Jan Svankmajer

Jan Svankmajer born in Prague had been majorly influenced by a christmas present he had recieved as a young boy of a puppet theatre. studying the college of applied arts and then the department of puppetry at the Prague Academy of performing arts. he began creating short films in 1964 and he had continued doing so for another 20 years he had gradually become some what of a surrealist filmmaker in 1988 he had created Alice which was based on the story of Alice in Wonderland written by Lewis Caroll in his film the only human character which had been used was the main character Alice the rest of the characters were animated clay, puppet and meat figurines. He had been nominated for the international fantasy film award in 1989 at the Fantasporto Film Festival. Czech surrealist filmmaker Jan Svankmajer, who gained a reputation for his short subjects, makes his feature-film debut with Neco z Alenky, a grotesque look into the darkest, wildest recesses of a child's mind. A surreal adaptation of Lewis Carroll's children's classic Alice in Wonderland, the film stars Kristyna Kohoutová as Alice, the only human character in the film. The other roles, which are voiced by Alice, are filled by an odd menagerie of animated clay, puppets, and meat. After falling asleep beside a stream, Alice follows a stuffed rabbit into a magical world where she encounters several grotesque-looking characters, including a caterpillar and The Mad Hatter. Also released under the title Alice, Neco Z Alenky was nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award at the 1989 Fantasporto Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi After studying at the Institute of Industrial Arts and the Marionette Faculty of the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in the 1950s, Jan Svankmajer started working as a theatre director, chiefly in association with the Theatre of Masks and the Black Theatre. He first experimented with film-making after becoming involved with the mixed-media productions of Prague's Lanterna Magika Theatre. He began making short films in 1964, and continued working in the same medium for over twenty years, when he finally achieved his long-held ambition to make a feature film based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (Alice (1988)). He has also exhibited his drawings, collages and 'tactile sculptures', many of which were produced in the mid-1970s, when he was temporarily banned from film-making by the Czech authorities. He has been a card-carrying member of the Prague Surrealist Group since 1969.