Narcissus blossoms, tasty dim sum dishes, bowing to elders and lucky red envelopes filled with money encompass puppeteer Tom Lee’s memories of celebrating Lunar New Year when he was growing up. In The Great Zodiac Animal Race—a live-streaming puppet show that will be projected on the DFT's giant screen—Lee retells the classic tale with shadow puppet animals inspired by Asian languages and pictograms in a film suitable for all ages.

A special curation of puppet film shorts! Films include: ‘Puppet Show’ (1970) by May 1st Media; ‘The Bones’ (2021) by Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León; ‘Street of Crocodiles’ (1986) by Quay Brothers; ‘The Demon’ (1972) by Kihachiro Kawamoto; ‘Misophonia’ (2021) by Linda Wingerter; ‘Melvin the Birder’ (2014) by Spencer Lott, among others!

Jan Svankmajer’s Faust is a rendering of the infamous Dr. Faustus fable of temptation and damnation. Borrowing freely from both Marlowe and Goethe and ancient folktales and timeless myths, the story follows a lonely Czech businessman who sells his soul to the devil in return for 24 years of self-indulgence. A visually fantastic combination of live-action, claymation, puppet theatre, stop-motion animation, and other special effects, Svankmajer creates an unsettling universe presided over by diabolic life-size marionettes and haunted by sinister human messengers from hell.

Just 23 years old when she created it, Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed premiered in Germany in 1926, whereupon it was immediately hailed as the world’s first feature-length animated film. Today, this enchanting Arabian Nights tale remains one of the great classics of animation—beautiful, mesmerizing, and packed with imaginative and wondrous adventures, including a magical flying horse, a sorcerer’s army of monsters, and, of course, a beautiful princess.

From the Oscar-winner who brought you ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and BEING JOHN MALKOVICH comes a riveting new masterpiece. Michael Stone – husband, father and noted author – travels to Cincinnati to speak at a customer service conference. But once he’s separated from the routine of his daily life, a chance encounter helps him to realize just what, and whom, he’s been missing. Love, laughter and loneliness align in Charlie Kaufman’s “staggeringly inventive” (Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly) stop-motion work of art.

A Tragicomic Ode to the Foreverness of Plastic.

The Plastic Bag Store is an immersive film experience by Brooklyn-based artist Robin Frohardt that uses humor, craft, and a critical lens to question our culture of consumption and convenience — specifically, the enduring effects of our single-use plastics. A film in which inventive puppetry, shadow play, and intricate handmade sets tell the darkly comedic, sometimes tender story of how the overabundance of plastic waste we leave behind might be misinterpreted by future generations.

Screening with FITZCARDBOARDALDO (a cardboard Fitzcarraldo) and THE CORRUGATION OF DREAMS.