National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Shrek was released by DreamWorks Animation in May 2001 and marked a turning point in computer-animated filmmaking. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it subverted fairy-tale conventions with sharp wit and genuine emotional depth, earning the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Its cultural footprint has only grown in the decades since.

This cell captures Lord Farquaad within the grand interior of his castle, the ornate stained-glass windows of Duloc visible behind him. Three frames appear on the strip, two of them near-identical to the first, which itself sits rotated ninety degrees on the celluloid. It is a composed, regal image of one of animation's most memorable antagonists.