The latest feature from renowned animation auteur Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar) marks his first foray into 3-D animation. A hit at the Berlin Film Festival, Tales of the Night extends the earlier shadow-puppet style of Ocelot’s Princes and Princesses (SFIFF 2001) with black silhouetted characters set off against exquisitely detailed Day-Glo backgrounds bursting with color and kaleidoscopic patterns and the subtle use of 3-D creating a diorama-like effect. The film weaves together six exotic fables, each unfolding in a unique locale, from Tibet to medieval Europe, an Aztec kingdom, the African plains and even the Land of the Dead. In Ocelot’s storytelling, history blends with fairy tale as viewers are whisked off to enchanted lands full of dragons, werewolves, captive princesses, sorcerers and enormous talking bees—and each fable ends with its own ironic twist.

Don’t Go
Electronic disco music propels this nonstop chase scene of a movie as a cute, pink-bellied, one-eyed CGI bunny gets chased around an apartment by a live-action black cat. (Turgut Akacik, Turkey 2010, 4 min)


(84 min. In French with subtitles) Recommended for ages seven and up.