The Mystical Laws

A sweeping, cinematic pseudo-documentary history of human flight, starting with the failed attempt of Icarus, and ending with the aviation triumphs of the fascist regime.

The first Greek animated film was shot by the cartoonist Stamatis Polenakis (1908-1997) with the title "The Duce tells...". The seven-minute "Mickey-Mouse-style" film, as its creator mentions in the credits, satirizes the Italian invasion of Greece on October 28, 1940, and especially Mussolini, who recounts his exploits, but reality constantly contradicts him. Stamatis Polenakis, one of the leading Greek cartoonists of the 20th century and a pioneer of animation in our country, began drawing the sketches for the film in 1942 in his hometown, Sifnos, where he had taken refuge during the Occupation. He worked under the boot of the Italian conqueror, risking arrest. The film was lost during the Civil War and it was not until 1980 that a negative was found and restored.

The "true" story of Wehrmacht sniper Fredrick Zoller as he single-handedly fends off an Allied siege of a Sicilian town.

Based on the book by Major Alexander de Seversky's about his theories of the practical uses of long range strategic bombing. Using a combination of animation humorously telling about the development of air warfare, the film shows de Seversky illustrating his ideas of how air power could win World War II for the Allies.

World War II propaganda trailer asking travellers to have patience and make concessions when travelling on trains. Film mostly consists of rostrum animation of still cartooned images with some very short pieces of true animation. (BFI)

This cartoon propaganda short by Halas & Batchelor sweetens the pill of post-war coal prices by promising jam tomorrow.

The future. The corrupt regime broadcasts the illusion of a beautiful city to the chip in your head, when in fact the city is in ruins. The rebels know the truth and seek to foment revolution.

Boomerang is a short film set in a post-collapse Berlin 50 years into the future: Raven finds an old diary from a 2020s pro Palestine activist and gets inspired to try some of its "recipes for disaster". Shot in an ASMR-style this experimental film is filled with sneaky folk songs leading Raven to turn their sadness into rage, and their rage into action. It's an attempt at making a piece of agit prop directed at passive "allies" and liberals who are too busy protecting their cushy lives, to realise their inactivity is making them complicit. It’s a film about the process of changing your mind, about what you’re gonna do, when presented with new information.

Three stories told simultaneously in ninety minutes of real time: a Republican Senator who's a presidential hopeful gives an hour-long interview to a skeptical television reporter, detailing a strategy for victory in Afghanistan; two special forces ambushed on an Afghani ridge await rescue as Taliban forces close in; a poli-sci professor at a California college invites a student to re-engage.

Don’t judge a book by its cover but do judge a political party by its garage.

A landmark four disc Box Set - Unearthed from Moscow's legendary Soyuzmultfilm Studios, the 41 films in ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA span sixty years of Soviet history (1924 - 1984), and have never been available before in the U.S.

An elite group of Chinese pilots must take part in a dangerous mission to thwart a terrorist plot and resolve a hostage situation.