Czech animator Jan Svankmajer is one of the most distinctive and influential of contemporary filmmakers. As a leading member of the Prague Surrealist Group, his work is linked to a rich avant-garde tradition and an uncompromising moral stance that brought frequent tensions with the authorities in the normalization years following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Svankmajer's formative influences have been the pre-war surrealists, the Prague of Rudolf II, experimental theatre, folk puppetry and, above all, the political traumas of the past 50 years. Like his contemporaries--including playwright president Vaclav Havel, and, in exile, novelist Milan Kundera and filmmaker Milos Forman--Svankmajer's dominant life experiences have been the realities of the Stalinist system, both the explicit state terror of the 1950s and the Brezhnevist neo-Stalinism of the 1970s and the 1980s.

After training in puppetry and working in the Prague theatre, he made his first film in 1964. He directed a number of important films in the 1960s, including the live-action and Kafkaesque "Byt" ("The Flat," 1968) and "Zahrada" ("The Garden," 1968) and consolidated his international reputation with "Moznosti dialogu" ("Dimensions of Dialogue") in 1982. Since then, he has continued his highly visual and poetic approach in two feature-length films, "Neco z Alenky" ("Alice," 1987) and "Lekce Faust" ("Faust," 1994). As a filmmaker, Svankmajer is constantly exploring and analyzing his concern with power, fear and anxiety, confrontation and destruction, magic, the irrational and the absurd, and displays a bleak outlook on the possibilities for dialogue. In challenging accepted narrative, the bourgeoisie of realism (nezval), and the thematic and formal conventions of the mainstream media, Svankmajer's work is startlingly dynamic, subversive, and confrontational.

Czech animator Jan Svankmajer is one of the most distinctive and influential of contemporary filmmakers. As a leading member of the Prague Surrealist Group, his work is linked to a rich avant-garde tradition and an uncompromising moral stance that brought frequent tensions with the authorities in the normalization years following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Svankmajer's formative influences have been the pre-war surrealists, the Prague of Rudolf II, experimental theatre, folk puppetry and, above all, the political traumas of the past 50 years. Like his contemporaries--including playwright president Vaclav Havel, and, in exile, novelist Milan Kundera and filmmaker Milos Forman--Svankmajer's dominant life experiences have been the realities of the Stalinist system, both the explicit state terror of the 1950s and the Brezhnevist neo-Stalinism of the 1970s and the 1980s.

After training in puppetry and working in the Prague theatre, he made his first film in 1964. He directed a number of important films in the 1960s, including the live-action and Kafkaesque "Byt" ("The Flat," 1968) and "Zahrada" ("The Garden," 1968) and consolidated his international reputation with "Moznosti dialogu" ("Dimensions of Dialogue") in 1982. Since then, he has continued his highly visual and poetic approach in two feature-length films, "Neco z Alenky" ("Alice," 1987) and "Lekce Faust" ("Faust," 1994). As a filmmaker, Svankmajer is constantly exploring and analyzing his concern with power, fear and anxiety, confrontation and destruction, magic, the irrational and the absurd, and displays a bleak outlook on the possibilities for dialogue. In challenging accepted narrative, the bourgeoisie of realism (nezval), and the thematic and formal conventions of the mainstream media, Svankmajer's work is startlingly dynamic, subversive, and confrontational.

This book is the first study in English to examine some of the key themes and traditions of Czech and Slovak cinema, linking inter-war and post-war cinemas together with developments in the post-Communist period. It examines links between theme, genre, and visual style, and looks at the ways in which a range of styles and traditions has extended across different historical periods and political regimes. Czech and Slovak Cinema provides a unique study of areas of Central European film history that have not previously been examined in English. Key Features *An overview of the development of the Czech and Slovak industries in the pre-war and post-war periods and their adaptation to privatisation in the 1990s. *A consideration of some of the key stylistic and thematic tendencies, focussing on comedy and lyricism, which are characteristics of all periods. *An examination of the political role of film, with particular emphasis on the period of the Prague Spring. *The continuing influence of the Surrealist tradition in the feature film and on the living tradition of the animated film, with particular reference to puppetry. *An analysis of representations of the Holocaust in films produced during the Communist period and more recently. *A consideration of the defining characteristics of Slovak cinema. The book will be of value to students within the field of Film and Media Studies as well as the general market, together with specialist chapters of interest to other disciplines.

"The Czechoslovak New Wave" was originally published in 1985 and was quickly established as the world's leading authoritative English-language text. A study of the most significant movement in post-war Central and East European cinemas, it examines the origins of a movement against the political and cultural developments of the 1960s leading to the Prague Spring of 1968. Peter Hames also summarizes key aspects of Czech and Slovak histories between the wars and in the 1940s and 1950s. Directors discussed include Milos Forman, Jan Svankmajer, Jiri Menzel, Jan Nemec.

This book is the first study in English to examine some of the key themes and traditions of Czech and Slovak cinema, linking inter-war and post-war cinemas together with developments in the post-Communist period. It examines links between theme, genre, and visual style, and looks at the ways in which a range of styles and traditions has extended across different historical periods and political regimes. Czech and Slovak Cinema provides a unique study of areas of Central European film history that have not previously been examined in English. Key Features *An overview of the development of the Czech and Slovak industries in the pre-war and post-war periods and their adaptation to privatisation in the 1990s. *A consideration of some of the key stylistic and thematic tendencies, focussing on comedy and lyricism, which are characteristics of all periods. *An examination of the political role of film, with particular emphasis on the period of the Prague Spring. *The continuing influence of the Surrealist tradition in the feature film and on the living tradition of the animated film, with particular reference to puppetry. *An analysis of representations of the Holocaust in films produced during the Communist period and more recently. *A consideration of the defining characteristics of Slovak cinema. The book will be of value to students within the field of Film and Media Studies as well as the general market, together with specialist chapters of interest to other disciplines.

"The Cinema of Jan Svankmajer" explores the legacy of this legendary Czech surrealist filmmaker, a key influence on directors such as Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton, and one of the greatest animators in cinema history. This updated second edition -- still the only full-length study of his work--features contributions from scholars and colleagues within the Czech Surrealist movement, as well as a new chapter on Svankmajer's feature films and an extended interview with Svankmajer himself. This volume is required reading for all budding animators and disciples of surrealism.