The Magic Clock Fables are a contemporary adaptation of three short films by pioneer and giant of animation Ladislas Starewitch, who made some hundred films between 1911 and 1965.
Nina, the clockmaker's little daughter, starts daydreaming in front of a great clock with three moving automatons. She changes from being a street singer to a ballerina in love with a tin soldier, then a princess in search of a handsome knight. From burglaries to castle attacks and mermaids to dragons, the adventures never stop... just like the hands of a clock. Mixing puppet animation and live action La Petite Chanteuse des rues, La Petite Parade and L'Horloge magique are counted amongst Starewitch's masterpieces and make up this special programme full of imagination, humour and poetry, with his own daughter, Nina Star playing the little daydreamer.
The director's grand-daughter, Léona-Béatrice Martin, has completely restored these three films, which are accompanied by music from Jean-Marie Sénia and a text narrated by the actor Rufus. Between each fable, Jean Rubak has created an animated sequence which follows the regular beats of the ticking clock. -By Kawa-Topor for the Annecy film festival