The animation in this French film is comparable to that of November [Novembre]. An unlikely friendship between a tadpole and caterpillar progresses as each grows up into two very different beings: a frog and a butterfly. The film centres the classic … [Read more...]
Walls Walls [Murs murs]
This highly ambiguous picturebook presents a sophisticated and atmospheric narrative about relocation and identity within time and space. A girl views a new home with her parents. While the parents are led by the estate agent, the girl wanders on her … [Read more...]
Waterloo & Trafalgar
War and violence are integral to the history of Europe as well as its present, but the explicit representation of these themes can be challenging in a classroom context. This picturebook by French artist Olivier Tallec gently raises these themes in a … [Read more...]
What a Masterpiece! [Che Capolavoro!]
This picturebook takes canonical examples of classic and modern art to explore the universality of artwork in everyday life. The main character is surrounded by signifiers of art and culture - from Banksy to Salvador Dali, from Einstein to the Eiffel … [Read more...]
Why? [Zachem?]
This famous Russian wordless picturebook is one of the oldest picturebooks in the selection, as it was published at the end of the twentieth century. It has been re-published many times since in many different countries: sometimes with words, and … [Read more...]
The Illustrated City [Kuvitettu kaupunki]
This challenging film is themed around the social unrest that underpins so many periods of change in European history. The film chronicles the frenetic and politically dramatic passage of time in an unnamed city via the story of an individual wall in … [Read more...]
The Mediterranean [Mediterraneo]
This example of a picturebook dealing with the theme of the migrant crisis is less hopeful than the others. Indeed, the picturebook can be read as a memorial for the lives lost in the passage across the Mediterranean. The story opens with the stark … [Read more...]
The Return [O Regresso] (Film)
This is a short film with a picturebook version. A woman returns home from her exciting life in the city to visit her grandmother, but finds that she is a giant compared to her, representing her sense of maturity and new-found independence. However, … [Read more...]
The Dance of the Sea [La Danse de la Mer]
The ocean is the main character in this beautiful French wordless picturebook. Intricate and poetic line drawings depict the passage of ships across a sea that is both calm and chaotic. The sea is personified as dancing women who begin by permitting … [Read more...]
