Moznosti Dialogu

In 1995 the 22nd Telluride Film Festival held "A Tribute to the Surrealists." In attendance were the Brothers Quay, Guy Maddin, and Czech master Jan Svankmajer, who between films was seen walking along mountaintops collecting stones and putting them in his pocket. A hint as to what he was doing comes in an interview with Wendy Hall in 1997 (taken in San Francisco where he was receiving the "Persistence of Vision" award for his entire body of work), Svankmajer said: "Objects are very important - but I don't work with just any objects. I only work with objects which I happen to come across. So I don't really look for objects for a film, but I look for objects which I then use to make a film. So I'm a collector, but not a collector of high priced objects. I don't have a high valued collection. I collect things that might be worthless, but I feel that they have some content. So that comes back to magic." Keeping in mind that one of Svankmajer's first films was titled A Game with Stones (1965), it's easy to imagine that whatever Svankmajer collected at Telluride has already been brought to life through the magical powers of his animation. The full array of these powers can be enjoyed at leisure with Image Entertainment's release of The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmaer on DVD. The two-disk set is divided into The Early Years, Vol. 1 and The Later Years, Vol. 2. The first disk covers various short films from the 1960's, starting with A Game with Stones on up through A Quiet Week in the House (1969) and then "jumps" (he was banned by the Czech authorities from making films between 1972 and 1979) to Svankmajer's 15 minute-long gothic excursion into Edgar Allan Poe territory, The Fall of the house of Usher, (1980). Between these films are Punch and Judy ('66), Et Cetera ('66), Picnic with Weissmann ('69), and The Flat ('66). The disk also includes selected artwork, a trailer for the feature-length Little Otik (1999), a "biographical sketch," and a filmography. Not listed on the packaging, but also included, is a visually hypnotizing Special Feature for Svankmajer's poem Economical Suicide . Given how things flit around and have little relation to the Chapter Index on the back of the dvd or inside liner notes, this disk may have been assembled with the playful spirit of the surrealists in mind. The second disk adheres to its packaged Chapter Index and chronological order. It begins with Dimensions of Dialogue (1982) and ends a decade later with Food (1992). Between these titles; Down to the Cellar ('83), The Pendulum, the Pit, and Hope ('83, another piece inspired by Edgar Allan Poe), Meat Love ('88), Flora ('89), and The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia ('90). This disk includes more selected artwork, a BBC documentary, another poem set to a spinning backdrop (In the Cellar ), and repeats the bio and filmography found on the first disk. The liner notes on this disk include two other poems not found on the dvd and a very short story by Svankmajer titled A Dream About the Funeral of Professor P. Anyone who enjoys the early work of Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, or the Brother's Quay (who paid homage to the Czech master in their1984 film The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer) will find many pleasures in Svankmajer's work. Born in Prague on September 4, 1934, Svankmajer has weathered many storms and has an impressive body of work that is breathing proof that Surrealism is a living organism and not just an art phase in history or, in his own words, that "Surrealism is not aesthetics, it is a philosophy." For more information about The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer, visit Image Entertainment. To order The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer Vol.1, go to TCM Shopping. To order The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer Vol.2, go to TCM Shopping. by Pablo Kjolseth