
Directing
Jan Švankmajer
Born
1934-09-04 (92)
Place of birth
Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]
Known for
Directing
Credits
52 titles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934) is a Czech surrealist artist and filmmaker. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and many others. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jan Švankmajer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Television series Golden Sixties examines new insights into Czech and Slovak cinema of the 1960s and the role of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Each episode focuses on a different filmmaker.
Golden Sixties
2009
7.4A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare - no matter how twisted or odd that way must be.
Alice
1988
7.0When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.
Little Otik
2001
7.4A very free adaptation of Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.
Faust
1994
6.8A man sits down to watch a football match, which seems to consist of the players being violently mutilated in various inventive ways. The players then leave the football pitch and invade the spectator's flat.
Virile Games
1988
7.6Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
Dimensions of Dialogue
1983
Film credits
2020s · 3 titles
7.0A look at the legendary Czech sound designer and his profession. Editor and documentary filmmaker Adéla Špaljová has her father Ivo Špalj talk about his life, career, and working methods. Over the course of his long life, sound designer Ivo Špalj (*1940) has collaborated on hundreds of films and become a mentor for at least one generation of men and women behind the mixing board. This gentle documentary also shows “Engi” (as he is known to his colleagues) again working with Jan Švankmajer, whose films he has lent their typical, dense, and sophisticated sound mix.
Engi – Sound Designer Ivo Špalj
2023
NRJan Svankmajer, at 85 years of age, is one of the most prominent artists of European cinema. His work has inspired and guided generations of directors, and represents a sharp and merciless exploration of human nature which is entirely unique. When he decided to retire from filmmaking after "Insect" (2018), his producer suggested that the creative processes which ferment within their company Athanor should be preserved on film. Over three years, the directors of this documentary followed the life of Jan Svankmajer, elucidating his artistic principles, as well as his collaboration with old friend and producer Jaromír Kallista. The film is also haunted by the memory of Eva Svankmajerová, his wife and creative partner, muse and inseparable other half. Playful and poetic, candid and with a touch of Czech humour, it is an ode to creation and to companionship.
Alchemical Furnace
2020
9.7An astonishing array of paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, objects and materials fill room after room - but this is not a museum open to the general public. It is the home of the celebrated artist couple Jan Svankmajer and his late wife Eva, situated in the Czech Republic's Horni Stankov Castle.
Kunstkamera
2022
2010s · 3 titles
6.0A tortuous journey, in the company of the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí, around the figure of the enigmatic and visionary French poet Raymond Roussel (1877-1933).
Raymond Roussel: The Day of Glory
2017
5.0No synopsis available yet.
Vratislav Effenberger or Black Shark Hunting
2018
One of the best Czech composers of film soundtracks is often described as a genius of film scores. He was not afraid to experiment and the timelessness of his work is proven by the admiration of the world, including the generation who came to know his music only after his death.
The Music of Zdeněk Liška
2017
2000s · 2 titles
6.0An in depth look at both of the Švankmajers as they work on the full length film "Little Otik".
Les Chimères des Švankmajer
2001
NRExperimental documentary about Japanese experimental musician Otomo Yoshihide. Includes interviews with multiple musicians, artists, and writers as well as live footage.
Kikoe
2009
1990s · 2 titles
This half-hour BBC documentary offers a revealing look at Svankmajer at work on "Death of Stalinism in Bohemia," and uses excerpts from his earlier films to trace the development of his unique sensibility.
Jan Švankmajer: The Animator of Prague
1990
Švankmajer demonstrates the darkly humorous approach to life and politics which the Czech authorities at one time regarded as so subversive that they banned him from film-making for eight years.
The Magic Art of Jan Švankmajer
1992
Series credits
Behind the camera
7.4A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare - no matter how twisted or odd that way must be.
Alice
1988
7.4A quiet young English girl named Alice finds herself in an alternate version of her own reality after chasing a white rabbit. She becomes surrounded by living inanimate objects and stuffed dead animals, and must find a way out of this nightmare - no matter how twisted or odd that way must be.
Alice
1988
7.0When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.
Little Otik
2001
7.0When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.
Little Otik
2001
7.0When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife's pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real.
Little Otik
2001
7.4A very free adaptation of Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.
Faust
1994
7.4A very free adaptation of Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.
Faust
1994
6.8A man sits down to watch a football match, which seems to consist of the players being violently mutilated in various inventive ways. The players then leave the football pitch and invade the spectator's flat.
Virile Games
1988
6.8A man sits down to watch a football match, which seems to consist of the players being violently mutilated in various inventive ways. The players then leave the football pitch and invade the spectator's flat.
Virile Games
1988
7.6Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
Dimensions of Dialogue
1983
7.6Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
Dimensions of Dialogue
1983
5.8In this animated version of Edgar Allan Poe's story, a traveller arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants are living under a mysterious family curse. The brother's senses have become painfully acute, while his sister has become nearly catatonic.
The Fall of the House of Usher
1982
5.8In this animated version of Edgar Allan Poe's story, a traveller arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants are living under a mysterious family curse. The brother's senses have become painfully acute, while his sister has become nearly catatonic.
The Fall of the House of Usher
1982
6.1A man, apparently on the run, takes shelter in a dilapidated house. Every day, he drills a hole through a wall and looks into one of the rooms, each time seeing a different surreal vision.
A Quiet Week in the House
1969
6.1A man, apparently on the run, takes shelter in a dilapidated house. Every day, he drills a hole through a wall and looks into one of the rooms, each time seeing a different surreal vision.
