This film is part of Free

Christmas Is Coming
Santa's on strike! This charming animation for the GPO advises early posting to keep Father Christmas onside.
Overview
Posting early for Christmas is more serious than you thought - failure to do so might send Santa on strike! This delightful silhouette animation may not be the most logical argument for helping the Post Office out (does Santa deliver cards, and if he needs people to post presents then what does he do?) but who cares when it's so charmingly packaged.
By the time this public information short was released, German animator Lotte Reiniger had been making silhouette films for 30 years. Her 1926 masterpiece The Adventures of Prince Achmed remains a landmark of cinema history as the world's earliest surviving animated feature. Having first arrived in London in the late 1930s she produced some advertising films for the GPO Film Unit. After the war she returned to Britain and established Primrose Productions with her husband and creative partner Carl Koch (a writer and director who had worked as an assistant to Jean Renior) and Louis Hagen Jr - the son of the banker who had financed her 1926 feature.
Related

Strangers Strangers
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1973 1 mins
Who needs to talk to strangers when you're the only one who can understand the garbled mewling of your best buddy cat, Charley?

Giro - Fast and Loose Giro - Fast and Loose
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1935 9 mins Silent
Don’t listen to Slacky the Sloucher or Giro the Germ will stage a jailbreak – public health cartoon by the Health & Cleanliness Council

Pan-tele-tron Pan-tele-tron
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1957 10 mins
Ye Gods! It’s the future of telecommunications – as seen through a cartoon modern lens from the 1950s

John the Bull John the Bull
Advert 1930 5 mins
Bloody foreign cows coming over here and becoming our dinners

The Dream of Arthur Sleap The Dream of Arthur Sleap
Advert 1972 1 mins
Dangerously addicted to boring old movies? This is a case for Dr BFI, as demonstrated in this 1970s animated promo

"T" For Teacher "T" For Teacher
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1947 5 mins Silent
Do you know the golden rules of tea making? The Tea Bureau set out to put your cuppa straight in this progressively designed post-war cartoon

New Perspectives: Tangerine New Perspectives: Tangerine
Short documentary 2025 3 mins
Harry Wallace, a student at Northumbria university, explains why Sean Baker's LA-set comedy-drama, about a transgender sex worker on the hunt for her cheating -ex, is worth your time.

Daniel Craig in Conversation with Mark Kermode Daniel Craig in Conversation with Mark Kermode
Inside Film 2025 44 mins
Daniel Craig talks to Mark Kermode about his acting career, from his early role in Love is the Devil through to the Luca Guadagnino directed Queer.

New Perspectives: Fish Tank New Perspectives: Fish Tank
Short documentary 2025 4 mins
Adam Smith of Northumbria University explains why Andrea Arnold's coming-of-age story, about a girl who uses dance to escape, is his favourite film on BFI Player.

New Perspectives: Pusher New Perspectives: Pusher
Short documentary 2025 5 mins
Noah Ball of Northumbria University explains why you should seize the chance to watch Nicolas Winding Refn's debut.

Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A
Inside Film 2025 38 mins
Kyle MacLachlan talks to BFI CEO Ben Roberts about working with David Lynch on the legendary series Twin Peaks.

On Falling - Exclusive Q&A On Falling - Exclusive Q&A
Inside Film 2025 30 mins
Writer-director Laura Carreira talks to Nia Childs about her debut feature, On Falling.