Pascal Le Nôtre

A sudden rainstorm is unleashed on a city. Everyone seeks refuge. When the clouds thin out, life continues.

Love has packed up and left the castle. The queen has snuck back to her Kingdom of Skedaddle. But one person’s loss is a scoundrel’s gain: Bonifacio, a teller of tall tales, sees in the forlorn queen the perfect target for his hackneyed charms. As summer approaches, he changes himself into a sweet talker and sings her praises. Things would have worked out perfectly if only Princess Molly hadn’t arrived on the scene. While visiting her mother, she quickly discovers the hoax: the queen thinks she’s found a new husband in Bonifacio. But the swindling storyteller is really only interested in the kingdom’s legends.

Program of 4 short films: 1) AT MADAME POULE: Poor Madame Poule! His chicken elder does as he pleases. He looks up at the dishes she is preparing for him. Until the day when she has had enough ... 2) THE SEWN MOUTH: A character with a sad and lost look gets on a bus with a pizza in his hands. He is almost seated when the driver falls suddenly. His pizza flies and falls ... 3) IS: A little girl has a nervous breakdown after an argument with her parents. But what can she do to calm down? 4) THE WINTER OF LEON: Winter is falling on the kingdom and the mountain ogre takes away the beautiful princess Mélie Pain d'Epice. Leon, a young bear adopted by a couple of beekeepers, runs away and falls into the hands of Boniface, the storyteller.

In the vestibule of a hospital room, a young boy waits to see his dying mother. The clamor and spiralling movements of bodies around him intensify, forming a grotesque circus—a cacophonous circle that pushes the child back, depriving him of one final touch of his mother's hand. Using rotoscoped drawings suggestive of charcoal sketches, as well as 3D and object animation techniques, The Circus compels viewing with its unsettling realism. Colour is employed metaphorically to subtly express the promise and the memory of maternal affection. Nicolas Brault's highly personal film, suffused with poetic modesty, casts a poignantly sincere gaze on the heartbreak of a child facing the fearful, mysterious experience of his mother's death.

Somewhere between Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Jean-Jacques Sempé and René Goscinny lean over a large white sheet of paper and bring to life a mischievous and endearing boy, Little Nicolas. From schoolyard games and fights to summer camp pranks and camaraderie, Nicolas lives a merry and enriching childhood – and brings friendship and newfound life to his creators, too.

In this animated short, a young couple washed onto a strange, inhospitable shore, attempts to transform the land into an Eden. Through great effort they prosper, learning to conquer nature and their environment. But what will their victory mean? Alternately a vision of paradise and purgatory, with allusions to the Book of Genesis and prehistory, the film tells the story of human beings and their conquests, offering a dark, critical view of the rise and fall of civilizations.

One winter, a ravenous ogre terrorizes the land of King Balthasar. Meanwhile, a blizzard is brewing in Léon’s heart. Braving the cold, this adopted bear cub runs away from home. Léon has many an adventure during his travels. He befriends a hedgehog and an elephant, confronts an ogre, and sets Princess Molly Gingerbread free. His courage and integrity eventually lead him back to his family. In the end, the cub earns everybody’s respect.

As the mysterious “bloated belly” disease spreads through their kingdom, Princess Molly teams up with Léon the bear to outwit a conniving storyteller.