Today, I bring you Sleeping Betty (originally Isabelle au Bois Dormant), a fantastic, super-stylish animated short directed by Claude Cloutier. The film was produced in 2007 in connection with the Canadian National Film Board, whose films we have enjoyed before. Entirely drawn in ink, the short celebrates both a refreshingly-innovative take on a traditional fairy tale and pen and ink drawing, a nearly-dead method of animation.

“I draw on paper with brush, India ink and water, for nuance and half-tones. After that, it’s colored by computer. I like to draw on paper. I’m old-school.”

– Claude Cloutier

The queen’s over-the-top crying, the witch’s attempted fixes, the hilariously-hammy steed, and the perfectly-non-dramatic ending all made me very, very happy. I hope that Sleeping Betty will entertain you as much as it did me.

You may watch more films by Claude Cloutier on the NFB website.