Those prone to mental disturbances and nightmares, or possess a fear of dolls, dirt or general unpleasantries would do well to avoid the Brothers Quay and the bulk of their unconscious unfurling oeuvre, but everyone else is due a hearty recommendation. Take it from Christopher Nolan, who recently wrapped a documentary, simply titled Quay, on the mysterious identical twin directors and curated a selection of 35mm prints of their work to hit the road on a new theatrical tour. Like so many others, Nolan caught a stray Quay film on British cable by accident, and unable to catch the names of its creators through the swirl of credits in beautifully stylized calligraphy, was haunted by its alluring, impenetrable imagery.
From their minutely detailed and grittily textured beginnings in the early ’80s with films like The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer, in which a professor literally empties the head of his student,...
From their minutely detailed and grittily textured beginnings in the early ’80s with films like The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer, in which a professor literally empties the head of his student,...
- 12/15/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
If you are a fan of traditional stop-motion animation, there’s a good chance you’ve seen some of the delightfully bizarre work of the Quay brothers. Stephen and Timothy, identical twins from Philadelphia, made their mark after directing several breathtaking animated shorts in Europe, creating disturbing worlds inhabited by decaying, hand-made puppets that often reference esoteric works of literature, music, and art. Unmistakable in their idiosyncratic visions, their unique style became a staple in art house cinema and influenced a generation of filmmakers and animators. While much of their work was difficult to find outside the festival circuit or the occasional museum retrospective, that’s changed with a new, pristine Blu-ray release of their collected shorts distributed by Zeitgeist films.
Featuring their breakthrough film Street of Crocodiles, a collection of their MTV-commissioned shorts Stille Nacht, and their most recent works, Through The Weeping Glass and Unmistaken Hands, as well as many more,...
Featuring their breakthrough film Street of Crocodiles, a collection of their MTV-commissioned shorts Stille Nacht, and their most recent works, Through The Weeping Glass and Unmistaken Hands, as well as many more,...
- 12/1/2015
- by Raffi Asdourian
- The Film Stage
The Quay Brothers, or The Brothers Quay as they were introduced to me, have been working in stop-motion for over 3 decades yet most horror fans do not know of them. This could mainly be because their work is in the short film format which is hard to gain a audience outside of film festival circuits. Some light was brought onto them when they made the cover for the Canadian horror magazine, Rue Morgue, back in November of 2005 – along with other stop-motion artists like Robert Morgan (The Separation from ABCs of Death 2) and Jan Svankmajer. Earlier this year, director Christopher Nolan took on the project of compiling some of the shorts from The Quay Brothers over their 30 years of filmmaking in addition to Nolan’s short documentary on the brothers. If you weren’t lucky enough to see this collection, which was only exhibited via 35mm, the good news is that...
- 10/27/2015
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and they’re preparing an all-out blowout on March 27 to April 1 to celebrate! The fest is crammed to the gills with the latest and greatest in experimental and avant-garde film, in addition to a celebration of classic work from Ann Arbors past.
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
- 3/7/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Last year I previewed all 33 of the Oscar qualifying animated shorts that were up for consideration for the Academy Awards and this year I have 12 additional shorts to consider and I have found either the full short, a clip, a trailer or an image from all but two of the contending shorts and put them together in this one article. These shorts have all been screened for members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who will soon vote on the ultimate short list that will be in contention for an Oscar nomination. Last year ten films made the list. Take a look over the next eight pages and see which ones stand out to you. There are a few instances where you may have to click a link to watch a clip and, in one instance, to watch the entire film.
- 11/16/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
This is the list of 45 animated shorts that the Academy is considering in the Best Animated Shorts category (with links to official sites when I could find them). The Animated, Docs, and Shorts Oscar page is going to be updated piecemeal this week as I work on beating all this information into some form of pundited submission.
Until then, the list. Do you ever try to see the nominees in this category?
A Shadow Of Blue (Carlos Lascano)
A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard (Studio Aka) A Shadow of Blue by Carlos Lascano Birdboy by Alberto Vasquez (Abrikim Studio) Chopin’s Drawings by Dorota Kobiela (BreakThru Films) Poland Correspondence by Zach Hyer (Pratt) Daisy Cutter by Enrique Garcia and Rubin Salazar (Silverspace) Dimanche / Sunday by Patrick Doyon (Nfb) El Salon Mexico by Paul Glickman and Tamarind King Enrique Wrecks the World by David Chai *Annie Nominee Last Year* Ente Tod...
