New Festival of Animation

This international program of 17 animated shorts isn’t quite as strong as some previous years’, although a fair number of the selections are worth anyone’s time. Highlights include John Lasseter’s Knickknack (in 3-D, complete with glasses); Arnie Lipsey’s Canadian Jewish anecdote The Crow and the Canary; Steve Goldberg’s computer-generated Locomotion; Erica Russell’s cubist and semiabstract dance film from England, Feet of Song; and Brett Thompson and Ian Gooding’s hilarious time-travel tale, The Housekeeper. There’s also work from Holland and the Soviet Union, an irreverent experimental work by Cathy Joritz, and a full-blown studio cartoon from Steven Spielberg’s production company called Family Dog, made by Brad Bird and Tim Burton. (Music Box, Monday, December 25, through Thursday, January 4) Read more