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30 Jan – 9 Feb 2025

Jan Švankmajer

Jan ŠVANKMAJER (1934, Czechoslovakia) studied stage design at the College of Applied Arts in Prague, and Puppetry at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. In 1964, he made his first short film: The Last Trick. His animations films filled with fantasy and surrealism, such as Alice (1987) and Faust (1994), are highly regarded and have won many prizes, for instance in Cannes and Berlin. He is mostly known for his use of claymation and stop-motion techniques, and has been named a great influence by many filmmakers, including the Quay Brothers and Terry Gilliam. In 2000 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Animafest Zagreb and in 2014 he received the FIAF Award during a special ceremony at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Švankmajer has announced his retirement from filmmaking, with Kunstkamera (2022), selected for IFFR 2023, announced as his final film.

Filmography

Poslední trik pana Schwarcewalldea a pana Edgara/The Last Trick (1964, short), Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-Moll (1965, short), Hra s kameny/A Game with Stones (1965, short), Rakvickárna/Punch and Judy (1966, short), Et Cetera (1966, short), Historia naturae (Suita) (1967, short), Zahrada/The Garden (1968, short), Picknick mit Weismann (1969, short), Byt/The Flat (1969, short), Tichy tyden v dome/A Quiet Week in the House (1969, short), Kostnice/The Ossuary (1970, short), Don Sajn/Don Juan (1970, short), Zvahlav aneb saticky slameného Huberta/Jabberwocky (1971, short), Leonarduv Deník/Leonardo’s Diary (1972, short), Otrantsky zámek/The Castle of Otranto (1973-79, short), Zánik domu Usheru/The Fall of the House of Usher (1980, short), Moznosti dialogu/Dimensions of Dialogue (1982, short), Do pivnice/Down to the Cellar (1982, short), Kyvadlo, jáma a nadeje/The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope (1983, short), Neco z Alenky/Alice (1987), Muzné hry/Virile Games (1988, short), Jiny druh lásky/Another Kind of Love (1988, short), Zamilované maso/Meat Love (1989, short), Tma, svetlo, tma/Darkness, Light, Darkness (1989, short), Flora (1989, short), Animated Self-Portraits (1989, short), Konec stalinismu v Cechách/The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (1990, short), Jídlo/Food (1992, short), Lekce Faust/Faust (1994), Spiklenci slasti/Conspirators of Pleasure (1996), Otesánek/Little Otik (2000), Šílení/Lunacy (2005), Prezít svuj zivot/Surviving Life (2010), Hmyz/Insect (2018), Kunstkamera (2022)

More info: Wikipedia, Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer at IFFR