| The Big Snit | |
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| Directed by | Richard Condie |
| Written by | Richard Condie |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | Patrick Godfrey |
| Distributed by | National Film Board of Canada, Phoenix Films, Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 10 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
The Big Snit is a 1985 animated short film written and directed by Richard Condie and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
A married couple plays a game of Scrabble that has stalemated as the husband is unable to come up with a word. The two go their separate ways; he watches his favourite TV show, "Sawing for Teens," while his wife works on cleaning the house. While the husband dozes off, "Sawing for Teens" is interrupted by the emergency warning: a severe worldwide nuclear war has broken out, and the cat severs the TV's electrical cord. As the husband awakens, he looks out the window to see that the streets have descended into chaos, and he returns to the game board, unaware of the global cataclysm, and sneaking a peek at his wife's letters. The wife, finished with her cleaning and also oblivious, catches him in the act, which he denies. And then, the two begin arguing over every petty flaw each one has, up to the point where the wife runs away in tears.
The husband spots an old photo of him and his wife at "Expo 1957" (a spoof of the real-life Expo 67), prompting memories of the couple in happier times. Unable to console his wife, he begins playing the concertina (poorly), which softens his wife enough for both of them to reconcile. As the cat claws to be let outside, the husband obliges and reaches for the doorknob. At that moment, following a cutaway of a rapidly zooming-in bird's-eye view of their house, a white glow emanates from the keyhole and the husband is vapourized, implying that a nuclear bomb has hit the house and that everyone has been instantly killed. [1]
The door then opens and, instead of chaos, a vision of Heaven is seen outside. [2] The couple, unaware of their apparent deaths, marvels at the beauty of the scene and decides to return to their Scrabble game. [3]
The film received 17 awards including the Grand Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival, the Special Jury Award for Humour at the Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films, the Golden Space Needle for Best Short at the Seattle International Film Festival, Best Animated Film at the Tampere Film Festival, the Silver Plaque for Animation at the Chicago International Film Festival, the Hiroshima Prize at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, the FIPRESCI International Film Critics' Prize at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and a Genie Award for Best Animated Short. [4] [5] It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 58th Academy Awards. [3] [6] [7]
In 1994, it was voted #25 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, and was the highest ranked cartoon in the list that was from the NFB. It was also included in the Animation Show of Shows. [8] Animation expert Charles Solomon cited it as one of the best animated films of the 1980s. [9]
The Big Snit inspired a Scrabble scene in the second episode of The Simpsons ' first season, "Bart the Genius". [10]
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and alternative dramas. In total, the NFB has produced over 13,000 productions since its inception, which have won over 5,000 awards. The NFB reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It has bilingual production programs and branches in English and French, including multicultural-related documentaries.
William Norman McLaren, LL. D. was a Scottish Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was a pioneer in a number of areas of animation and filmmaking, including hand-drawn animation, drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound. McLaren was also an artist and printmaker, and explored his interest in dance in his films.
Roman Kroitor was a Canadian filmmaker who was known as a pioneer of Cinéma vérité, as the co-founder of IMAX, and as the creator of the Sandde hand-drawn stereoscopic 3D animation system. He was also the original inspiration for The Force. His prodigious output garnered numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, three Cannes Film Festival awards, and two Oscar nominations.
George Garnett Dunning was a Canadian filmmaker and animator. He is best known for producing and directing the 1968 film Yellow Submarine.
Ishu Patel is an Indian-Canadian animation film director/producer and educator. During his twenty-five years at the National Film Board of Canada he developed animation techniques and styles to support his themes and vision. Since then he has produced animated spots for television and has been teaching internationally.
The International Animation Festival Hiroshima, founded as International Animation Festival for the World Peace in 1985, was a biennial film festival for animated films held in Hiroshima, Japan. Its last edition was held in 2020.
Richard Condie, is a Canadian animator, filmmaker, musician and voice actor. Condie is best known for his 1985 animated short The Big Snit at the National Film Board of Canada and has won six international awards for Getting Started in 1979. Condie lives and works in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Colin Archibald Low was a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was known as a pioneer, one of Canada's most important filmmakers, and was regularly referred to as "the gentleman genius". His numerous honors include five BAFTA awards, eight Cannes Film Festival awards, and six Academy Award nominations.
Walking is a 1968 Canadian animated short film directed and produced by Ryan Larkin for the National Film Board of Canada, composed of animated vignettes of how different people walk.
Village of Idiots is a short animated comedy based on the classic humorous Jewish folk tales about the Wise Men of Chełm, directed and animated by Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove, written by John Lazarus, and produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Fedorenko is the Academy Award-winning animator of the 1979 NFB short Every Child. In 1999, it was one of four films in the 1st Annual Animation Show of Shows.
Gerald Potterton was a Canadian director, animator, producer and writer. He is best known for directing the cult classic Heavy Metal and for his animation work on Yellow Submarine.
La Salla is a 1996 animated short by Richard Condie, produced in Winnipeg by the National Film Board of Canada.
My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts is a 1999 animated short by Torill Kove.
Runaway is a 2009 short animated comedy film by Canadian animator Cordell Barker. It received a special jury award for short films at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was named the best animated short film at the 2010 Genie Awards. In 2010, the film won the Yorkton Film Festival Golden Sheaf Award for Best Animation.
The Apprentice is a 1991 animated short by Richard Condie, produced in Winnipeg by Ches Yetman for the National Film Board of Canada.
Lipsett Diaries is a 2010 short animated documentary film about the life and art of collage filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, animated and directed by Theodore Ushev and written by Chris Robinson. The 14-minute film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, where Lipsett had worked from 1958 to 1972, before committing suicide in 1986. The film is narrated by Xavier Dolan.
How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels is a 1996 animated short by Canadian animator Craig Welch, produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
John Spotton C.S.C. was a Canadian filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada.
The Boy Who Saw the Iceberg is a 2000 animated short by Paul Driessen, which uses a split screen to portray the real life and imaginary life of a young boy. A film without words, the 8 minute and 49 second National Film Board of Canada short is a retelling of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic through the eyes and active imagination of a young boy.
Tragic Story with Happy Ending is a 2005 animated short by Regina Pessoa.
The Big Snit.
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