Dimensions of Dialogue is a 1983 Czechoslovak animated short film directed by Jan Ĺ vankmajer. It is 14 minutes long and created with stop motion.
The animation is divided into three sections. “Eternal conversation” shows Arcimboldo-like heads gradually reducing each other to bland copies; “Passionate discourse” shows a clay man and woman who dissolve into one another sexually, then quarrel and reduce themselves to a frenzied, boiling pulp; and “Exhaustive discussion” consists of two elderly clay heads who extrude various objects on their tongues (toothbrush and toothpaste; shoe and shoelaces, etc.) and intertwine them in various combinations.
Terry Gilliam selected the film as one of the ten best animated films of all time.
Here is an animated short film compiled by David Ehrlich, in which 27 animators from different parts of the world define themselves through their own unique animation.
Directed by Jiri Barta, Sally Cruikshank, Borivoj Dovnikovic-Bordo, David Ehrlich, Kihachiro Kawamoto, Renzo Kinoshita, Pavel Koutsky, Candy Kugel, Mati Kßtt, Nikola Majdak, Josko Marusic, Bill Plympton, Priit Pärn, Maureen Selwood, Jan Svankmajer, Osamu Tezuka, Riho Unt, Hardi Volmer, and Dusan Vukotic
The Last Trick of Mr. Schwarcewallde and Mr. Edgar is a 1964 Czechoslovak animated short film by Jan Ĺ vankmajer. It was Ĺ vankmajer’s first film.
Two magicians, Mr. Schwarzwald and Mr. Edgar, try to outdo each other in performing elaborate magic tricks, leading to a violent ending.
During the title sequence, the cast and crew are seen backstage preparing for their performance. The play depicts two mime-like magicians (who are portrayed by both costumed actors and Kuroko style puppets) named Mr. Edgar and Mr. Schwarzwald, trying to outdo each other by performing various stage tricks for the pleasure of an unseen audience. After each act, the two performers congratulate each other with a handshake. However, as tensions rise, the handshakes become less friendly and even violent. For his first trick, Edgar skins a fish by placing it inside his papier mache head; Schwarzwald one ups him by making a dog puppet perform various tricks on a tightrope; Edgar in turn grows several arms and begins playing various instruments simultaneously; Schwarzwald imitates this trick by growing several heads and juggling them; and Edgar causes several chairs to come alive and perform tricks at the crack of a whip. For the magicians’ last trick, Edgar and Schwarzwald make themselves disappear by tearing each other to pieces.
is a 1971 Czechoslovak animated short film written and directed by Jan Ĺ vankmajer, based loosely on the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll. It was produced by Erna KmĂnkovĂĄ, Marta SichovĂĄ, JirĂ Vanek, and animated by Vlasta PospĂsilovĂĄ.
The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer is a 1984 British surreal short stop-motion film by the Quay Brothers, an homage to the influential short filmmaker Jan Švankmajer.
This early film by renowned animators the Quay Brothers is structured as a series of little lessons in perception, taught by a puppet simulacrum of Jan Svankmajer, whose head is an opened book, to a doll whose head the master empties of dross and refills with a similar open book. Each of the nine segments or chapters ârefers variously to the importance of objects in Svankmajerâs work, their transformation and bizarre combination through specifically cinematic techniques, the extraordinary power of the camera to âmake strangeâ, the influence of Surrealism on Svankmajerâs work, and the subversive and radical role of humor. Taken out of the context of the original Visions television documentary on Svankmajer, for which they served as illustration/commentary, these vignettes might at first sight seem a trifle bewildering. They ideally need to be viewed more than once before they begin to work effectively as quirky introductions to the Svankmajer universe. Then, however, they emerge as surprisingly charming and delightful excursions into this astonishing (and often deeply disturbing) directors work.â âJulian Petley
