Hot Stuff (1971 film)

Hot Stuff is a 1971 animated short directed and animated by Zlatko Grgic and written by Don Arioli.^[1] Produced by the National Film Board of Canada for the Dominion Fire Commission, a department of Public Works Canada, the nine-minute short on fire safety offers a humorous look^[1] at the origins, benefits and dangers of fire.^[2]

Hot Stuff
Directed by	Zlatko Grgic
Screenplay by	Don Arioli
Produced by	Wolf Koenig Robert Verrall
Starring	Don Arioli (voice) Gerald Budner (voice) John Howe (voice)
Cinematography	Simon LeBlanc (animation camera)
Music by	Bill Brooks
Production company	National Film Board of Canada
Release date	1971 (1971)
Running time	9 minutes
Country	Canada
Languages	English, French

Production

Grgic was recruited for the NFB by producers Robert Verrall and Wolf Koenig after they saw his film Scabies. Much of Hot Stuff's humour had been initially improvised; Gerald Budner, who was himself an animator, ad-libbed voices for two of the characters, a snake and a cat. Arioli had been annoyed with Budner's banter, but Koenig insisted on retaining these asides. Grgic was also given freedom to improvise by the producers.^[3]

Release

Hot Stuff was one of seven NFB animated shorts acquired by the American Broadcasting Company, marking the first time NFB films had been sold to a major American television network. It aired on ABC in the fall of 1971 as part of the children's television show Curiosity Shop, executive produced by Chuck Jones.^[4] It also aired (minus the opening & closing credits) on The Great Space Coaster in the 1980s.

Awards

• International Animation Film Festival, New York: Grand Prix - Silver Praxinoscope, Educational, 1972^[5]
• World Festival of Animated Films, Zagreb: Best Educational Film, 1972
• Atlanta Film Festival: Gold Medal, Safety, 1972
• Melbourne Film Festival, Melbourne: Diploma of Merit, 1972
• International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany: Diploma of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations, 1972
• National Committee on Films for Safety, Chicago: Bronze Plaque, 1972
• 23rd Canadian Film Awards, Toronto: Best Screenplay, Fiction, Don Arioli, 1971, for both Hot Stuff and Propaganda Message^[6][7]