Thanks for the memories!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I remember seeing this with the John Hurt/ Richard Burton version of '1984' at the Odeon Haymarket, in 1984 funnily enough! It may well have been shown on Channel 4 (UK) at some point but like the other contributors it really struck a chord despite such a fleeting glimpse.A self-contained culture, a genuine message at its heart and compact storytelling makes this a wonderful little short. Grown-up in terms of ideas, and quite prescient in terms of ecology and environment , I'm sure kids would enjoy it too .I wish it was readily available somewhere!

Like other people commenting, this is a short who's imagery has stayed with me for more than 20 years. I saw it in an art theater in Georgetown, Washington DC. I particularly remember the haunting language used by the creatures. You understood everything they were feeling and saying without knowing a thing about the language. The vivid scenery was also haunting and gorgeous. I had to wait until the computer game Myst before seeing something as well done. I have been searching and searching for a copy without knowing the title, using terms like "whale, white, animation, short, hunt, fly, world, air." Nothing ever came up until today and now I know what I'm looking for! But I can't seem to find anywhere that offers a copy. Echoing the commenter before me, where, oh where can we buy one?

I would like to see Skywhales again, hoping it is as good as I remember, and it should be available for others, too. Maybe not earth-shattering, but it was satisfying, and had the feel of a modern fable. The animation was satisfying, and it had a wonderful dreamlike quality. Skywhales has the classic science fiction device of postulating and describing a newly discovered or invented culture - it is like an invented anthropological inventory, but presented in story style rather than in academese. This film had the uninhibited feeling of a demo effort or perhaps an extremely proficient student project. I do hope a print or copy can be found and republished. The world will be a better place.

Oh thank God for IMDb. This movie has stayed with me since I first saw it as a teenager but I could never remember what it was called. On an off-chance I tried doing a Google searching for "animated movie floating island hunt" as that was pretty much all I could remember. A few links later and I found a few images from this movie and a link to IMDb.I remember the movie leaving me open-mouthed at the end and I have told so many people about it. I remember the animation being way ahead of its time but maybe that's just false memory ;)Is there ANY way to buy a copy???