Inka Bola
It is set on an impossibly high tower somewhere in the Andes where a guard watches over a rather naughty Maya child. He is roused from his slumbers by fruit hitting his head. That dealt with he has to attend to another problem when a prowling eagle takes a shine to the boy. The film develops into a classic chase sequence with a darkly humorous conclusion, apt given the fruit throwing episode. Technically and visually compelling, and slickly edited as always, it is quintessential Gobelins.

Creators: Melody Cisinski, Jacques Jarczyk, Vincent Garcia, Floriane Marchix, Gwenole Oul’chen and Patrick Pujalte.Pandore
A young girl on Mount Olympus opens up Pandora’s box to unleash a frightening minotaur come genie. Except that he is not terrifying, certainly not to her. Face pulling and transformations roll the girl over in mirth rather than shake her in fear. The beast has to go back to the drawing board to teach the child the meaning of fear and the true relationship between infant and ogre. Like many teachers before him he discovers she is heeding not a word and instead rampaging through his box of tricks. This really is an impeccably made movie, the well crafted characters moving with ease, light and colour changing, the ancient Greece feel sustained throughout and always that sense of exuberant delight animators have in their art as they wreak magic from their own enchanted box.

Creators: Marion Stinghe, Meryl Franck, Benoit Guillaumot, Nicolas Caffarel and Elen Le Tannou.

More Information at www.gobelins.fr. Images and Videos Courtesy of Gobelins. L’ecole de l’image. Montage and Video Transcoding: 3Dup.com