Today’s Animation Program

Following is a review of the highlight of today’s screenings at the Los Angeles Animation Celebration:

“A Salute to the National Film Board of Canada: Program II”(Canada) in English and French; 4 p.m. at the Nuart Theatre, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd, West Los Angeles. 93 minutes.

The second part of the 50th-anniversary salute to the National Film Board showcases the stylistic diversity of contemporary Canadian animation.

The stark simplicity of Peter Foldes’ “Hunger” (1973), the first computer-animated film to earn an Oscar nomination, contrasts sharply with the brightly colored, low-resolution figures in John Weldon’s “Of Dice and Men” (1988). For “Why Me?” (1978), Janet Perelman and Derek Lamb used the slash system, a cut-paper technique dating back to the early ‘20s, while Caroline Leaf invented a way to animate paint on glass for “The Street” (1976), an atmospheric film that evokes the urban Jewish milieu of Mordecai Richler’s story.

The program concludes with the Oscar-winning “Special Delivery” (1978) by John Weldon and Eunice Macauley, a very black little comedy that reveals the complications that can arise if a man neglects to shovel the snow from his front walk. *** 1/2

Other programs scheduled for today are: “Salute to the National Film Board of Canada: Part II,” 4 p.m.; “Fifth Program of Films in Competition,” 6 p.m.; “A Salute to the Zagreb Film Studio,” 8 p.m.; and “Animated Commercials,” 9:45 p.m.