Bill Plympton

A modern day Walt Disney, Will Vinton picked up a ball of clay and saw a world of potential. Known as the “Father of Claymation,” Vinton revolutionized the animation business during the 80s and 90s. But after 30 years of being the unheralded king of clay, Will Vinton’s carefully sculpted American dream came crumbling down. Structured around interviews with this charismatic pioneer and his close collaborators, the film charts the rise and fall of the Academy Award and Emmy winning Will Vinton Studios.

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Walt Disney said “We have created characters and animated them in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh those that divide us.” Outside of Walt himself there are few people who have brought together and united more animators in the history of the genre than Craig "Spike" Decker and Mike Gribble, known to all as Spike & Mike. They created an animation festival that helped launch the careers of John Lasseter, Peter Lord, Will Vinton, Bill Plympton and Mike Judge to name just a few. Their Spike & Mike festival had an enormous impact on animation that was felt the world over. The festival was known as much for the breakthrough animation it presented as the outrageous antics of the founders.

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"Hitler's Folly" explores what might have happened if Adolf Hitler's art career had been more successful and instead of becoming an evil dictator, he was inspired to become an animator like Walt Disney.

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Well, it's that wonderful time of the year again... Merry Christmas, everyone!

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A documentary film about Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton. This is a portrait piece that includes interviews with family, friends, colleagues, critics, and fans.

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A documentary about the early days of animation.

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An unlikely crew – an astronaut, his intrepid daughter, and a quintet of sympathetic, albeit violent, alien creatures – seek revenge against a space industry baron.

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12 little Christmas tales from Bill Plympton.

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An off-beat comedy about how having a gay father can be the least of a punk girl's problems.

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Interviews with Bill Plympton and others in the field of animation follow his development as an independent animator.

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A compilation of animator Bill Plympton's classic shorts, including "Your Face", "How to Kiss", "One of Those Days", "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", "Plymptoons", "Nosehair" and "How to Make Love to a Woman". In between, an animated version of Bill answers questions about his life and career.

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Nigel Nado, the notable documentary filmmaker, is trying to make a movie about some people trying to make a movie. But everything is going wrong. The subject of his documentary, the western 'Guns on the Clackamas' is plagued with problems. The lead actress has a severe stutter. And since she also happens to be the Executive Producer's mistress, there's not much that can be done to remedy the situation. Unsuccessful in turning the movie into a yodeling extravaganza, they decide to fire the actress. This results in having her irate beau pull the plug on the film's financing. The beginning of the end is marked by cast members dropping like flies due to any number of reasons. Bad macaroni salad. Bad chili. Bad caterer. A camera dolly runs over a crew member, severing some key limb or another. Then since no cast member has survived, and the film's producers can't hire replacements, the 'Guns on Clackamas' makers must resort to solutions at once startling and hilarious.

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Animator Bill Plympton first received widespread public attention when his outré "Your Face" (1987) was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. This collection of short films—some as brief as 15 seconds—made between 1985 and 1991, showcase his unique talent much more effectively than his ponderous feature films. But in off-the-wall shorts like "Your Face", "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", and the 15-second shorts made for MTV, he emerges as an entertaining and highly original filmmaker.

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The perilous road to kicking the habit is explored in twenty-six vignettes that include various professionals and contraptions.

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The story of Lucas, a young ear of corn, from his days in the cornfield with his mother to the moment he ultimately meets his fate as a meal for a young boy.

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The tale of a mythical cowboy who appears in a corrupt logging town (circa 1940s) and with the aid of his slide guitar and a giant Hellbug, he's able to battle the evil Mayor and his equally selfish twin brother to clean up the logging town of Sourdough Creek.

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When Academy Award®–winning animator and painter Joan Gratz asked eleven filmmakers if they would contribute to an omnibus film, she wasn’t sure what to expect—after prompting them to make a “one-minute memoir,” she let them figure out the rest. The One-Minute Memoir is the exuberant result: eleven stories ranging from the heartfelt to the absurd, all reflective of each director’s personal style.

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A new compendium of totally twisted gags from the mind of Bill Plympton.

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'No Snow for Christmas' is an animated Christmas carol about the effects of climate change.

