Jan Svankmajer - The Complete Short Films DVD   British Film Institute

Featuring all 26 entries in the official filmography, this is the world’s first complete DVD edition of the short films by the legendary Czech Surrealist filmmaker and animator Jan Švankmajer. Technically and conceptually astonishing in their own right, these films are also as remarkable for their philosophical consistency as for their frequently mind-boggling imagery.

This package also includes a bonus short, Johanes Doktor Faust (1958), the longer cut of The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984) with an introduction by the Quay Brothers, the documentary Les Chimères des Švankmajer (2001), interviews with Jan and Eva Švankmajer and examples of their work in other media. There’s also a chance to see some Švankmajer special effects, created when he was banned from directing his own films.

DISC ONE: EARLY SHORTS (1964-1972)

The Last Trick (1964), J S Bach – Fantasy in G Minor (1965), A Game with Stones (1965), Punch and Judy (1966), Et Cetera (1966), Historia Naturae, Suita (1967), The Garden (1968), The Flat (1968), Picnic with Weissmann (1968), A Quiet Week in the House (1969), Don Juan (1969), The Ossuary (1970), Jabberwocky (1971), Leonardo's Diary (1972).

DISC TWO: LATE SHORTS (1979-1992)

The Castle of Otranto (1979), The Fall of the House of Usher (1980), Dimensions of Dialogue (1982), Down to the Cellar (1983), The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope (1983), Virile Games (1988), Another Kind of Love (1988), Meat Love (1988), Darkness – Light – Darkness (1989), Flora (1989), The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (1990), Food (1992)

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Johanes Doktor Faust (1958, 17 mins)
• Nick Carter in Prague (1977 excerpts, 5 mins)
• The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer (1984, 57 mins)
• Les Chimres des Švankmajer (2001, 58 mins)
• Czech TV Interview (2001, 9 mins)
• Lunacy trailer (2005, 3 mins)
• A 56-page illustrated booklet includes full credits and detailed notes on each film by leading Švankmajer experts.