Year: 1993
Language: English
Format: 35mm Colour
Runtime: 12 min
Director: Alison Snowden, David Fine
Producer: David Verrall, Barrie McLean, Alison Snowden, David Fine
Writer: Alison Snowden, David Fine
Cinematographer: Raymond Dumas, Robin Bain, Lynda Pelley, Pierre Landry
Animation: Janet Perlman, Alison Snowden, David Fine
Sound: Serge Boivin, Jean-Pierre Joutel, Danuta Klis
Music: Patrick Godfrey
Cast: Andy Hamilton, Harry Enfield, Andrew Maclachlan, Tessa Wojiczak, Sally Grace, Alison Snowden
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada, Channel Four (U.K.), Snowden Fine Animation

Bob Fish (Andy Hamilton), a mild-mannered dentist, is depressed. It is his fortieth birthday and he is questioning the choices he has made in his life. His career seems pointless, his patients annoy him and his friendships feel empty and boring. Meanwhile, Bob’s put-upon wife Margaret (Alison Snowden) has planned a surprise party for him. Things go awry when Bob arrives home in a funk and, half naked, begins insulting their friends, unaware that they are hiding behind the living room furniture.

This amusingly dry animated short film from Alison Snowden and David Fine – the makers of two previous Academy Award®-nominated shorts, Second Class Mail (1985) and George and Rosemary (1987) – was commissioned by Britain’s Channel 4 as the pilot for the animated television series "Bob and Margaret." A witty, offbeat portrait of middle-aged angst, it was nominated for numerous awards around the world and won the Academy Award® for Animated Short Film. It also played in front of the feature film Don Juan DeMarco on sixty Famous Players screens across the country, making it the first Canadian short since The Cat Came Back (1988) to enjoy such wide theatrical exposure.