This film is part of Free
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_480x270/public/hero-images/ubu.jpg?itok=tQyeYUPN)
Ubu
Farting and swearing and violence – oh my! Albert Jarry’s controversial play translates beautifully to splattered inks in Geoff Dunbar’s award-winning animation.
Overview
The rise and fall of Pa and Ma Ubu has been shocking audiences since Albert Jarry’s play had its Paris debut in 1896. There's an absurdist, cartoonish spirit inherent in the text, and along with Jarry’s own woodcut illustrations of the characters it was ripe source material for animation. Geoff Dunbar was not the first to attempt an adaptation, but along with his talented crew (most notably Annabel Jankel’s extraordinary inking) he certainly produced one of the finest.
Dunbar had started his career at the established British animation houses of the Larkins Studio and Halas & Batchelor, but his talents helped him set up Grand Slamm to make television commercials and his own independent shorts. Along with Lautrec (1974), in which Dunbar brought Henri-Toulouse’s sketchbooks to life (also on BFI Player), Ubu caught the attention of animation fan Paul McCartney. Rupert and the Frog Song (1984) was the first in a series of collaborations between animator and musician that has continued up to 2021 and the music video for the song When Winter Comes.
Related
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/promo223908070_2.jpg?itok=ABcXZfJ7)
A Colour Box A Colour Box
Advert 1935 4 mins
Part experimental cinema, part advert for the parcel post service, always joyful.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/spherical.jpg?itok=EEzyGulx)
Spherical Harmonics Spherical Harmonics
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2014 5 mins
Spherical Harmonics is about the strange power of the CG image. It's a fantasy under construction, full of digitally created memories, counterfeit physics and controlled accidents.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/noddy.jpg?itok=rhkdi_Jb)
Noddy Goes to Toyland Noddy Goes to Toyland
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1963 12 mins
How can you not say yes to Noddy? It’s all he can say to you.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Shadows_crop.jpeg?itok=4uEYcsXN)
Shadows! Shadows!
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1928 3 mins Silent
Meet Sammy, his dog Sausage and their creator, early British animator Joe Noble, whose inventive streak sees him chased by his own shadow
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/b778d9fb74c299806beec0bd4b39aa42_0.jpg?itok=Q1sGfW0j)
Johnny Barleycorn Johnny Barleycorn
Documentary 1950 1 mins
A delightful animated appeal to help bringing in Scotland’s harvest, made by the legendary Lotte Reiniger.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/ExperimentalAnimation1933-crop.jpeg?itok=3QLwcRU9)
Experimental Animation 1933 Experimental Animation 1933
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1933 2 mins
Long before MTV, Len Lye crafted this antecedent of the music video with a cheeky monkey singing and dancing to Cuban hit 'Peanut Vendor'
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Shoot-Your-Shot-02.jpg?itok=KREdlpBS)
Shoot Your Shot Shoot Your Shot
Drama 2022 12 mins
An emotional stand-off takes flight, as teen best friends Ronit and Brennan come to terms with navigating that fuzzy feeling in their stomachs, all whilst learning to skateboard.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/%25E2%2580%258ELook-Like-You-02.jpeg?itok=2R3w9luT)
Look Like You Look Like You
Drama 2022 13 mins
While visiting the adoptive family of her eight-year-old biological son, Tara relays advice she gathered from growing up as a queer outcast.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Yellow-04.jpg?itok=Bt5NDkC8)
Yellow Yellow
Drama 2023 13 mins
In Taliban controlled Afghanistan, Laili walks into a Chadari store in Kabul to buy her first full body veil from a Talib shopkeeper and face a new future.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/NEHEMICH-02.jpg?itok=ba9fjUy4)
Nehemich Nehemich
Drama 2023 23 mins
Banished in a dilapidated village hut during her menstruation, a young girl waits to elope with her lover.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/1717526943-default-ovp-poster-image.jpg?itok=Fk8VLsGa)
Interview with Pam Cullen Interview with Pam Cullen
Inside Film 2020 53 mins
Interview with Pam Cullen who at 97 boasts an incredible career spanning over fifty years in the Indian film industry.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/muscleqanda.jpg?itok=8sw22r7R)
Muscle - Exclusive Q&A Muscle - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 34 mins
Director Gerard Johnson talks Nia Child through the making of Muscle, an adrenalized drama that tears into the stereotypes of masculinity and male friendship.