Jan Švankmajer is a dominant figure in the field of global animation cinema, even more so today, as the widespread perception is gradually taking hold that the distinction between animated film and “live-action” cinema has become so blurred as to cast doubt on its legitimacy.

Born in Czechoslovakia, his work must be considered in relation to his distinguished compatriots: in animation, the obvious references are Jiří Trnka, Karel Zeman, Hermína Týrlová, and the younger Jiří Barta; within the broader context of national cinema, one must also recall the generation known as the “Czech New Wave” (nová vlna): Oscar winners Miloš Forman (Black Peter, 1964; Loves of a Blonde, 1965), Jiří Menzel (Closely Watched Trains, 1966), and Věra Chytilová (Daisies, 1966). A fellow student of Švankmajer at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague was Juraj Herz, director of The Cremator (1969). The first twenty years of his production are marked by animated and mixed-media short films, with a forced hiatus from directing in the 1970s due to censorship following the repression of the Prague Spring. Starting in 1988 with Alice (1988), his focus shifted to feature-length films, with a reduced presence of animation within them, without losing any of their evocative power.

Jan Švankmajer

Projections:

↘ Cinema Dante, Mestre (VE) | 15.04 h. 21:00 (86’)                                                                                      ↘ Alice       

                                                                                                                                                                                        ↘ Retrospective: Short Films Pt. 1 - Auditorium | 17.04, h. 16:30                                                                   ↘ A Game with Stones ↘ J.S. Bach – Fantasia in G minor                                                                           ↘ Punch and Judy; Et cetera ↘ Historia Naturae                                                                                           ↘ The Flat; Picnic with Weismann                                                                                                                         ↘ A Quiet Week in the House           

 ↘ Retrospective: Short Films Pt. 2 - Auditorium | 18.04, h. 11:45                                                                  ↘ Jabberwocky                                                                                                                                                          ↘ Leonardo’s Diary                                                                                                                                                    ↘ The Castle of Otranto                                                                                                                                          ↘ The Fall of the House of Usher                                                                                                                          ↘ Dimensions of Dialogue                                                                                                                               

↘ Retrospective: Short Films Pt. 3 - Auditorium | 19.04, h. 11:45                                                              ↘ Down to the Cellar                                                                                                                                                  ↘ The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope                                                                                                                    ↘ Another Kind of Love; Virile Games                                                                                                                ↘ Flora; Darkness–Light–Darkness                                                                                                                    ↘ Meat Love                                                                                                                                                                  ↘ The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia                                                                                                                ↘ The Food

Among his later shorts are also international co-productions such as Another Kind of Love (1988) and Meat Love (1989) for MTV, and The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (1990), produced with the support of the BBC. A technically versatile artist, he is also a painter, sculptor, and puppeteer. His poetics are surrealist, centered on everyday objects—particularly food, toys, and curious items—which, removed from their usual context, are combined into dreamlike sequences through the use of tight, repetitive editing, at times even unsettling. What emerges is an ironic, irreverent, and direct vision, tinged with a vein of bitterness. A hidden connection links him to other famous figures from Prague: not only Franz Kafka, but also Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg (1552–1612), who made the city on the Vltava a capital of occultism and esotericism. His famed Wunderkammer, a collection of natural curiosities and unusual objects, contributed to the myth of Prague as a city of mystery and magic. It is no coincidence that a recurring theme in some of Švankmajer’s short films—true Wunderkammern on film—is the human figure composed of various objects, somewhat like the paintings of Arcimboldo, of whom Rudolf II was a patron.