The Actor

The Animals of Farthing Wood is an animated series created by the European Broadcasting Union between 1992 and 1995 and based on the series of books written by Colin Dann. It was produced by Telemagination, based in London, and La Fabrique, based in Montpellier in France, but also aired in other European countries. The first countries to air the series were Germany and the United Kingdom, in January 1993.

The story of the birth of Jesus, the anger of king Herod, the flight into Egypt and Herod's attempt at killing Jesus is seen through the eyes of a donkey and an ox who witness the birth and do what they can to protect the child.

Lava-Lava! is a french slapstick animation series by Federico Vitali from 1995. It contains a pilot and 13 episodes of about 3min each. The main characters of the short stories are animals, humans or aliens. They go through bizarre situations ending frequently out-of-control and violently. Lava-Lava! uses many slapstick elements and get along without spoken words.

A silhouette animation anthology TV series conceived, written and directed by Michel Ocelot and realised at La Fabrique, consisting of short fantastical stories performed by the same animated "actors." A critical success but commercial failure at the time, no further episodes were commissioned beyond the initial 8, but, following the success of Ocelot's Kirikou and the Sorceress, 6 were edited into the 2000 feature Princes and Princesses, in which form they finally saw wide exposure and acclaim both in France and internationally; a further episode was included in a home release of short works in 2008, but one remains unavailable for public consumption.

In this episodic animated fantasy from France, an art teacher interprets a series of six fairy tales (each involving a prince or princess) with the help of two precocious students. Princes and Princesses was created using a special style of cutout animation, with black silhouetted characters performing the action against backlit backdrops in striking colors.

A moralist and surrealist fable in which a group of aristocrats have sole access to a private beach in the midst of Paris, where they enact strange games and stylized gestures.

The philosophical tale revolves around an elderly monkey prince who wakes up injured and disoriented in an environment he does not recognise. He navigates this new urban world with the support of a young monkey called Tom.

In the ark, which has been perched for millennia on a snowy mountain top, an old hermit waits for a new flood. A scientific expedition approaches, just when the rain begins to fall.

A grouchy bear doses Santa Claus with a sleeping potion in order to ruin Christmas in this animated feature.

A stranger enters a town that has been evacuated because of an unexploded bomb. Meanwhile the inhabitants are watching through telescopes and are getting restless at the stranger’s antics.

Animation TV magazine.