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-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' with a new introduction by the Quay Brothers, the documentary Les Chimeres 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.
2007-05-28
10
Good Grief is a short stop motion animated documentary that explores the lessons we learn from dealing with grief and loss. Five real people share their true stories of losing something precious and what it has taught them about living.
A young boy in a sailor suit plays with three dolls, representing German soldiers. He slowly nods off and in his dreams they come alive.
In this stop motion sand animation, a lone hunter undertakes a search for a missing boy deep in the snow covered mountains. THE HUNTER premiered at SXSW in 2012, has featured in competition at over 50 international festivals and won several awards including the AFI/ AACTA in 2013.
On Christmas Eve, a lonely young boy, shut out from the shiny world of presents and holiday parties, peers into a candlelit window, where a gray-haired lady sits sadly at a bare table. Taking the last bit of bread and cheese from his pocket and adding wine, they share this meager Christmas dinner together. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Fairytale full of light, magic and nostalgia. A clay doll awakens her surroundings that become a surreal world in constant flow of change. Shot with natural light the visible changes of daylight emphasize the passing of time in the film.
Two animated fables by La Fontaine "The Old Lion" ("Le lion devenu vieux") and "The Lion and the Gnat" ("Le Lion et le Moucheron").
Near Christmas, Robert "Bob The Builder" McGraw Jr. and his machine team gang of talking construction vehicles are preparing for the Winter Christmas Holiday celebration season. Bob's twin brother Thomas "Tom The Zoologist" McGraw (who lives in the Arctic Circle near the North Pole) is coming for Christmas, Spud The Scarecrow is trying to be good to get presents and a big Christmas concert is coming up with the rock band Lenny Lazenby and the Lasers (including Elton John). but unfortunately, a huge ULTIMATE DISASTER has happened with the Christmas tree and the town hall has nearly smashed to SMITHEREENS!!. will the concert work out? will Tom get there for Christmas? will Spud be on the nice list? will the tree and the town hall be alright??? find out these answers, in "A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER".
Dr. Platypus, Whiskers the Rat and Flaps the Flying Fox were finishing off some work in Dr. Platypus' laboratory, when they heard some strange messages from deep space on their radio.
Little Willy McBean joins up with a Mexican monkey named Pablo to travel back in time and stop the evil Prof. von Rotten from changing history.
Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.
The film is based on a poem by James Weldon Johnson depicting the power of the southern black American preacher's telling of the biblical creation story.
Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese, and this provides an excellent excuse for the duo to take their holiday to the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
Wallace rents out Gromit's former bedroom to a penguin, who takes up an interest in the techno pants created by Wallace. However, Gromit later learns that the penguin is a wanted criminal. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
Wallace's whirlwind romance with the proprietor of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin, and Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.
Cheese-loving eccentric Wallace and his cunning canine pal, Gromit, investigate a mystery in Nick Park's animated adventure, in which the lovable inventor and his intrepid pup run a business ridding the town of garden pests. Using only humane methods that turn their home into a halfway house for evicted vermin, the pair stumble upon a mystery involving a voracious vegetarian monster that threatens to ruin the annual veggie-growing contest.
Bruce the gritter unwittingly makes an enemy as he carries out his job, clearing the roads of snow.
While under the care of the Outer Sailor Guardians, Hotaru begins to age rapidly. Then, the time comes for all the Sailor Guardians to reunite!
Scooby-Doo and friends are off on another adventure in this collection of 3 episodes from the various eras of Scooby-Doo TV shows.
Ting-yin, a young novelist, is struggling to come up with a followup to her best-selling trilogy of romance novels. After drafting her first chapter, she stops and deletes the file from her computer. She then starts seeing strange, unexplainable things and finds that she is experiencing the supernatural events that she described in her novel-to-be.
A bookshop renowned for its rare works is mysteriously and filled with copies of a book entitled 1, which doesn't appear to have a publisher or author. The strange almanac describes what happens to humanity in a minute. A police investigation begins and the bookshop staff are placed in solitary confinement by the Bureau for Paranormal Research. As the investigation progresses, the situation becomes more complex and the book becomes increasingly well-known, raising numerous controversies. Plagued by doubts, the protagonist has to face facts: reality only exists in the imagination of individuals.
The Jester returns in this sequel short film to continue to spread his Halloween cheer.
An animated road-movie set across the vast and barren landscape of Australia's Nullarbor Plain.
A man lurks the night alleys, killing people at random, he feels nothing, no emotion, and no pain; when he meets a graceful widow he must confront what it means to be human.
Passing all four seasons for a day, she is on her way back. And then, she falls into a peaceful sleep with a cozy feeling that doesn't exist anywhere.
The first rule is that there are no rules. For the bare-knuckle combatants competing in Musangwe fights, anything goes - you can even put a curse on him. The sport, which dates back centuries, has become a South African institution. Any male from the age of nine to ninety can compete. We follow a group of fighters as they slug it out in the ring. Who will be this year's champion?
The last remaining film of Le Prince's LPCCP Type-1 MkII single-lens camera is a sequence of frames of his son, Adolphe Le Prince, playing a diatonic button accordion. It was recorded on the steps of the house of Joseph Whitley, Adolphe's grandfather.
Jurassic Fight Club, a paleontology-based miniseries that ran for 12 episodes, depicts how prehistoric beasts hunted their prey, dissecting these battles and uncovering a predatory world far more calculated and complex than originally thought. It was hosted by George Blasing, a self-taught paleontologist.
A serial killer and the detective who tracked him down find themselves in an unexpected stalemate.
Early morning silence is broken by screeching tires as a helicopter bears down on a speeding vehicle. Taking a quick corner, the team tumbles out into the woods as their car pulls away. Now they must make their way through the thick of nature and thick gunfire to accomplish their mission. Not a single word of dialogue is spoken throughout the entire film. Instead, the music, sounds, images and deeply truthful acting turn a simple plot into an intense experience. Passion and intrigue keep building to the very end.