The Magic Hoop

Prague, Bohemia, 1820. Balduin, a penniless student, falls in love with Countess Margit, a wealthy noblewoman whom he has saved from drowning.

A demon, a reaper, and the ghost of a prostitute read gothic short stories and act them out.

Mapo's experiences on the Camino de Santiago, or St. James Way. On this legendary route, he will pass through villages and meet other pilgrims who, like him, are seeking new experiences and emotions.

Martians fear their children have become lazy and joyless due to their newfound obsession with Earth TV shows. After ancient Martian leader Chochem suggests that the children of Mars need more fun—including their own Santa Claus—supreme leader Lord Kimar assembles an expedition to Earth. Once there, they kidnap two children who lead them to the North Pole, then capture the real Santa Claus, taking all three back to Mars in an attempt to bring the Martian children happiness.

Professor Owl gives a lecture on the evolution of Western musical instruments, starting with the advent of rudimentary brass, woodwind, string and percussion instruments by ancient cave dwellers at the dawn of history.

On a dark and stormy night, four bored ghosts decide to have some fun by calling the Ajax Ghost Exterminators.

In this clever and over-the-top satire of romantic rituals, a cartoon pickup artist is violently torn apart by the women he courts. Don Hertzfeldt's first student film, he plays the part of a mentally unwell animator who's losing his grip within his own movie; an idea he'd later revisit in other early "meta" shorts "Genre" and "Rejected". Despite being produced at the age of 18 and not intended for exhibition, HBO named it "The World's Funniest Cartoon" in 1998.

In Don Hertzfeldt's second student film, a hapless cartoon character is dragged through a spectrum of cinematic situations by his frustrated animator.

A blind date ends in disaster.

A sprawling look at the evolution of humankind, over the course of a billion years.

At the royal court, a prince is presenting the princess whom he is pledged to marry when a witch suddenly appears. Though driven off, the witch soon returns, summons some of her servants, and carries off the princess. A rescue party is quickly organized, but the unfortunate captive has been taken to a strange, forbidding realm, from where it will be impossible to rescue her without some special help.

He sits asleep at a bare table; old witch enters, raps three times, then disappears; cavalier sees table spread for a sumptuous repast. Mephistopheles appears; then the old witch, who suddenly changes to a beautiful young girl. The changes and magical appearances are startling and instantaneous.