Blinkity Blank is a 1955 animated short film created by Norman McLaren for the National Film Board of Canada. It won, among other awards, both the Short Film Palme d'Or at Cannes and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Production Engraved directly onto black film leader, Blinkity Blank features a soundtrack combining improvisational jazz from composer Maurice Blackburn along with graphical sounds created by McLaren scratching onto the film's optical soundtrack. The film features lines, dots and other abstract forms, along with fruits, trees, planets and chickens—the latter featured at length in another McLaren hand-drawn film Hen Hop—which blink in and out of existence, or merge with or modulate other shapes. McLaren also left some frames blank, which he described as "sprinkling on the empty band of time". Awards Cannes Film Festival, Cannes: Short Film Palme d'Or, 1955 9th British Academy Film Awards, London: BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, 1956 Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin: Silver Bear, 1955 Franco-American International Film Festival, Paris: Fourth Prize, 1955 Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh: Diploma of Merit, 1955 Cape Town International Film Festival, Cape Town: Certificate of Merit, Documentary, 1955 Durban International Film Festival, Durban: Certificate of Merit, Documentary, 1955 SODRE International Festival of Documentary and Experimental Films, Montevideo: First Honourable Mention, Experimental Films, 1956 References External links Watch Blinkity Blank at NFB.ca 1955 films Films directed by Norman McLaren National Film Board of Canada animated short films Drawn-on-film animated films Animated films without speech Short Film Palme d'Or winners BAFTA winners (films) Jazz films Visual music Graphical sound 1950s animated short films 1955 animated films Animated musical films Canadian animated short films Quebec films 1950s Canadian films