THE WORKS OF JAN SVANKMAJER
I have been researching the works of Czech Film Maker Jan Svankmajer, a surrealist born in 1934. Svankmajer has been making films since 1964, both feature length and short. His films are reknowned for their use of stop-motion animation and fast-motion sequences used to portray conversations and also for their sometimes nightmarish surrealism that are somehow still humourous.
This is a still from Jan Svankmajer's Food made in 1992, his last live-action short film to date. The film is seperated into three parts, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. The second part notably features two diners eating all their clothes and the dining furniture after the waiter repeatedly ignores them.
This is a still from Jan Svankmajer's Meat Love made in 1988. It is just over a minute long and features two cuts of meat coming to life and dancing with each other just before they are prepared for frying.
This is a still from Jan Svankmajer's Dimensions of Dialogue made in 1982. The film is seperated into three parts, Eternal conversation, Passionate discourse and Exhaustive discussion. The first part notably features two heads made up of food and kitchen utensils, repeatedly grinding each other down until they are made entirely of crumbs. The second features a couple made from plasticine repeatedly molding each other into different shapes and the last shows two heads spitting out various objects that serve a purpose to one another e.g a toothbrush and toothpaste.
This is a still from Jan Svankmajer's Historia Naturae made in 1967. It depicts a series of stop-motion animation sequences featuring different species including fish, land mammals and even humans and is 9 minutes long.
This is a still from a three minute clip from Jan Svankmajer's Feature Length Film Faust made in 1994. It depicts various instances of inanimate objects rolling towards the camera or being cut up and puppets on strings operating wooden heads from the inside and at one point, a wooden head cracks in two, revealing a real person.