Christmas Inventory
Short Films and Mid-Lengths
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21m
Directed by Miguel Gomes | 22 mins | 2000
In this early work by the beloved and formally daring Portuguese auteur, the portrayal of a multi-generational Yuletide family gathering gives way to documentation of the season’s chintzy and charming accouterments: tinsel twinkles, baubles bob, and a Spiderman figurine gets into a fight with a toy donkey.
Up Next in Short Films and Mid-Lengths
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Christmas Cracker
Directed by Jeff Hale, Norman McLaren, Grant Munro, and Gerald Potterton | 9 mins | 1963
A kinetic, cut-out rendition of “Jingle Bells,” a stop-motion face-off between a gaggle of tin wind-up toys, and a hand-drawn quest for the perfect Christmas tree topper: collectively, an upbeat and utterly c... -
The Days Before Christmas
Directed by Terence Macartney-Filgate, Stanley Jackson and Wolf Koenig | 30 mins | 1958
Montreal’s malls, churches, and clubs alike are abuzz with the Yuletide spirit in this beautifully observed short documentary—the inaugural episode of pioneering vérité series “The Candid Eye,” which aired on ... -
The Story of Christmas
Directed by Evelyn Lambart | 8 mins | 1973
Evelyn Lambart, considered the “First Lady of Canadian animation,” illustrates the familiar tale of Jesus’s conception and birth in the luminous and symbol-rich fashion of a medieval manuscript.