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A low-rent bounty hunter named Rod Rosse, The One Man Posse, gets entangled in a web of danger when he takes on a job from an ex-biker/ex-wrestler turned U.S. senator named "Deathface."

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"Hitler's Folly" explores what might have happened if Adolf Hitler's art career had been more successful and instead of becoming an evil dictator, he was inspired to become an animator like Walt Disney.

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The life and times of a neglected stoplight.

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Taking all that was great from the first instalment, the movie aims to be a wilder, leaner, faster-paced and even more entertaining anthology this time around, with a new crop of award-winning, visionary filmmakers from around the globe.

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In a fateful bumper car collision, Jake and Ella meet and become the most loving couple in the long history of romance. But when a scheming "other" woman drives a wedge of jealousy into their perfect courtship, insecurity and hatred spell out an untimely fate. With only the help of a disgraced magician and his forbidden "soul machine", Ella takes the form of Jake's numerous lovers, desperately fighting through the malfunction and deceit as they try to reclaim their destiny.

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A surreal film by shorts legend, animator Bill Plympton, about a quest to find a mysterious monster.

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Well, it's that wonderful time of the year again... Merry Christmas, everyone!

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A young and earnest Tiffany makes her fashion debut in an attempt to be the most unlikely of super models and rejoin her beloved male model Conrad.

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A man about to go swimming imagines what horrors could be lurking deep in in the waters of his backyard pool.

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A children's fable about the power of advertising, the meaning of life and ultimately the test of a mother's love. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.

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"Mexican Standoff" is a Bill Plympton cartoon set to the music of Dutch band Parson Brown. The story is about a 3-sided love affair that goes absolutely wrong, and the hearts that break along the way. The technique is pencil drawings on paper, which were then scanned and composited digitally.

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Random! Cartoons is a spin-off of the Nickelodeon animation showcase Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Produced by Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studios for the Nicktoons Network, it premiered on December 6, 2008.

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We all think of Santa as "Jolly old St.Nick". But who knew that he has a dark hidden past that's very un-jolly? This short film uncovers and explores Santa's flirtation with politics and greed.

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Angel, a selfish rotter is hanging around in a local bar, groping the wife of the barman and dealing with weapons. One morning he wakes up finding a pair of wings growing at his back. These wings do good deeds against his nature. But suddenly he finds himself fighting those who want these wings for their own dark plans.

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The plucky hero joins a fire company to save the world and gain the affection he so richly deserves. However, the results never turn out the way he plans.

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Three athletes race to win the heart of a woman.

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Gary Guitar and Miss Vera Violin are planning a picnic! Will the rain, snow, crows, ants, mosquitoes, giant robots, an ocean liner or Danny Drum ruin their beautiful day?

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A film-noir murder mystery that takes place in a sleazy hotel. As cops investigate the gruesome murders, they become victims of this evil force.

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This twisted sequel to the Oscar-nominated film "Guard Dog" details the continuing adventures of an eager canine. This time he takes a job helping the blind, but still leaves a path of destruction in his wake.

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Why do dogs bark at such innocent creatures as pigeons and squirrels... what are they afraid of? This film answers that eternal question.

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Rod and Cherri are the unmistakable king and queen of Echo High. When new kid Spud arrives, he makes a faux pas so bad that Rod forces him to be his girl's slave. What unfolds is the tale of Cherri and Spud's blossoming relationship behind Rod's back, and their untimely demise on the night of the prom. A tale of tragedy that could only be as irreverent and sensational through the pen (or pencils, if you will) of Bill Plympton.

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Prepare for a heavy dose of animated mayhem as Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation brings home 30 of the most twisted cartoons imaginable. From the classic deer-squashing hilarity of Bambi Meets Godzilla to the outrageously violent antics of the ever adorable Happy Tree Friends, this collection offers some of the most gleefully offensive cartoons ever committed to celluloid.

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An unlikely crew – an astronaut, his intrepid daughter, and a quintet of sympathetic, albeit violent, alien creatures – seek revenge against a space industry baron.

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A parking lot attendant loses his temper when his working place is invaded by a blade of grass. A furious battle ensues.

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