Until then, the list. Do you ever try to see the nominees in this category?
A Shadow Of Blue (Carlos Lascano)
A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard (Studio Aka) A Shadow of Blue by Carlos Lascano Birdboy by Alberto Vasquez (Abrikim Studio) Chopin’s Drawings by Dorota Kobiela (BreakThru Films) Poland Correspondence by Zach Hyer (Pratt) Daisy Cutter by Enrique Garcia and Rubin Salazar (Silverspace) Dimanche / Sunday by Patrick Doyon (Nfb) El Salon Mexico by Paul Glickman and Tamarind King Enrique Wrecks the World by David Chai *Annie Nominee Last Year* Ente Tod...
- 11/15/2011
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Liv Mjönes, Ruth Vega Fernandez, With Every Heartbeat Breakthrough Selections Expecting: In Chile, a young girl and her boyfriend wait for a black-market drug to take effect in this tense and insightful examination of teen pregnancy. Dir/Scr Francisca Fuenzalida. Chile. U.S. Premiere. Light Of Mine: Rapidly going blind, photographer Owen and his wife Laura take a life-changing trip to Yellowstone National Park where they experience a beauty that rivals their tragedy. Dir Brett Eichenberger. Scr Jill Remensnyder. USA. Three And A Half: Three women risk everything and travel to the northwest Iranian border in hopes of escaping prison and reuniting with their comrades. Dir/Scr Naghi Nemati. Cast Samaneh Vafaiezadeh, Shooka Karimi, Negar Hassanzadeh, Mehdi Poormoosa. Iran. U.S. Premiere. With Every Heartbeat: In this Swedish romantic drama, uptight Mia attends her father’s engagement party and not only gains a stepmother, but also a new lover,...
- 10/23/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
One of the oldest festivals in Europe, the Krakow Film Festival has a reputation among cinephiles as one of the continent’s most prestigious venues for short filmmaking and one of Eastern Europe’s largest markets for documentaries. Its 51st edition, which came to a close Memorial Day weekend, largely lived up to the hype. Unspooling 87 films of various shapes and sizes during the final week of May, it devoted a significant amount of its program to Polish cinema, with a competition section devoted solely to Polish films regardless or length or type. The shorts programming seems to be the heart of the festival, with many of the prime evening slots in the festival’s modernist ground zero the Kijow Centrum devoted to shorts blocks.
Kaveh Terhani’s 1994 (pictured above) won the Golden Dragon for best film. A terrifically observed short, comedic doc about an Iranian born immigrant to Norway...
Kaveh Terhani’s 1994 (pictured above) won the Golden Dragon for best film. A terrifically observed short, comedic doc about an Iranian born immigrant to Norway...
- 6/13/2011
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The 23rd annual Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival presents four nights of international avant-garde and experimental media from all over the world. The fest runs June 23-26 with the Opening Night festivities taking place at the Gene Siskel Film Center and the rest of the screenings held at the venerable Chicago Filmmakers, which has been behind the event for the past 11 years.
The Opening Night presentation begins with the new short film from the Brothers Quay, Maska, which was produced in Poland and based on a short story by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris). Also included in the opening screening are films by Thom Anderson, Mati Diop, Christopher Becks, Milena Gierke and more.
The Closing Night film is the much anticipated new feature by former Chicagoan James Fotopoulos. He will be screening Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation of an 1886 musical based on the classic children’s book. The film features hundreds of drawings,...
The Opening Night presentation begins with the new short film from the Brothers Quay, Maska, which was produced in Poland and based on a short story by Polish author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris). Also included in the opening screening are films by Thom Anderson, Mati Diop, Christopher Becks, Milena Gierke and more.
The Closing Night film is the much anticipated new feature by former Chicagoan James Fotopoulos. He will be screening Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation of an 1886 musical based on the classic children’s book. The film features hundreds of drawings,...
- 6/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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