Village of Idiots

Village of Idiots
Directed by	Eugene Fedorenko Rose Newlove
Written by	John Lazarus
Produced by	National Film Board of Canada
Narrated by	Nicholas Rice
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 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.

Summary

“Outsiders call Chelm 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 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 everywhere is the same," he recalls.

Awards

Village of Idiots has won eight awards:

• Best Animated Short film at the Genie Awards
• Two directing awards at the Montreal World Film Festival
• Won Animation at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival
• Centaur Award at the St. Petersburg Message to Man Film Festival
• Best Animated Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival
• Won an award from the Writers Guild of Canada
• Second prize at the Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films

It was also included in the Animation show of shows.

See also

• The Witch from Melchet Street
• A Story about a Bad Dream
• Alan and Naomi

External links

• Village of Idiots at IMDb
• Watch Village of Idiots at the National Film Board of Canada