The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
I Guinea Pig
The do’s and don’ts of pet care explained by a cute cartoon guinea pig created by celebrated British animator Sheila Graber.
From the collection of:
Overview
A cute, vegetarian guinea pig pitches pet care to kids and explains his origins – descended from South American rodents called the “restless Cavies”, no less. This delightful cartoon was created by the popular South Shields-born artist Sheila Graber as a pilot for a children’s television series that was broadcast around the world in the 1980s.
Sheila Graber began to make hand-drawn animated films in the 1970s, initially to teach her secondary school students a new art form. Her award-winning short films were screened at the National Film Theatre, London, as part of the national “10 Best” competition run by Movie Maker magazine. As a gifted amateur, Graber received commissions from the Tate Gallery in London, Tyne Tees TV and the BBC. Her work attracted the attention of the French agent and distributor Nicole Jouve of Interama, who commissioned animations of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories (1981), her first work as a full-time professional, and later the Best Friends series (1983) and La Famille Fenouillard (1988).
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