Owl and the Raven: An Eskimo Legend
1973 · 6m · Canada
Directed by Co Hoedeman
Genres: animation, family, fantasy
Tones: contemplative, mythic, whimsical
In a traditional Inuit tale told with seal-fur puppets, the owl's actions explain how the raven came to have jet-black feathers.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A puppet animation retelling of Inuit mythology sounds like it should be a snooze, but Hoedeman's refusal to sentimentalize the form—letting the seal fur do the storytelling instead of winking at the camera—makes it genuinely strange and unsettling in ways that feel earned rather than affected.
Hoedeman's commitment to tactile material and mythic structure positions this squarely in the Canadian experimental animation tradition; the decision to animate with actual seal fur rather than substitute materials anchors the film's formal rigor to cultural specificity in a way that rewards close viewing.
The entire film hinges on the texture of the seal fur against light—how it reads as both precious and unsettling depending on the angle—and that single material choice transforms what could've been a museum-piece adaptation into something with genuine emotional weight.