Mr. Plastimime

He lives in a white expanse, where a monotonous balance reigns and with cheerful indifference wanders through a uniform whiteness. The exit from the enclosed space is hindered by the lack of contact…

‘Departure of Love’ was inspired by the silent film comedy of Buster Keaton and the 1920s.

A prophet who longed to look upon his deities. A daunting journey to a mountain peak. A confrontation with gods too powerful to name. This is the story that inspired Peter Rhodes, who worked as a filmmaker and artist during the 1920s. Few people know of his work, and it's only through luck and perseverance that we have been able to track down the elements for this "lost" film. Rhodes' films were created using silhouette animation, a technique perfectly suited to depict Lovecraft's mythic Dreamland stories. The filmmaker's involvement in New York City's occult and literary scenes provided him with a select audience for his work. Rhodes was especially influenced through his relationships with occultist Aleister Crowley and writer H.P. Lovecraft, but it was personal tragedy that moved him to produce "The Other Gods: A Tale of the Dream Cycle," his most powerful film.

When everyone in town falls under the spell of charismatic cosmetic surgeon Doctor Coppelius, feisty Swan must act to save her sweetheart Franz, before his heart is used to spark life into Coppelia – the ‘perfect’ robot-woman the Doctor has created.

Your first date becomes your worst nightmare...

The film existed only in Jacque’s memory because all that remained were the two cardboard thief characters. Jacques called upon his memories to recreate the decor and the characters with a decorator. The operator then filmed frame by frame to reconstruct the film.

When Agnès Varda was preparing the film Jacquot de Nantes in 1990, she was able to shoot in the small apartment where Jacques was raised. While emptying the attic, Agnès found pieces of 9.5 mm film, dry and folded, almost broken and two small cardboard figures. The film was impossible to project and the film had to be remade. Showing the pieces of film to Jacques he immediately identified La Ballerine. A student from the Fine Arts School of Nantes therefore redrew each shot, frame by frame, on blank 16 mm film.

Bonzo is rejected by his sweetheart, a pekinese called Chekee, who is enraptured by her favourite film stars. However, she readily accepts Bonzo after he has been to Hollywood, and returned as the famous actor Bon Chaney.

With Jean-Baptiste at the front, Louise takes care of Bébé with the help of Uncle Pierre. The letters she receives from Jean-Baptiste worry her, but Pierre distracts Bébé with a box of tin soldiers. That night, Bébé has a dream of his soldiers vanquishing the enemy, and the next morning, Jean-Baptiste surprises the family by returning home.

I turned my gaze to the various events in daily life and made this filmic diary in a manner as if confessing my feelings. Of course, since I was making the film, I wanted to depict these feelings and events with tricky techniques. I used various methods to shoot photographs of a relative's wedding, the landscape I see from window of my house, commemorative travel photographs and the like frame-by-frame.

"All sounds travel in waves much the same as ripples in water." Educational film produced by Bray Studios New York, which was the dominant animation studio based in the United States in the years surrounding World War I.