Screening and discussion of the film "Les Chiméres des Švankmajer" by Michel Leclerc and Bertrand Schmitt
Medium-length film / VF / 2001 / 80'
Michel Leclerc and Bertrand Schmitt's medium-length documentary Les Chimères des Švankmajer (2001) focuses on the famous Czech surrealist artist couple formed by filmmaker Jan Švankmajer, one of today's masters of animated film, and his wife and collaborator, visual artist Eva Švankmajerová.
Author, among others, of the feature film Alice Něco z Alenky / Alice (1988), Jan Švankmajer has influenced filmmakers such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam and Peter Greenaway. His wife Eva Švankmajerová (deceased 2005), with whom he worked for forty years, took part in the filming as art director. Their films, blending an acerbic sense of humor with a willingly absurd sense of the marvelous, are just the tip of an activity with multiple modes of expression: engraving, painting, ceramics, poetry, invention of various objects or animals.
About Jan Švankmajer
Born in 1934 in Prague, Jan Švankmajer is one of the Czech Republic's most renowned avant-garde filmmakers and surrealist artists. He is best known for his love of puppetry and stop-motion animation, through which he explores themes of childhood, the subconscious, dreams and the macabre. In his short and feature-length films, Švankmajer employs elements of grotesque imagery and dark humor, which also define his artistic pursuits outside cinema. Švankmajer studied at the School of Applied Arts in Prague, where he first drew inspiration from Salvador Dalí, then at DAMU in the puppetry department. He went on to work at Prague's Semafor Theater and, for a short time, at Laterna Magika, the world's first multimedia theater. His work then developed thanks to a shared passion for surrealism with his wife, the painter Eva Švankmajerová. During the period of normalization after the Prague Spring in 1968, Švankmajer faced significant restrictions, as his filmography did not fit the framework of acceptable art. Instead, he worked for Studio Barrandov on special effects. During his lifetime, Švankmajer received over thirty prestigious international awards, for example for the film "Conspirators of Pleasure" (Spiklenci slasti, 1996), considered one of the most scandalous Czech films of the 20th century, and "Alice" (Něco z Alenky, 1988), a darkly surreal adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. His most recent film, the documentary "Kunstkamera" (2022), introduces us to the collection of curiosities he and his wife have amassed over the years, and has been praised for its raw, whimsical style.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with filmmakers Michel Leclerc and Joseph Cahill. A friendly drink will be offered at the end of the event.
Contacts:
- Markéta Hodoušková: czech.in.festival@gmail.com
- Catherine Servant: catherine.servant@inalco.fr
