Ah, Canada, that frozen wonderland to the north, with its lush, rolling fields of moose, beer waterfalls, and socialized medicine. Truly, it is a snow covered Eden. This week’s Saturday Morning Cartoons is (mostly) presented by Canada, featuring animators (mostly) from Canada, or films distributed (mostly) by The National Film Board of Canada. If you are so inclined (and you should be) all of these videos, with the exception of the first, can be viewed in a higher resolution on YouTube.

• The Cat Came Back: From Cordell Barker. Mr. Johnson has a yellow cat, which he is desperately trying to rid himself of. His efforts prove…unsuccessful.

• Last Time in Clerkenwell: Russian animator Alex Budovsky’s follow-up to Bathtime in Clerkenwell featuring more mind bending flash animation and infectious music.

• The Danish Poet: Torill Kove’s 2007 Oscar winning mediation on her birth, and the serendipitous events which led to it. Simple, clean lines lend this one a children’s book aesthetic which works perfectly.

• Ryan: Directed by Chris Landreth, Ryan is an animated tribute to Canadian animator Ryan Larkin. Thirty years ago, at the National Film Board of Canada, Ryan produced some of the most influential animated films of his time. Winner of an Oscar in 2005, it’s a film whose visuals tell just as much of its story as its dialogue does.

• How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels: Craig Welch’s fantastic, creepy, surreal, Gorey-esque little film about a scientist’s quest for knowledge that is, perhaps, reserved for beings other than mere mortals. Cross hatching should be used more often in animation.

• Yellow Sticky Notes: Nine years worth of Jeff Chiba Stearns’s To-Do lists, written on sticky notes, animated with, well, sticky notes. Trust me, it works.

• Harvey Krumpet: I’m a big fan of Australian animator Adam Elliot’s work, having first seen his shorts Brother, Uncle, and Cousin through The Animation Show. Harvey Krumpet, narrated by Geoffrey Rush, continues the tradition of Elliot’s intimate storytelling; detailing the life of Harvey Krumpet, from his birth in Poland to the end of his life in Australia.

Saturday Morning Cartoons XXXIX: Oh Canada (Mostly) [YouTube]

As far as I can tell, Ambassadors Day looks like a Samuel Beckett play in which all the characters must wear gas masks, a prospect that sets me aquiver with excitement and, if I’m honest, something not unlike arousal:

Ambassadors Day takes place thousands of years in the future, when the remnants of the human species have moved indoors to escape the wrath of an environment turned hostile. Many generations have passed, and all that’s left of communication between these isolated sanctuaries of humankind are the Ambassadors.

Long after the End of the World has passed into myth, two envoys meet to exchange the weekly numbers of their people. It is a day like any other in Rendezvous Zone Eight-Seven Northwest, until one of the Ambassadors is ordered to shoot the other. Refusing, the Ambassador tries to defuse the situation. Unfortunately the problem began thousands of years ago, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Rocks are thrown in glass houses, kettles are called black, and everyone manages to get their feelings hurt. When the dust has settled, the world is changed forever.

A short film, running twenty minutes total, it can be purchased here.

Ambassadors Day Trailer [YouTube] : tweeted by Robin L.

Casting Call of Cthulhu is a short film by Joseph Nanni, detailing the exhaustive casting process for a production of Call of Cthulhu: a process that swiftly reveals itself to be a bit stranger than most casting calls. Having watched it I must say, while Gary gives a magnificent performance, I felt Frank brought a certain flair to the role. Perhaps they can write in a smaller part for him.

Casting Call of Cthulhu [YouTube] : CCoC Blog

Perhaps a realization of George Putnam’s apocryphal fear-mongering, Farm Sluts is a short film by director Collin Friesen and starring Cgris Parnell. Made for Fox Searchlight’s Searchlab project, it chronicles the meteoric downfall of a gentleman who unwisely opens some pornographic spam. One guess as to what’s inside.

NSFW: animal junk.

SEARCHLAB / shorts: Farm Sluts [Fox Searchlight] : Laughing Squid