Deaf Crocodile, Animated: Gwen and the Book of Sand & The Bubble Bath

Celebrate the boutique label Deaf Crocodile’s fifth anniversary with two animated marvels from their library! Gwen and The Book of Sand (1985):  “Why search the sand for answers? It has told us everything,” whispers Roseline, the 173-year-old desert nomad narrator of Jean-François Laguionie’s unforgettable animated tale of life after the apocalypse, where hardy few survivors walk on stilts from well to well, scorpions glow like lanterns, and the mysterious Makou drops giant everyday objects–forks, eyeglasses, bathtubs–from the skies. In this surreal and Dune-esque post-post-modern landscape, our teen heroine Gwen refuses to stay silent and hide in the shadows. The Bubble Bath (1980): Touching on a wide range of styles from 1920s Art Deco to 1960s Psychedelia and 1970s Roxy Music-style decadence, György Kovásznai’s film is a hypercolored yet relatable Eastern European avant-garde opera about dating problems. This irresistible experience charts the romance between medical student Anikó (a more curvaceous post-modern Betty Boop) and shop window decorator / stoned hippie alleycat Zsolt: both unsure of their attraction to each other, the choices they’ve made, and what life has in store for them.