Jan Svankmajer, a Czech Filmmaker.

THE FIRST FILM I WATCH DIRECTED BY JAN SVANKMAJER

     After being shown two films "Food" and "Down to the Cellar" in class, I am required to do a research on Jan Svankmajer, a well-known filmmaker from Czech. Upon research, I realised that this wasn't the first time I stumbled across his works. I remember watching "Darkness/Light/Darkness" on Facebook. It is a stop-motion film showing a clay mould slowly turning into a human figure. I was quite impressed by what I watched and made watching his other films special for me. 

A shot from the film "Darkness/Light/Darkness" 

AN SHORT INTRO ABOUT JAN SVANKMAJER.

  According to Wikipedia, Jan Švankmajer (Czech: [ˈjan ˈʃvaŋkmajɛr]; born 4 September 1934) is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists. 

   Jan Švankmajer is a Czech animator and filmmaker born in Prague. An early influence on his later artistic development was a puppet theatre he was given for Christmas as a child. He studied at the College of Applied Arts in Prague and later in the Department of Puppetry at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. He contributed to Emil Radok's film Doktor Faust in 1958 and then began working for Prague's Semafor Theatre where he founded the Theatre of Masks. He then moved on to the Laterna Magika multimedia theatre, where he renewed his association with Radok. This theatrical experience is reflected in Švankmajer's first film The Last Trick, which was released in 1964. Under the influence of theoretician Vratislav Effenberger Švankmajer moved from the mannerism of his early work to classic surrealism, first manifested in his film The Garden (1968), and joined the Czechoslovakian Surrealist Group.

WHAT IS HE WELL KNOWN FOR?

Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish, and yet somehow funny pictures. He continues to make films in Prague.

Švankmajer's trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses fast-motion sequences when people walk or interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects being brought to life through stop motion. Many of his films also include clay objects in stop motion, otherwise known as claymation. Food is a favourite subject and medium. Švankmajer also uses pixilation in many of his films, including Food (1992) and Conspirators of Pleasure (1996).

A famous scene from "Conspirator of Pleasure".

Poster for the film "Food"(1992).

Stop-motion features in most of his work, though recently his feature films have included much more live action sequences than animation.

A LIST OF JAN SVANKMAJER'S FILMS

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here it is--

Feature-length films

Year	English title	Original title	Source material
1988	Alice	Něco z Alenky	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
1994	Faust	Lekce Faust	The Faust legend (including traditional Czech puppet show versions), Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, and Goethe's Faust.
1996	Conspirators of Pleasure	Spiklenci slasti	Original story
2000	Little Otik	Otesánek	Otesánek by Karel Jaromír Erben
2005	Lunacy	Šílení	"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" and "The Premature Burial" by Edgar Allan Poe
2010	Surviving Life	Přežít svůj život	Original story
2018[9]	Insects	Hmyz	Pictures from the Insects' Life by Karel Čapek and Josef Čapek

Short films

Year	English title	Original title	Notes
1964	The Last Trick	Poslední trik pana Schwarcewalldea a pana Edgara
1965	Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasy in G minor	Johann Sebastian Bach: Fantasia G-moll
1965	A Game with Stones	Spiel mit Steinen
1966	Punch and Judy	Rakvičkárna	Also known as The Coffin Factory and The Lych House
1966	Et Cetera
1967	Historia Naturae (Suita)
1968	The Garden	Zahrada
1968	The Flat	Byt	Available on the Little Otik DVD
1968	Picnic with Weissmann	Picknick mit Weissmann
1969	A Quiet Week in the House	Tichý týden v domě
1970	Don Juan	Don Šajn
1970	The Ossuary	Kostnice	About the Sedlec Ossuary
1971	Jabberwocky	Žvahlav aneb šatičky slaměného Huberta	Based on "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll
1972	Leonardo's Diary	Leonardův deník
1973-79	Castle of Otranto (film)	Otrantský zámek	Based on "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole
1980	The Fall of the House of Usher	Zánik domu Usherů	Based on "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
1982	Dimensions of Dialogue	Možnosti dialogu
1983	Down to the Cellar	Do pivnice
1983	The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope	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
1988	Virile Games	Mužné hry	Also known as The Male Game
1988	Another Kind of Love		Music video for Hugh Cornwell
1988	Meat Love	Zamilované maso
1989	Darkness/Light/Darkness	Tma, světlo, tma
1989	Flora
1989	Animated Self-Portraits		Portmanteau film by 27 filmmakers
1990	The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia	Konec stalinismu v Čechách
1992	Food	Jídlo

Animation and gadgets

Year	English title	Original title	Director
1978	Dinner for Adele	Adéla ještě nevečeřela	Oldřich Lipský
1981	The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians	Tajemství hradu v Karpatech	Oldřich Lipský
1982	Ferat Vampire	Upír z Feratu	Juraj Herz
1983	Visitors	Návštěvníci	Jindřich Polák
1984	Three Veterans	Tři veteráni	Oldřich Lipský

CONCLUSION

As I just get to know the filmmaker, I need more time to view his work from time to time. I will write a short comment on "Food" and "Down to the Cellar" on my next post. Thanks for sticking around.

REFERRED LINKS
Websites:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_%C5%A0vankmajer

               https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_(film)
Picture sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_(film)

                         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_%C5%A0vankmajer

                         http://sensesofcinema.com/2014/cteq/the-exquisite-ecstasy-and-agony-of-jan-svankmajers-conspirators-of-pleasure/

                         https://www.pinterest.com/pin/378865387374005347/