This film is the product of a scriptwriting competition for UK secondary schools sponsored by the University of Kent and overseen by Ray Laurence (who also narrates the film). Kien Powell wrote the winning script in 2016 and it was produced by Kent animation student Malachi James in 2017. The film explores the unequal social relations between a young client and his patron with a special focus on the role that food plays in the patronage system. James was inspired by the style of famed 1970s animation studio Hanna-Barbera in his rendering of this story.

This short educational short film was written and narrated by Ray Laurence and produced by Cognitive Media for Ted-Ed Animation. It introduces us to life through the eyes of Lucius Popidius Secundus, a 17-year old living in Rome in 73 AD, and explores Roman social practices such as arranged marriages, coming of age rituals and communal bathing. This was the first of many film collaborations between Laurence and Cognitive, on topics both ancient (see also “Four Sisters in Ancient Rome) and modern (see “How Immigration Shaped Britain”). It has been viewed over 8 million times!

From the series “The Story of Britain”

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/07/542077027/a-cartoons-black-star-prompts-a-fight-what-did-roman-britain-look-like

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/dna-romans/535701/

See also: https://www.bbc.com/teach/class-clips-video/story-of-britain-roman-invasion/zmyhf4j

Another telling of Aesop’s fable, “The Grasshopper and the Ants”

This is the second of four shorts produced by Anatoly Petrov for Soyuzmultfilm in the 1990s that depict mythological stories with overtly erotic content, which is unusual in Russian animation. These also include “The Birth of Eros”, “The Nymph Salmacis” and “Polyphemus, Acis and Galatea.” These films are also unique due to their experimental use of two-dimensional handcrafted cell animation as a means of creating three-dimensional effects.

This is the first of four shorts by Anatoly Petrov for Soyuzmultfilm in the 1990s that depict mythological stories with overtly erotic content, which is unusual in Russian animation. These also include  “Daphne”, “The Nymph Salmacis” and “Polyphemus, Acis and Galatea.” These films are also unique due to their experimental use of two-dimensional handcrafted cell animation as a means of creating three-dimensional effects.