Screening | 7 Short Christmas Films

THE GREAT TOY ROBBERY, color, 7 minutes; Directed by Jeff Hale, 1963 - An animated story telling how Santa Claus, while crossing a western desert, was robbed of his bag of toys by three bad men. The hero accidentally captures the villains and is rewarded with a toy car which he gleefully rides off into the sunset.

THE CHRISTMAS GIFT, color, 8 minutes; Directed by Will Vinton, 1980. Based on a Peter, Paul and Mary ballad entitled "Christmas Dinner." - In this clay animation, a lonely boy without money and very little to eat meets an old woman who has a little bit to drink. Sharing what they have by candlelight, they experience their happiest Christmas.

THE SNOW GIRL, color, 9 minutes; Directed by Lucjan Dembinski, 1972 - A puppet animation of the Russian folktale about a snowgirl who comes to life and goes to stay with an old childless couple who live a friendless, lonely life in a mountain hut.

GLITTERING SONG, color, 12 minutes; Directed by Vaclav Bedřich, 1965 - Uses abstract images, glass balls, jewels and pieces of broken glass to animate a crocodile, which later turns into a Christmas ornament, chasing a juggling boy.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE, color, 14 minutes; Directed by Tod Stromquist, 1971 - While a toymaker travels to a distant village to sell his wares on Christmas Eve, his children decorate a little evergreen tree as a surprise for him. When he is late coming home, they put candles on the tree to guide him through the dark woods and so make the first Christmas tree. Filmed in the Bavarian Alps.

ON THE TWELFTH DAY, color, 21 minutes; Directed by Wendy Toye, 1964 - Presents a re-enactment of the traditional English folksong in which Truelove brings his lady an unusual assortment of gifts on each of the twelve days of Christmas.

THE JUGGLER OF NOTRE DAME, color, 30 minutes; Directed by Pierre Remont-Dimka, 1968 - Animated puppets enact Anatole France's fable about the little juggler who aspired to win his place in a medieval monastery. Although he is too playful and mischievious to be accepted by the other monks, he finds his own way to pay homage to the Madonna.