Several well-known and pioneering abstract filmmakers discuss the history of non-objective cinema, the works of those that came before them and their own experiments in the field of visionary filmmaking.

A sampling of abstract styles - black and white patterns, colorful flicker, and dancing line formations, interspersed with a strangely unnerving combination of organic and computer-generated sound effects.

Begins as a whimsical piece with 'sheets' of lines running down the screen, progressing into more and more complex geometic patterns but without deviating from the basic precepts of 'dot and line' animation. Jazz piano on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and a spring color palette. -- Stephanie Sapienza. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.

Short experimental film directed by Jules Engel.

Directed by Jules Engel.

Popeye is now the manager of a service station, he provides a good service with free extras. Brutus comes along only wanting the free extras, including free access to another customer, Olive Oyl.

There's trouble brewing in Bikini Bottom. Someone has stolen King Neptune's crown, and it looks like Mr. Krab, SpongeBob's boss, is the culprit. Though he's just been passed over for the promotion of his dreams, SpongeBob stands by his boss, and along with his best pal Patrick, sets out on a treacherous mission to Shell City to reclaim the crown and save Mr. Krab's life.

Scratch and Crow is a student film by Helen Hill made at the California Institute of the Arts. It is filled with vivid color and a light sense of humor. It is also a poetic and spiritual homage to animals and the human soul

One of two short films created and produced by Spongebob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg at CalArts in 1992.

The Pumpkin of Nyefar is a short directed by Tod Polson and Mark Oftedal. The story was co-written by Maurice Noble, who began his animation career at Disney in the 1930s, and eventually designed many of Chuck Jones’s classic Warner Bros. cartoons including Duck Dodgers in the 24th Century and What’s Opera, Doc?. The film is narrated by June Foray (the voice of Rocky in Rocky and Bullwinkle).

In this stop-action animation, a mournful bride sits alone on her wedding night wringing her hands. The wood floor is unadorned, the organ music sorrowful. The imposing groom enters the room, she shudders, and he strikes her. Later that night, she walks down the grand staircase of this large manor house, past family portraits of past generations: she notices that in each the mum is pale, the father dominant, his hands tight around the shoulders and necks of his children, and the children have no mouths. She turns and runs back to her room to find a way to set free herself and someone else: what is this life-affirming action?

An animated documentary film

About a little girl with two big problems.

A man reacts with violence when a pair of eyes spy on him from inside a cardboard box.

Candyjam is a whimsical, animated collaboration by 10 animators from four countries: David Anderson (England), Karen Aqua (USA), Craig Bartlett (USA), Elizabeth Buttler (USA), Paul Driessen (Holland), Tom Gasek (USA), Joan Gratz (USA), Christine Panushka (USA), Joanna Priestley (USA) and Marv Newland (Canada).

A small cabin. A beautiful view. Two souls live seemingly happy lives, their every need met by machines of their own making. But as the days drag on and their routines grow weary, one's souls freedom becomes anothers prison.

Stop motion animation set in a dystopian industrialized society.

Jules Engel's Accident (1973) is a two-fold work of lithography and experimental animation to equally assert this awareness in the history of art, cinema, and experimental animation. Aside from a surface language of animal locomotion, the primacy of the frame as a principle of timing acceleration, deceleration and variation is fulfilled in the collective Muybridge, Engel and Deleuze. (stephenherbert.co.uk)

It's a painter's approach to filmmaking, to putting painting in motion. Shown at the Cannes Festival 1976

Experimental animation

Experimental animation done with marker, ink, and crayon on paper

The story of a little boy who would only talk in sound effects. With story by Dr. Seuss (and Bill Scott of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame) this cartoon won the Oscar for best short subject (animated) for 1950.

An experimental animated short film.

