947-2019) was an American artist, animator, and filmmaker who produced a prodigious amount of visionary work over nearly half a century. A self-taught artist, Bickford is widely considered a pioneer and master of clay animation, creating uniquely bizarre narratives in perpetually morphing plasticine.
https://brucebickfordestate.com/
i am alone and my head is on fire
(David OReilly, 2013, 1 minute)
A man is alone and his head is on fire.
Born, Kilkenny, Ireland, 1985.
https://www.davidoreilly.com/
The Hill Farm
(Mark Baker, 1988, 18 minutes)
Three groups of people (farmers, campers and hunters) use the same countryside in different ways.
With his films The Hill Farm (1988), The Village (1993) and Jolly Roger (1998), Mark Baker is widely regarded as one of the leading British animators to emerge since the 1970s.
https://www.markbakerfilms.com/
The Flying Sailor
(Wendy Tilby & Amanda Forbis, 2022, 8 minutes)
In 1917 two ships collided in the Halifax Harbour, causing the largest accidental explosion in history. Among the tragic stories of the disaster is the remarkable account of a sailor who, blown skyward from the docks, flew a distance of 2 kilometres before landing uphill, naked and unharmed. The Flying Sailor is a contemplation of his journey.
Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis met at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver where they studied film, video, and animation. Each went on to create their own works with the NFB before co-directing the acclaimed When the Day Breaks (1999), a story about collisions, connections, and the accidental death of a chicken.
https://www.tilbyforbis.com/
Larry
(Takeshi Murata In collaboration with Christopher Rutledge, 2023, 3 minutes)
A dog loses grasp of its shape and time while balling like Shaq.
Takeshi Murata works in a variety of mediums and has exhibited in galleries, museums, and film festivals internationally. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Christopher Rutledge is a cg artist living in Los Angeles who enjoys independent animation and making floppy characters and visceral, sometimes upsetting simulations.
https://www.instagram.com/takeshimurata
https://www.instagram.com/tokymegz/
Jesus 2
(Jesse Moynihan, 2025, 8 minutes)
Thousands of years in the future no one can die… and no one wants to live anymore. Two space pirate brothers named Sunday and Monday must find a way to deliver Humanity to its final resting place!
Jesse Moynihan is a cartoonist, animation director and composer. He is best known for writing and storyboarding for the television series Adventure Time, working as the art director on the Netflix series The Midnight Gospel, and his graphic novel series Forming.
https://www.jesus-2.com/
The Big Snit
(Richard Condie, 1985, 10 minutes)
This wonderful wacky animation film looks at two simultaneous conflicts, a macrocosm of global nuclear war and a microcosm of a domestic quarrel, and how each conflict is resolved. Filled with warmth and unexpectedly off-the-wall humour, the film leaves it to viewers to decide which Snit has really been the Big One.
Richard Condie is one of Canada’s most eccentric, and celebrated and internationally recognized, animators. His career as a director, writer, composer and musician began with a penchant for privacy, decades of “fooling around” (or doodling) on paper and a Canada Council grant.
https://www.nfb.ca/film/big_snit/
Interstitials by Corrinne James
Corrinne James is a Los Angeles based animator and artist. She often employs hand-drawn techniques to explore themes of guilt, identity, and jealousy in a non-linear, impressionistic style.
https://starshinemountain.com
end credits by Don Hertzfeldt with music by Naomi Alligator
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