People from Scotland know about midges, but in northern Ontario, railway workers faced an equally annoying problem—black flies. This short film, inspired by a cheerful song Wade Hemsworth composed during that time, uses charming, hand-drawn animation to depict how these insects plagued the lives of the men as they worked on finding a new rail line through untouched Canadian wilderness in the late 1940s. The artwork has a pleasing quality, capturing the landscape's curves—the land itself, rivers, waterfalls, and forests—in a straightforward but lively way while the lyrics tell us about what happens to anyone who falls victim to these flies. It’s a worthwhile five-minute watch, though you might find yourself scratching afterward.

Source on TMDB