Mr. Magoo is watching a TV program named "Home Roam" which examines the homes of various families and subsequently learns that he and Waldo have been scheduled to air on tonight's broadcast. Magoo proceeds to show the cameramen the various rooms and exhibits of his house. Unfortunately, his publicity is threatened by a burglar and his trained gorilla who break into Magoo's house and attempt to rob it. Of course, Magoo doesn't notice the gorilla (he even mistakes it for Waldo) and reassures the cameramen that Waldo will be all right even if he does have "the manners of a gorilla".

Mr. Magoo is depressed over the constant rainy weather. Well, actually, it isn't raining; he's just left the sprinkler running. Fed up, he plans to venture to California in search of sunny weather. Even though he never actually leaves town, the trip is a long one with Magoo driving through city parks and water fountains. Finally believing himself to be on the home stretch when going through a car wash, he is convinced he has finally made it to California when he crashes into a billboard advertisement for Florida.

Jamie Maxfield's graduate thesis project in Experimental Animation at California Institute of the Arts. A Silver Medal winner at the Student Academy Awards.

One of Jules Engel's works on the Visual Music 1946-1986 DVD from the Center for Visual Music.

One of Jules Engel's works on the Visual Music 1946-1986 DVD from the Center for Visual Music.

2D sketches fill, rearrange, and texture themselves, with a score by Barry Schrader. One of Jules Engel's works on the Visual Music 1946-1986 DVD from the Center for Visual Music.

Popeye wants to have a barbecue for two -- namely him and Olive. But Brutus, Wimpy and Swee' Pea all try to muscle in.

The film, Al Tudi Tuhak, is a creation story inspired by the art and mythology of the Northwest coast people. The story involves the creator, or "The Great Father" as he whittles the world into existence. Each of his wood shavings became fish, trees, birds,... even the sun and moon.

An early, experimental Jules Engel short.

Gerald's parents, frustrated at his inability to talk, call in various experts (including the world's greatest voice professor) to teach their boy to speak in words instead of sound effects. They all fail until, by chance, Gerald tries to phone home.

A Jules Engel short.

Mr. Maggo tries to hunt a moose

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo is on his way to take a French ballet star to a ball, but he makes a wrong turn and ends up escorting an ostrich, a zoo fugitive, in her place. A detective becomes suspicious, as well he might, when the ostrich becomes attached to some of the guest's jewels. Magoo finally takes his date home and he suspects that she would like for him to call again.

[The] Insinuation of accidentally spilled ink that would be running across the paper in random, aleatory oozes displaces the graceful liquidity of the careful animated choreography. - William Moritz

Magoo and Waldo are on safari in Africa.

Dance teacher Miss Placement is dismayed to learn that the head of the School of Ballet where she teaches has entered her beginners class in a contest just three weeks away. But she manages to get them ready and they are a huge success. The school owner is so pleased that he enters all of the school's 1400 students in a contest where they have to learn "Swan Lake" in just two weeks.

The film focuses on the thoughts inside the head of a man, an astronaut scheduled to go to the Moon. As he ponders the flight, he laments having an “ordinary” name he fears will not resonate throughout history. His thoughts lead him to consider some of the pioneers of flight-Icarus and his wings, the Montgolfier brothers and their balloon and the Wright brothers and heavier than air flight.

Professor Duton Lang is an obese scientist who has made many great discoveries. When he finally weights 497 pounds he develops a compound which permits him to eat as much as he wants and still lose weight. He gets down to 150 pounds in weight but is still the same body-size as when he weighed nearly 500 pounds. Eventually, he becomes a minus-weight and floats off into outer space.

Short experimental animation by Jules Engel

A short experimental animation by Jules Engel

Short experimental computer animation by Jules Engel

Short abstract film about a gallery visit

Short experimental animation by Jules Engel

Suicidal poet Archy tries to end his life by jumping off a bridge, but awakens to find he has assumed the life of a cockroach and has become a part of a community of creatures living in a newspaper office. He also discovers that he can still write poetry, using a typewriter, and begins to enjoy his new life. Archy develops deep feelings for the lovely but self-destructive cat Mehitabel, but will have to fight to win her from bad-boy tomcat Bill.