This programme presents a selection of 22 short films – exploring Czech Surrealist filmmaker-animator Jan Švankmajer diversity of methods and styles – and his unique adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Technically and conceptually astonishing in their own right, these films are also as remarkable for their philosophical consistency as for their frequently mind-boggling imagery.  

"The world is divided into two unequal camps: those who have never heard of Jan Švankmajer... and those who happen upon his work and know that they have come face to face with a genius." Anthony Lane, The New Yorker.  

Early Shorts 1964-73
Programme duration ca. 175 min read more

The Last Trick, 1964, 12 min, Digital
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-moll, 1965, 10 min, Digital
A Game with Stones,1965, 9 min, Digital
Punch and Judy, 1966, 10 min, Digital
Et Cetera, 1966, 7 min, Digital
Historia Naturae Suita, 1967, 9 min, Digital
The Garden, 1968, 17 min, Digital
The Flat, 1968, 13 min, Digital
Picnic with Weissmann, 1969, 13 min, Digital
A Quiet Week in the House, 1969, 20 min, Digital
Don Sajn,1970, 30 min, Digital
The Ossuary, 1970, 10 min, Digital
Leonardo’s Diary, 1973, 14 min, Digital

Late Shorts: 1979-89
Programme duration ca. 95 min read more

The Castle of Otranto, 1979, 15 min, Digital
The Fall of the House of Usher, 1981, 15 min, Digital
Dimensions of Dialogue, 1982, 12 min, Digital
Down to the Cellar, 1983, 15 min, Digital
The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope, 1983, 16 min, Digital
Virile Games, 1988, 12 min, Digital
Meat Love, 1989, 1 min, Digital
Darkness-Light-Darkness, 1989, 8 min, Digital
Flora, 1989, 20 sec  

Alice
Jan Švankmajer
1988 | 86 min | Colour | DCP  

Jan Švankmajer's Alice is a disturbing adaptation of Lewis Carroll's original vision. Combining a live-action Alice (Kristyna Kohoutova) with a stop-motion Wonderland filled with threatening, bizarre characters, the film brilliantly marries a sly visual wit with piercing psychological insight. read more