Jan Švankmajer

Jan Švankmajer (b. 1934, Prague) is known for an original vision, whether cinematic, artistic or theoretical, which is rooted in his surrealist persuasion. As an artist he was also involved in a number of feature films. He debuted in 1964 with the short grotesque The Last Trick of Mr Schwarzwald and Mr Edgar and rapidly became one of the key figures of world animation. From shorts he moved on to features incorporating animated episodes. Even his animated works often included important roles for real objects or people, as in the combined features Alice (1987), Faust (1994), Conspirators of Pleasure (1996), Little Otík (2000) and Lunacy (2005). The Karlovy Vary IFF held a retrospective of his work in 2004, and in 2009 he was honoured with the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema.

46. IFF Karlovy Vary