Science Please! : The Force of Water

A clip in the Science Please. collection, The Wonderful World of Colour uses archival footage, animated illustrations and amusing narration to explain how the cones of the retina enable us to perceive the spectrum of colours.

In the collection Science Please!, the first clip, entitled The Wind, explains the phenomenon of the wind with the help of archives, animation and narration.

A minute of science, please. is a delightful collection of small one-minute films each explaining, using animation, archival images, and an often humorous narrative, various phenomena and scientific discoveries.

This short animated film delves into the mysteries of time: how calendars came to be; why the seasons change; why the year is divided into days, etc. From Babylon to 16th-century Europe, this film presents the history of the measurement of time.

Bad Seeds takes us to a bizarre world populated by carnivorous plants that can change shapes the way a chameleon changes colours. The veteran director of deftly connects growth with rivalry and evolution with competition, crafting an increasingly shocking duel that’s peppered with allusions to the western, the Cold War, board games, and much more.

A clip in the Science Please! collection, Slippery Ice! uses archival footage, animated illustrations and amusing narration to explain why we slip on ice.

School, tennis lessons, swimming lessons, art classes, homework, piano practice... a boy's parents have organized his life to such an extent that he has no time for himself. Based on article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, this film illustrates children's right to rest and leisure. Film without words.

A clip in the Science Please! collection, Wheel Meets Friction uses archival footage, animated illustrations and amusing narration to explain how the invention of the ball bearing reinvented the wheel.

Four strokes of genius.

Featuring a salesman and a consumer, this animated short is a humorous study of the patterns that define buyer-seller relationships. The Persistent Peddler is based on Claude Cloutier's hit comic strip La Légende des Jean-Guy, first introduced in Quebec humour magazine Croc.

This animated short by Claude Cloutier is a pictorial account of an attack on Canadian soldiers during WWI. On the edge of the battlefield, recruits are dreading the order to attack. At the signal, a young soldier leaps into a hell of fire and blood where the earth engulfs both the living and the dead. Blending archival images and Cloutier’s hypnotizing brushstroke, the film is a dazzling illustration of the futility of war.

Filmmaker and comic strip artist Claude Cloutier has made a striking satire on big oil, a musical where cars sing and dance while the planet falls into despair.

Propelled by Claude Cloutier’s signature drawing style and absurdist humour, this animated short offers an overview of the evolution of life on Earth from rock to human, with some surprising twists in between.

Princess Betty sleeps in a narcoleptic stupor. The king appeals to his subjects to wake her, and several respond: Uncle Henry VIII, Aunt Victoria, an emotional alien, a cool witch and a handsome prince. This worthy Prince Charles lookalike has to leave his royal suburb to save the princess, but will Betty be wakened with just a kiss?

Taking Charge shows teens taking the initiative to overcome the fears and vulnerabilities of growing up in an increasingly violent and rapidly changing society. Through role-playing, theatre groups, peer discussion groups and anti-violence collectives these young activists have "taken charge," educating themselves and their peers towards a deeper understanding of the effects of violence rooted in sexism, racism and homophobia.

Exploring the conscious, the unconscious and the self, By Winds and Tides takes a deep experimental dive into the birth of an idea—how it takes shape, how it is released. An allegorical quest, the film combines images and words into a singular sigh.