"Think Before You Think" is a portrait of film poet, animator and artist Rick Raxlen. Shot on 16mm film and digital video at his Victoria, BC home and studio over the course of a year, the film follows Raxlen’s daily practice, uncovering the rituals and gestures of a creative process. Mining the highly specific and personal nature of this life-sized project, excerpts from Raxlen’s films, drawings, paintings and mark-making from a 50+ year art practice combine with hand-processed and manipulated film materials to play off the rites and relaxed rigour of his unique approach to making a life.

Think Before You Think: A Portrait of Rick Raxlen

"Done on cels almost entirely. I rotoscoped werewolves and cops and babies and animals and maidens-in-distress and put on a dub reggae track by my son Mossman so it bubbles along in a kind of nonsensical way…very colourful and frantic but not seizure-inducing as some of my earlier work was." –R.R.

Kanga vs Werewolf

"I am sent to camp as a nine year old. I cannot swim, and my parents have gone to Europe for six weeks! It is 1954, and I have not been away from home much…so I refuse to swim, and fish off the dock. My mother writes in her trip book. It is the only book she will write. I catch a big fish. The camp director takes my picture… They should have taken me to Europe with them. I would have behaved." –R.R.

Fish Don't Talk

A one-minute animation treat that celebrates the art of sound poetry as Christian Bök recites words from Hugo Ball, one of the leading pioneers of phonetic poetry.

Sea Horses and Flying Fish

A portrait of male mid-life crisis as told through the story of a frustrated poetry teacher--and sometime madcap radio deejay--who's fond memories of watching Roy Rogers on TV is activated when an old childhood buddy drops in for a visit.

The Strange Blues of Cowboy Red

One-minute of found footage of Mutt and Jeff from 1926 is literally reconstructed via paper prints from photocopies and pen and ink drawings.

The Geometry of Beware

"Mutt and Jeff meet Felix in a battle for the letter "U". Using old black and white cartoons and contact-printed 35 mm film that I scratched on, I combined the three elements into a primordial soup."  Rick Raxlen