Norman McLaren Movies

Taking "Isle of the Dead," a work by the Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin as his starting point, Norman McLaren creates a deeply...

This publicity clip for Canada Post is Norman McLaren's first film for the NFB. For this animated short, McLaren drew symbols by pen onto clear 35 mm...

This wartime publicity trailer by Norman McLaren focuses on wartime inflation and the role of price control. Single-frame animation is used with pen...

A gay fantasia of patterned sound in which Norman McLaren salutes the West Indies, painting the spirit of fiesta on film to the lively beat of an...

In 1966, McLaren began a metamorphic film in which he explored the light and colour of Canada in this unfinished film.

The Korean alphabet, illustrated with animation, spoken, and accompanied by music.

An animated film drawn entirely in pastels. Various fantastical plant-like things "grow" from the ground, eventually launching five spheres. The...

This joyful short animation features a dancing hen that transforms into an egg. The film was made without a camera by Norman McLaren, who drew...

Norman McLaren's first film with a drawn soundtrack.

Norman McLaren made Scherzo early after his arrival in North America in 1939, but the film was subsequently lost. In 1984 the original materials were...

In this Oscar-winning short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles normally used to put drawings or puppets into motion to animate live actors....

This animated short is a play on motion set against a background of multi-hued sky. Spheres of translucent pearl float weightlessly in the unlimited...

An experimental film in which both sound and visuals were created entirely by Norman McLaren drawing directly upon the film with ordinary pen and...

Images supered on a revolving barrel.

Two ballet dancers perform a dance enhanced with surreal after-image visuals.

‘Too esoteric, even for me,’ said McLaren about his The Flicker Film. The famous animator’s most abstract effort is marginalized to...

Made during WWII

An hand drawn animation of Frogs.

Amateur footage, probably filmed by Norman McLaren, of a group of his friends on a visit to his parents' home in Stirling.

Shows the production of the London telephone directory.