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1999 Canadian film

Village of Idiots

Directed by	Eugene Fedorenko Rose Newlove
Written by	John Lazarus
Produced by	John Spotton John Taylor Dennis Murphy Gerry Flahive Barrie Angus McLean David Verrall
Narrated by	Nicholas Rice
Distributed by	National Film Board of Canada
Release date	1999 (1999)
Running time	13 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

Village of Idiots is a short animated comedy based on the classic humorous Jewish folk tales about the Wise Men of Chełm, directed and animated by Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove, written by John Lazarus, and produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Fedorenko is the Academy Award-winning animator of the 1979 NFB short Every Child. In 1999, it was one of four films in the 1st Annual Animation Show of Shows.

Summary

“Outsiders call Chełm the village of idiots," Shmendrick explains, "but our rabbi said we were a city of natural geniuses, with our own way of figuring things out.”

With muted, mesmerizing illustrations and heavy accordion-based music, the film follows Shmendrick as he sets out on a journey away from home for the first time. But along his journey from Chełm to Warsaw, He decides to have a rest. He then eats some food that he brought with him and then has a sleep. Afterwards, Shmendrick awakens and continues his journey. But as he travels, he comes upon a city that is eerily similar to the one he left behind. The rest of us might think Shmendrik just took a wrong turn and ended up back home, but for Shmendrik, this discovery sheds light on holy teachings: “the Talmud tells us that the world is everywhere the same," he recalls.

The above turn of the plot is a retelling of the short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw.

Awards

1999: CINANIMA International Animated Film Festival, Espinho, Portugal: RTP Internacional, Jury Honorable Mention, Special Jury Award, Audience Award
1999: Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver: Best Animated Film
1999: Montreal World Film Festival, Montreal: FIPRESCI Award from the International Federation of Film Critics, Second Prize in Short Films category
1999: Writers Guild of Canada: Best Script, to John Lazarus
Castelli Animati, Genzano di Roma, Italy: Grand Prize, 2000
Curtas Vila do Conde International Film Festival, Vila do Conde, Portugal: Grand Prize for Animation, 2000
International Jewish Video Competition of the Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California: First Prize, Animation, 2000
Hiroshima International Animation Festival, Hiroshima, Japan: Renzo Kinoshita Award, 2000
Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, Palm Springs, California: Second Place, Animation, 2000
Animafest Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia: Second Prize, 2000
Message to Man International Film Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia – Centaur Award for Best Animation, 2000
Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Annecy, France: Special Jury Award, 2000
Brisbane International Film Festival, Brisbane, Australia: Special Jury Award, 2000
Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne: Award for Best of International Session 6, 2001
California SUN International Animation Festival, Los Angeles: Silver Star Award for Best Experimental Animation, 2001
21st Genie Awards, Toronto – Genie Award for Best Animated Short, 2001
New York International Children's Film Festival, New York: Grand Prize Audience Award, 2002

References

"Village of Idiots". National Film Board of Canada Web site. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
Palmarès 2000, fiche film

External links

Village of Idiots at IMDb
Watch Village of Idiots on the NFB website

v t e Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short and Best Theatrical Short
Theatrical Short (1949–1996)	Who Will Teach Your Child? (1949) North Shore (1950) After Prison, What? (1951) Opera School (1952) L'Homme aux oiseaux (1953) Farewell Oak Street (1954) High Tide in Newfoundland (1955) Gold (1956) The Sceptre and the Mace (1958) Money Minters, The Quest and The Tall Country (1959) Royal River (1960) Universe (1961) Morning on the Lièvre (1962) Nahanni (1963) Anniversary (1964) Do Not Fold, Staple, Spindle or Mutilate and Ça n'est pas le temps des romans (1968) Vertige and At Home (1969) A Matter of Fat and Blake (1970) Don't Knock the Ox (1971) This Is a Photograph (1972) Goodbye Sousa (1973) Along These Lines (1975) Cooperage (1976) Spartree (1977) L'Affaire Bronswik (1978) Nails (1980) The Strongest Man in the World (1981) Zea (1982) Elvis Gratton (1983) Ted Baryluk's Grocery (1984) Charade (1985) George and Rosemary (1988) Saeed (1991) Arrowhead (1994) Les fleurs magiques (1995) The Home for Blind Women (1996)
Live Action Short (1986–present)	The Edit (1986) I Need a Man Like You to Make My Dreams Come True (1987) The Mysterious Moon Men of Canada (1989) In Search of the Last Good Man (1990) Battle of the Bulge (1992) The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore (1993) The Hangman's Bride (1997) When Ponds Freeze Over (1998) Moving Day (1999) Le P'tit Varius (2000) The Heart of the World (2001) I Shout Love (2002) Noël Blank (2003) Capacité 11 personnes (2004) Milo 55160 (2005) Le rouge au sol (2006) Après tout (2007) Next Floor (2008) Danse Macabre (2009) Savage (2010) Doubles with Slight Pepper (2011) Throat Song (2012) Noah (2013) Hole (2014) She Stoops to Conquer (2015) Mutants (2016) Fluffy (2017) Fauve (2018) Pick (2019) Black Bodies (2020) Girls Shouldn't Walk Alone at Night (2021) Simo (2022) Motherland (2023)
Animated Short (1968–present)	Un enfant...un pays (1968) Walking (1969) To See or Not to See (1970) Evolution (1971) Dans la vie... (1972) The Family That Dwelt Apart (1973) The Owl Who Married a Goose (1975) The Street (1976) Spinnolio (1977) Afterlife (1978) Every Child (1980) The Big Snit (1986) Get a Job (1987) The Cat Came Back (1989) Juke-Bar (1990) Strings (1992) Pearl's Diner (1993) La vieille dame et les pigeons (1997) Bingo (1998) When the Day Breaks (1999) Village of Idiots (2000) The Boy Who Saw the Iceberg (2001) The Hungry Squid (2002) Falling in Love Again (2003) Ryan (2004) cNote (2005) The Danish Poet (2006) Madame Tutli-Putli (2007) Isabelle au bois dormant (2008) Runaway (2009) Lipsett Diaries (2010) Romance (2011) Paula (2012) Subconscious Password (2013) Me and My Moulton (2014) The Ballad of Immortal Joe (2015) Blind Vaysha (2016) The Tesla World Light (2017) Animal Behaviour (2018) Giant Bear (2019) Hot Flash (2020) Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice (2021) The Flying Sailor (2022) Where Rabbits Come From (2023)
These two films were given honorable mentions rather than officially winning the award, but are included here as no other winner was named above them.

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