Tiki Tiki
An unclassifiable animated odyssey from the director of Heavy Metal
Tiki Tiki (1971)
A group of monkeys, including a director loosely inspired by Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider persona, struggle through various trials and tribulations while making an epic adventure film in this psychedelic and satirical look at the Hollywood counterculture of the early ’70s. Directed by celebrated animator Gerald Potterton – who earned multiple Oscar nominations for his work at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), contributed to Yellow Submarine, and later directed Heavy Metal – this is an outrageous and inspired feat of cinematic imagination.
An unlikely hybrid of analog animation and live action Soviet fantasy film, Tiki Tiki repurposes extended passages from Rolan Bykov’s eye-popping 1967 phantasmagoria Aybolit-66 as the film within the film, employing irreverent comic dubbing and cutting to subvert the original intent. The result puzzled and thrilled ’70s audiences in equal measure and turned heads by winning Mosfilm art director Aleksandr Kuznetsov a Canadian Film Award. An unapologetically eccentric experience that has earned comparisons to H.C. Potter’s Hellzapoppin', Tiki Tiki remains one of the most sought-after animated enigmas of its era.
Special features
• Newly scanned and restored in 4K from the original 35mm A/B negatives by Canadian International Pictures with sound transferred from the three-track master mix
• New audio commentary featuring Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and film historian Jason Pichonsky
• Producing Potterton (2026, 13 min.) – New interview with executive producer Murray Shostak
• The Road to Montréal (2026, 15 min.) – New interview with animator Paul Driessen
• Fantasia Q&A (2024, 10 min.) – Shostak and film historian Chris Seguin at the Fantasia International Film Festival
• Five short films directed by Potterton: Super Bus (1969, 6 min.), The Remarkable Rocket (1975, 25 min.), Canada Vignettes: Winter - Starting the Car (1979, 2 min.), Canada Vignettes: Winter - Dressing Up (1979, 1 min.), and George and the Christmas Star (1985, 24 min.)
• Making Movie History: Gerald Potterton (2014, 5 min.) – The filmmaker reflects on his early years at the NFB
• Three NFB short films with animation by Potterton: Huff and Puff (1955, 7 min.), Fish Spoilage Control (1956, 9 min.), and It’s a Crime (1957, 13 min.)
• Potterton Productions demo reel (1972, 23 min.) – A collection of clips from various films directed by Potterton and/or produced by Potterton Productions
• Theatrical trailer
• Booklet featuring a new essay by animation historian Ross Anderson and a new essay on Aybolit-66 by film historian Olga Egovora
• Reversible cover artwork
• English SDH subtitles
• New slip art by Scott Saslow
Canadian International Pictures
From arthouse to Canuxploitation, Canadian International Pictures (CIP) is devoted to resurrecting vital, distinctive, and overlooked triumphs of Canadian and Québécois cinema. We are focused on the country’s original cinematic boom years – spanning the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s – occasionally venturing past that period (and the country’s borders) to highlight the films of Canada’s most inspired actors and filmmakers.
