Krysař

This is the opening scene of Krysař, a renowned animated film directed by Jiří Barta (1986). In this version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, it is not the rats that infest the town and it is not for the rats that the Piper comes to Hameln.
In the opening scene, Barta introduces the city of Hameln as a character in its own right. Hameln is a mythological, gothic Gormenghast, a one single jointed, twisted structure. It is a medieval town of blacksmiths and iron, without even a trace of trees, grass or birds. The underlying machines of the town set the sunrise in Hameln, and the risen sun is of dim quality that does not allow for a full palette of colours.
Townsmen - cubist puppets of dark walnut wood - are an integrated non-separable part of Hameln. Barta explained in an interview for Kinoeye that he wanted to show the townsmen as mere puppets, as wooden machines, in striking contrast to the emotional, dynamic and dramatic world of rats (also visually, since real dead rats were used to create the rat puppets).
"The puppets' world," explained Barta, "is one of horror."
Barta further dehumanized the townsmen as he made them squeak in unintelligible gibberish, while the Pied Piper, Agnes and the old fisherman remain markedly silent. The Pied Piper keeps his silence even when he is insulted by the townsmen and paid, mockingly, with a black button.
Barta's Pied Piper does not retaliate in the same way as Grimms' one. At sunrise, he stops the time in Hameln and begins to pipe.

Surogat

It seems right to take my leave at the beginning. We began and we end with Dušan Vukotić. This is Surogat, a superb animated short for which Dušan Vukotić received an Academy Award (1961).
This week, I brought to you a selection of animated shorts that got my imagination going. An absolute winner on my list is Three Blue Blue Lakes of Colour Crimson. Surprisingly, it will be exactly Three Blue Blue Lakes of Colour Crimson that goes unmentioned in most other animation lists.
It will likely not surprise you that I will give you the Russian gems in a week, when it may be summer, or it may be morning, or it may be Sunday, or...

Madame Tutli-Putli

Madame Tutli-Putli, together with everything that makes up her life, boards a night train. Two men who live in their trunks travel above her. She sits diagonally from an Asian child who studies a manual on How to handle your enemies. Opposite her, a tennis player offers obscene services.
As the train rides, the day descends into dark.
Madame Tutli-Putli is a highly praised and continuously awarded Canadian stop-motion animated film created by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (2007). The short was in the making for five whole years.
The puppet of Madame Tutli-Putli was modelled on the actress Laurie Maher. In a revolutionary techological move, Maher's actual eyes were filmed and merged with the puppet. I very much hope that this technique does not make it into the animation for children. This is not the stuff of dreams. This is the stuff of nightmares.

Kutoja

The Last Knit (originally Kutoja), a brilliant Finnish animated short created by Laura Neuvonen (2005).

Cow on the Moon

Cow on the Moon (originally Krava na mjesecu), a Yugoslavian (Croatian) short animation directed by Dušan Vukotić (1959).