Len Lye Movies

  • 1936
    The Birth of the Robot

    The Birth of the Robot

    The Birth of the Robot

    71936HD

    This experiment was a “prestige advertisement” for Shell Motor Oil. As conventional animation became dominated by Walt Disney, many...

    The Birth of the Robot
  • 2018
    Secrets of British Animation

    Secrets of British Animation

    Secrets of British Animation

    62018HD

    BBC Four’s new documentary takes us on a journey through more than a century of animation. It examines the creative and technical inventiveness...

    Secrets of British Animation
  • 1997
    Birth of a Nation

    Birth of a Nation

    Birth of a Nation

    71997HD

    Jonas Mekas assembles 160 portraits, appearances, and fleeting sketches of underground and independent filmmakers captured between 1955 and 1996....

    Birth of a Nation
  • 1942
    Newspaper Train

    Newspaper Train

    Newspaper Train

    51942HD

    The story of how newspapers were distributed during the Blitz, stressing the importance of an accurate and objective press on the home front.

    Newspaper Train
  • 2023
    Peanuts

    Peanuts

    Peanuts

    02023HD

    While stocking the shelves at work late at night, Mike finds a mysterious tape that calls upon The Peanut Vendor.

    Peanuts
  • 2011
    Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

    Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

    Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

    6.82011HD

    Experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov traces the course of experimental film in America, taking the very personal point of view of someone who grew up...

    Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
  • 1942
    Kill or Be Killed

    Kill or Be Killed

    Kill or Be Killed

    6.51942HD

    A fictional enactment of the deadly contest between a British soldier and a German sniper hiding in a tree. Kill or Be Killed differs from most army...

    Kill or Be Killed
  • 1941
    Hoch der Lambeth Valk

    Hoch der Lambeth Valk

    Hoch der Lambeth Valk

    7.31941HD

    A 1941 Ministry of Information propaganda film set to the tune of The Lambeth Walk, a popular song from the musical Me and My Girl.

    Hoch der Lambeth Valk
  • 1967
    Art of the Sixties

    Art of the Sixties

    Art of the Sixties

    01967HD

    This film documents the major directions in modern American art during the first seven years of the 1960s. The keynote is that the artist has...

    Art of the Sixties
  • 1987
    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

    81987HD

    This documentary, made seven years after the death of legendary filmmaker and kinetic artist Len Lye, tells Lye's story: from being a young boy...

    Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye
  • 1938
    N or NW

    N or NW

    N or NW

    6.71938HD

    Correspondence between young lovers nearly ends in disaster through a mistake in postal district. Fortunately the GPO spots the error and all ends...

    N or NW
  • 1933
    Experimental Animation

    Experimental Animation

    Experimental Animation

    6.61933HD

    Len Lye scraped together enough funding and borrowed equipment to produce a two-minute short featuring his self-made monkey, singing and dancing to...

    Experimental Animation
  • 1952
    Color Cry

    Color Cry

    Color Cry

    61952HD

    In 1944 Lye moved to New York City, initially to direct for the documentary newsreel The March of Time. He settled in the West Village, where he...

    Color Cry
  • 2022
    Len Lye: Master of Motion

    Len Lye: Master of Motion

    Len Lye: Master of Motion

    02022HD

    Master of Motion follows Len Lye, New Zealand's greatest international artist, and showcases his visionary work in film and sculpture and his...

    Len Lye: Master of Motion
  • 1953
    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five

    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five

    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five

    01953HD

    Len Lye made this experiment in animating poetry circa 1953 utilising a clip of Sir John Gielgud reciting a passage from The Tempest.

    Ariel’s Song / Full Fathom Five
  • 1958
    Free Radicals

    Free Radicals

    Free Radicals

    6.0631958HD

    In this powerful abstract film with a soundtrack of African drum music, Lye scratched "white ziggle-zag-splutter scratches" on to black leather,...

    Free Radicals
  • 1942
    Planned Crops

    Planned Crops

    Planned Crops

    01942HD

    Short comedic documentary about crops.

    Planned Crops
  • 1981
    Tal Farlow

    Tal Farlow

    Tal Farlow

    6.81981HD

    Lye created a series of scratched images in the 1950s – more regular or geometric than his usual style – to accompany Rock...

    Tal Farlow
  • 1959
    Fountain of Hope/Peace

    Fountain of Hope/Peace

    Fountain of Hope/Peace

    01959HD

    In 1959 the United Nations commissioned Lye to make this one-minute film, “Fountain of Hope,” to publicize United Nations Day (24th...

    Fountain of Hope/Peace
  • 1952
    Bells of Atlantis

    Bells of Atlantis

    Bells of Atlantis

    5.41952HD

    A perfect fusion of poetry and film, with dense layered imagery and music from electro pioneers Louise and Bebe Barron. The writer Anaïs Nin...

    Bells of Atlantis