Ralph Bakshi

Frazetta: Painting with Fire

A documentary on the life of painter Frank Frazetta, who revolutionized science fiction, fantasy and comic art with breathtaking realistic paintings of fantastic heroes, most famously Conan the Barbarian.

Adventures in Plymptoons!

A documentary film about Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton. This is a portrait piece that includes interviews with family, friends, colleagues, critics, and fans.

American Pop

The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.

Midwest

A new Bakshi joint. A poem about the American Midwest. One from a series of new work by Ralph and his grandson, Miles Bakshi.

Forging Through the Darkness: The Ralph Bakshi Vision for 'The Lord of the Rings'

A deep look at how Ralph Bakshi made his version of Lord of the Rings (1978). With Ralph Bakshi, Victoria Bakshi-Yudis, Chris Conkling, Timothy Galfas, Scott Kleinman, & Tom Tataranowicz.

Heavy Traffic

A white dropout struggles to become a cartoonist and filmmaker, drawing inspiration from the harsh, gritty world around him. Still sharing his rundown apartment with his middle-aged parents, an oafish slob of an Italian father and a ditzy nutcase of a Jewish mother, he's ridiculed and looked down upon by his friends, hypocrites who run with violent gangs and the Italian Mafia, and a shallow Black girl who makes her living downtown with the pimps and pushers. The cartoonist gets a chance to pitch a film idea to a movie mogul, but the story proves too outrageous: a far-future Earth, depleted by war and pollution, where a mutant antihero challenges and kills God.

Breaking the Mold: The Re-Making of Mighty Mouse

Documentary about Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures.

Malcom and Melvin

Melvin is an alienated loser until he meets Malcom, a trumpeter cockroach who has a huge talent.

Babe, He Calls Me

Melvin's saga continues as his partnership with Malcom is compromised by an urban superhero's intrusion. Meanwhile, Melvin's mother aids a criminal after being unable to meet with her son.

Fritz the Cat

In late 1960s New York City, fed up with monotonous college life and police repression, free-spirited Fritz, an impenitent seducer and unrestrained party-animal, decides to explore the world. And just like that, as he flees NYC, heading to San Francisco, Fritz embarks on an endless adventure of illumination. Immersed in a world surrounded by drugs and sex, Fritz participates in mad orgies, brings about a revolution, incites mass urban riots, and crosses paths with drug-addled Nazi bikers.

Wizards

After the death of his mother, evil mutant wizard Blackwolf discovers long-lost military technologies. Full of ego and ambition, Blackwolf claims his mother's throne, assembles an army, and sets out to brainwash and conquer Earth. Meanwhile, Blackwolf's gentle twin brother, the bearded sage Avatar, calls upon his own magical abilities to foil Blackwolf's plans for world domination — even if it means eliminating his own flesh and blood.

Wizards

After the death of his mother, evil mutant wizard Blackwolf discovers long-lost military technologies. Full of ego and ambition, Blackwolf claims his mother's throne, assembles an army, and sets out to brainwash and conquer Earth. Meanwhile, Blackwolf's gentle twin brother, the bearded sage Avatar, calls upon his own magical abilities to foil Blackwolf's plans for world domination — even if it means eliminating his own flesh and blood.

Coonskin

A multi-layered satire of race relations in America. Live-action sequences of a prison break bracket the animated tale of Brother Rabbit, Brother Bear, and Preacher Fox, who rise to the top of the crime ranks in Harlem by going up against a con-man, a racist cop, and the Mafia.

The Cigarette and the Weed

The Cigarette and the Weed tells the story of a weed growing on a street corner, and a discarded cigarette butt that rolls up to the weed. The two converse before the cigarette rolls into a puddle and is extinguished.