AN UNCLASSIFIABLE ANIMATED ODYSSEY FROM THE DIRECTOR OF HEAVY METAL!

One of Canada’s most highly regarded animation filmmakers, Gerald Potterton earned multiple Oscar nominations for his work at the National Film Board of Canada,  contributed to Yellow Submarine, collaborated with Harold Pinter, made a celebrated live action short with Buster Keaton, and directed the 1981 cult classic Heavy Metal. But a decade earlier, he made one other animated feature – Tiki Tiki – that was never widely distributed and remains a singular and much sought-after enigma of its era.  

Doctor Aybolit blasts into space accompanied by his faithful companions, the talking monkey Chichi and the talking dog Avva, hot on the trail of his arch-nemesis Barmalei, a pirate who has kidnapped a group of simian children. Meanwhile, in animated framing sequences, a fast-talking film producer pitches this tale to a studio executive with a personal stake in the story. 

Combining an animated narrative involving a filmmaking monkey – loosely inspired by Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider persona – with segments from little-seen ‘60s live action fantasy film Aybolit-66, this is an unclassifiable cinematic joyride. Over five decades after the film’s (very limited) release, CIP is proud to bring this inspired feat of cinematic imagination back to audiences.