The Sand Castle (1977)

The Sand Castle (French: Le château de sable) is a 1977 stop motion animated short by Co Hoedeman. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 50th Academy Awards, the film was produced by Gaston Sarault for the National Film Board of Canada. The film was created with sand animation and sand-covered foam rubber puppets. Including its Oscar, the film received over 20 awards in Canada and internationally.

The plot of the film follows a humanoid sand person who creates living creatures from sand in a desert of some unknown location. He then initiates a plan: that they create a sand castle for them to reside in. With each other's help, the sand castle is eventually completed and the sand characters celebrate. The celebration is cut shortly when wind begins to blow and covers up the sand castle, with the sand characters retreating inside for safety. The viewer may possibly assume that, once the wind dies down, the characters would eventually resurface and start over again and that this cycle could continue endlessly.

Synopsis

Trois courts métrages pour retrouver le plaisir de l’émerveillement, d’une poésie narrative et d’une forme de surréalisme animé. Les plus jeunes auront le temps de contempler et de vagabonder dans ces œuvres fragiles racontées en images et simplement accompagnées par la musique.