Trawna Tuh Belvul

Canadian poet Earle Birney indulges his love of trains in this performance of his sound poem To Swindon from London by Britrail. In fluent "trainish," he interprets the experience of excursions by rail. Imagination sparked by the rhythm of wheels and the clink of couplings, Birney hums, hisses and hoots his way through archival footage of vintage trains and the English countryside. A must for language, animation and train buffs.

This animated film is above all a love story told with emotion and delicacy. A man loves a woman; both of them love literature. We discover the murmur of their lives, the harmony of their feelings-and we learn how their affection for novels and poetry marks their existence beyond death. The fruitful alliance of filmmaker Félix Dufour-Laperrière's imagery and the words of Quebec poet Hélène Dorion results in a subtle, sensitive film that resonates in the viewer's heart and mind. In its hybridization of styles and techniques, The Day Is Listening is also a most modern and daring work: its director has deftly expanded the spectrum of traditional hand-drawn animation, incorporating mosaics of real images that express a myriad of intertwining memories as well as the pulse of urban life.

Weary of daily life in his native village of Chelm, Shmendrik sets out on a quest for knowledge that brings him to a new Chelm, a place remarkably like the old Chelm, down to the chicken's reminiscent clucks. Based on a Jewish folk tale, adapted by John Lazarus, Village of Idiots is the story of Shmendrik's new life and its uncanny closeness to his old life; offering an extremely funny take on our tendency to romanticize what we don't have. The animators filmed paper cut-outs on layers of glass to achieve the rich, textured visuals.