The Golden Bird

Animated with an amazing physicality, this stop-motion based loosely on the Grimms' fairy-tale is a visual delight. In this papery puppet-theatre space, cut-out credits and button-fruited trees create a dazzling sense of the other. Newspaper flesh, foil-feathered friends, the skies and genuinely surprising lighting are a perfect blend of medium and form.

This is Cat Bruce's degree film, but the confidence displayed belies that; the fox that befriends our protagonist is quite an ominous fox, 'chaos reigns' around him. Jenny Masterson's celtic harp is not the only Scottish note, the fate of the witch (for there is a witch) and her tendrils, the serpent-locked cage, oh! Every scene gives us something further to look at.

Maggie Spalding as 'the girl' and Dean James Fairbain as both hero 'Leif' and shady assistant 'Fox' provide good voice work, and David McGregor's music helps tie things together. As is often the case with animation, however, it's the technique that most impresses - the character design from found materials is brilliant.

Shown at Edinburgh 2011, it joins the similarly excellent Kin at Glasgow 2012. While scary at times - not least when someone wears their own severed head as a mask - it's got a proper fairy-tale ending. The Golden Bird is worth catching - indeed, that's what our hero is trying to do...