A Quiet Week in the House
1969
6.7Six Prague residents pursue bizarre rituals. Mr. Peony builds a chicken costume to wear while enacting homicidal fantasies toward neighbor Mrs. Loubalova, who does the same dressed as a dominatrix. Their mail carrier, Mrs. Malkova, inhales tiny balls of bread. Newsstand operator Mr. Kula obsessively watches the broadcasts of news anchor Mrs. Beltinska, whose husband regularly scrubs his body.
Conspirators of Pleasure
1996
6.7Six Prague residents pursue bizarre rituals. Mr. Peony builds a chicken costume to wear while enacting homicidal fantasies toward neighbor Mrs. Loubalova, who does the same dressed as a dominatrix. Their mail carrier, Mrs. Malkova, inhales tiny balls of bread. Newsstand operator Mr. Kula obsessively watches the broadcasts of news anchor Mrs. Beltinska, whose husband regularly scrubs his body.
Conspirators of Pleasure
1996
6.7Six Prague residents pursue bizarre rituals. Mr. Peony builds a chicken costume to wear while enacting homicidal fantasies toward neighbor Mrs. Loubalova, who does the same dressed as a dominatrix. Their mail carrier, Mrs. Malkova, inhales tiny balls of bread. Newsstand operator Mr. Kula obsessively watches the broadcasts of news anchor Mrs. Beltinska, whose husband regularly scrubs his body.
Conspirators of Pleasure
1996
6.7A man takes up residence with a mysterious marquis and is soon persuaded to enter into an asylum for preventative therapy. Things are not what they seem, and the marquis may be even more sinister than what the young man might have predicted.
Lunacy
2005
6.7A man takes up residence with a mysterious marquis and is soon persuaded to enter into an asylum for preventative therapy. Things are not what they seem, and the marquis may be even more sinister than what the young man might have predicted.
Lunacy
2005
6.8An adaptation of the 1764 work of the same name, the first Gothic novel. In this mockumentary, the amateur archaeologist Dr. Vozáb has set to prove that the supernatural ghost love story takes place not in Italy, but in Otranto Castle near Náchod in Czechia.
Castle of Otranto
1977
6.8An adaptation of the 1764 work of the same name, the first Gothic novel. In this mockumentary, the amateur archaeologist Dr. Vozáb has set to prove that the supernatural ghost love story takes place not in Italy, but in Otranto Castle near Náchod in Czechia.
Castle of Otranto
1977
6.0A collection of short films by 16 European directors.
Cinema 16: European Short Films (U.S. Edition)
2007
7.2A man is trapped in a sinister flat, where nothing seems to obey the laws of nature.
The Flat
1968
7.2A man is trapped in a sinister flat, where nothing seems to obey the laws of nature.
The Flat
1968
6.9Eugene, an aging man, leads a double life - one real, the other in his dreams. He goes to see a psychoanalyst, who tries to interpret the meaning of his dreams. Eugene finds a way of entering his dream-world at will and finds out about his childhood and what really happened to his parents.
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)
2010
6.9Eugene, an aging man, leads a double life - one real, the other in his dreams. He goes to see a psychoanalyst, who tries to interpret the meaning of his dreams. Eugene finds a way of entering his dream-world at will and finds out about his childhood and what really happened to his parents.
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)
2010
7.2Frank visits his friend Josef, who introduces him to his pedigree rabbits and his wife Mary. Frank is more interested in the slightly unsettling fact that Josef and Mary's garden fence is entirely made up of living people holding hands.
The Garden
1968
7.2Frank visits his friend Josef, who introduces him to his pedigree rabbits and his wife Mary. Frank is more interested in the slightly unsettling fact that Josef and Mary's garden fence is entirely made up of living people holding hands.
The Garden
1968
6.8A little girl goes down to the basement cellar to fetch some potatoes, and finds all her hidden fears about the cellar depicted in animated form.
Down to the Cellar
1983
6.8A little girl goes down to the basement cellar to fetch some potatoes, and finds all her hidden fears about the cellar depicted in animated form.
Down to the Cellar
1983
7.8Examines the human relationship with food by showing breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Food
1996
7.8Examines the human relationship with food by showing breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Food
1996
7.5A human body gradually reconstructs itself as its various component parts crowd themselves into a small room and eventually, after much experimentation, sort out which part goes where.
Darkness, Light, Darkness
1990
7.5A human body gradually reconstructs itself as its various component parts crowd themselves into a small room and eventually, after much experimentation, sort out which part goes where.
Darkness, Light, Darkness
1990
6.6In stop-motion animation, a wardrobe moves through the countryside. It arrives in a house, a child's voice recites Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," and various objects, such as toys and dolls, move about, disintegrate, and play out archetypal scenes. Like Carroll's verse, the images are at once familiar and unfamiliar. A child's play suit, hanging in the wardrobe, becomes the adventure's protagonist.
Jabberwocky
1971
6.6In stop-motion animation, a wardrobe moves through the countryside. It arrives in a house, a child's voice recites Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," and various objects, such as toys and dolls, move about, disintegrate, and play out archetypal scenes. Like Carroll's verse, the images are at once familiar and unfamiliar. A child's play suit, hanging in the wardrobe, becomes the adventure's protagonist.
Jabberwocky
1971
6.8Animated short film based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" and Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's "A Torture by Hope".
The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope
1983
6.8Animated short film based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" and Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's "A Torture by Hope".
The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope
1983
6.9A non-narrative voyage round Sedlec Ossuary, which has been constructed from over 50,000 human skeletons (victims of the Black Death).
The Ossuary
1970

