Biography of Jan Švankmajer
Jan Svankmajer, (born in September 4, 1934, Prague, Czechslovakia [now in Czech Republic]), is a Surrealist artist, puppeteer, animator and filmmaker known for his dark reimaginings of well-known fairy tales and for his avant-garde use of three-dimensional stop-motion coupled with live-action Animation. Some critics hailed him for privileging visual elements over plot and narrative, others for his use of dark fantasy.
During the 1950s, Svankmajer pursued an interest in theatre and puppetry. He studied at the School of Applied Arts in Prague from 1950 to 1954 before enrolling in the puppetry department at the Academy of Performing Arts. He also worked at a marionette theatre and other theatres in the city. It was through this theatre work that Svankmajer discovered an appreciation for film and consequently he began a cinematic career. His first short - Posledni trik pana Schwarcewalldea a pana Edgara (The Last Trick), in which two magicians participate in a heated competition of skill, gave evidence of his early interest in stop-motion.
Svankmajer continued to develop his aesthetic by experimenting with puppetry, animation and avant-garde film techniques. The budding director began a transition away from theater puppetry and toward film in order to incorporate seemingly disparate visual elements in a medium that would allow him to easily do so. His work in the theatre nevertheless remained a steady source of inspiration. Svankmajer combined the tradition of Czech folk puppetry with animation to develop many of the visual innovations established a generation earlier by Czech animators Karel Zeman and Jiri Trnka. As important as his skillful technique was the dark and subversive tone and mood Svankmajer's films projected. His first feature film, Neco z Alenky (Alice), is a sinister adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The film combines animation, puppetry and live action to evoke a fantasy-like quality while distorting these elements to create an ominous atmosphere.
Svankmajer's most famous work, Lekce Faust (Faust), gave a mew spin to the familiar tale of the Faustian bargain. The film is set in a foreboding puppet theatre that lures the main chatacter inside. There he experiments a strange version of the Faust play, which includes giant puppets and clay figures filmed in stop-motion.
Svankmajer also drew on fairy tales for the inspiration of his plots. For example, his film Otesanek (Little Otik) is a dark comedy based on "The Wooden Baby" (1865) by Czech folklorist Karel Erben. The premise of the film follows that of the tale, which is about a wooden baby who comes to life and devours his parents. However, Svankmajer put a modern spin on the story, using it to parody the Czech Republic's growing involvement with global capitalism in the 1990s. Ultimately, Little Otik connects the country's newfound appetite for consumer goods with barbarism.
Beyond Alice and Faust, Svankmajer adapted other literary sources. His work Sileni (Lunacy) was described as a comic horror story demonstrating the influence of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe and the French nobleman Marquis de Sade.
Although Svankmajer won more than 30 awards and honors from various International film festivals, he remained relatively unknown in North America throughout most of his career. He started making films in the early 1960s, but he did not really emerge in western Europe until his short film Moznosti dialogu (Dimensions of Dialogue) won great critical acclaim. His lack of reputation was in large measure a result of political events in Czechslovakia. After the Soviet Union invaded that country in 1968, the authorities restricted opportunities for his films to reach a wider audience, finding his work generally unsuitable for their desired ends. Svankmajer's reputation grew considerably after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Jan Švankmajer's works
Feature-length films
| English title | Original title | Source material | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alice (1988) | Něco z Alenky | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll | |
| Faust (1994) | Lekce Faust | The Faust legend (including traditional Czech puppet show versions), Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, and Goethe's Faust. | |
| Conspirators of Pleasure (1996) | Spiklenci slasti | Original story | |
| Little Otik (2000) | Otesánek | Otesánek by Karel Jaromír Erben | |
| Lunacy (2005) | Šílení | "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" and "The Premature Burial" by Edgar Allan Poe | |
| Surviving Life (2010) | Přežít svůj život | Original story | |
| Insects | Hmyz | Pictures from the Insects' Life by Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek |
Short Films
| English title | Original title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Last Trick (1964) | Poslední trik pana Schwarcewalldea a pana Edgara | ||
| Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasy in G minor (1965) | Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-moll | ||
| A Game with Stones (1965) | Spiel mit Steinen | ||
| Punch and Judy (1966) | Rakvičkárna | Also known as The Coffin Factory and The Lych House | |
| Et Cetera (1966) | |||
| Historia Naturae (Suita) (1967) | |||
| The Garden (1968) | Zahrada | ||
| The Flat (1968) | Byt | ||
| Picnic with Weissmann (1968) | Picknick mit Weissmann | ||
| A Quiet Week in the House (1969) | Tichý týden v domě | ||
| Don Juan (1970) | Don Šajn | ||
| The Ossuary (1970) | Kostnice | About the Sedlec Ossuary | |
| Jabberwocky (1971) | Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta | Based on "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll | |
| Leonardo's Diary (1972) | Leonardův deník | ||
| Castle of Otranto (1973 - 1979) | Otrantský zámek | Based on "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole | |
| The Fall of the House of Usher (1980) | Zánik domu Usherů | Based on "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe | |
| Dimensions of Dialogue (1982) | Možnosti dialogu | ||
| Down to the Cellar (1983) | Do pivnice | ||
| The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope (1983) | Kyvadlo, jáma a naděje | Based on "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe and "A Torture by Hope" by Auguste Villiers de L'Isle-Adam | |
| Virile Games (1988) | Mužné hry | Also known as The Male Game | |
| Another Kind of Love (1988) | Music video for Hugh Cornwell | ||
| Meat Love (1988) | Zamilované maso | ||
| Darkness/Light/Darkness (1989) | Tma, světlo, tma | ||
| Flora (1989) | |||
| Animated Self-Portraits (1989) | Portmanteau film by 27 filmmakers | ||
| The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (1990) | Konec stalinismu v Čechách | ||
| Food (1992) | Jídlo |
Animation and Gadgets
| English title | Original title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dinner for Adele (1978) | Adéla ještě nevečeřela | Oldřich Lipský | |
| The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (1981) | Tajemství hradu v Karpatech | Oldřich Lipský | |
| Ferat Vampire (1982) | Upír z Feratu | Juraj Herz | |
| Visitors (1983) | Návštěvníci | Jindřich Polák | |
| Three Veterans (1984) | Tři veteráni | Oldřich Lipský |
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