The Animation Show of Shows (Vols. 19-24)

Back in 2007, we reported on Acme Filmworks’ incredible 3-boxed set of 18-discs collecting 54 award winning animated shorts, The Animation Show of Shows. Today, I’m happy to report Acme has released a second set of three boxes (containing 18 more discs, an additional 54 shorts). And here is an unabashed plug:

The animated shorts collected here are celebrated works of independent artists, every film carefully curated and lovingly presented – and in the case of several older films, beautifully restored. Each box set contains six DVDs, each disc containing three shorts, held in its own slip case illustrated with still art from the film and a bio of each director. Watching the first box (Set #4, Vols. 19-24) I was struck by the the variety of styles included here. From the hand-drawn antics of Bill Plympton (Guard Dog and Santa: The Facist Years), to collage cut-out stop motion (an incredible restoration of Frank Mouris’ Oscar winning Frank Film) and the latest CG wonders (Jeremy Clapin’s Skhizein, Gobelins’ Oktapodi), there’s style and technique to spare. Unless you’ve attended the competitions at Ottawa or Annecy for the last ten or fifteen years you probably haven’t seen all of these before, but I’ll tell ya, there isn’t a bad film in the bunch.

To say this is an important compilation is an understatement. These are vital for any serious animation library and required viewing for students and all who want to see some of the best shorts ever made. To heck with downloads, owning them on DVD is the way to go. As you can tell, I cannot praise Acme’s Animation Show of Shows DVDs highly enough. For complete contents and ordering information, visit filmporium.com. The dvds are very reasonably priced — 3 films on each DVD for $5 (that’s cheaper than itunes). Each DVD will be offered individually (soon) and right now in the 6-DVD Box Sets for $30 each.