Event

Thursday 17 April, 20:00

Fantastic tales III

The mysterious, romantic forest is full of magic, but it is also where terrible things happen. Little Otik is a Czech folk tale, illustrated by Eva Švankmajerová and filmed by Jan Švankmajer, combining animated cartoons of drawings with real images and stop-motion effects. The film features Veronika Zilková, Jan Hartl and a tree-stump baby with a voracious appetite. The enchanted forest, which Victorian tradition represented in many engravings and tales, was one of the sources of inspiration for the films of Starewitch, whereas the Quays’ forests are more like interior spaces that they use to express a certain mood. The Quay twins used Tales from the Vienna Woods, like other pieces from the Stille Nacht series, as a trial run for a bigger work, their first full length film, Institute Benjamenta.

Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods, Brothers Quay, 1992, 35 mm, 4 min; Otesánek (Little Otik), Jan Švankmajer, 2000, 35 mm, 125 min.