Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer was born on September 4, 1934, in Prague. He studied at the secondary school in the scenic department of the College of Applied Arts and pursued higher education at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (specializing in puppet stage design and direction). These two schools largely predetermined his subsequent creative development. He did not study film and its techniques – perhaps it is in this fact that one can find reasons for his unburdened approach to "cinematic art" with its excessive devotion to the technical medium and the daunting receptivity in this regard.

At Laterna Magica, he first tried out certain film techniques, including special effects. In 1964, he made his first film at Krátký film Praha. However, Jan Švankmajer's creative versatility extends beyond the boundaries of film. The author is active in the field of independent artistic expression, which he has been pursuing since the late 1950s. His literary work primarily includes literary screenplays, tactile poems, and, in recent years, novels. His theoretical work focuses on exploring the phenomenon of touch and imagination.

The blasphemous dark tones of humor and the ludic principle, along with extraordinary sensibility and a penetrating critical intellect, form the defining facets of Jan Švankmajer's imaginative power and creative personality. His work, whether filmic, artistic, or theoretical, is closely linked to the collective activity of the Surrealist Group in Czechoslovakia.

FILMOGRAPHY:

1964 — The Last Trick of Mr. Schwarzewald and Mr. Edgar
1965 — J.S.Bach – fantasia g-moll
1965 — Spiel mit Steinen
1966 — Punch and Judy
1966 — Et Cetera
1967 — Historia Naturae (suita)
1968 — The Garden
1968 — The Flat
1969 — Picknick mit Weisman
1969 — A Quiet Week in the House
1970 — The Ossuary
1970 — Don Juan
1971 — Jabberwocky
1972 — Leonardo's Diary
1973-9 — The Castle of Otranto
1980 — The Fall of the House of Usher
1982 — Dimensions of Dialogue
1982 — Down to the Cellar
1983 — The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope
1987 — ALICE
1988 — Manly Games
1988 — Another Kind of Love
1989 — Meat Love
1989 — Darkness Light Darkness
1989 — Flora
1990 — The End of Stalinism in Bohemia
1992 — Food
1994 — FAUST (feature film)
1996 — CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE (feature film)
2000 – LITTLE OTIK (feature film)
2005 – LUNACY (feature film)
2010 – SURVIVING LIFE (feature film)
2018 – INSECTS (feature film)
2022 – KUNSTKAMERA (documentary film)