Jan Svankmajer – Stop Animator

Since I mentioned the Czech surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer in my last post It makes sense to introduce his work properly with one of my favorite animated short films: tma/svetlo/tma (Darkness, Light, Darkness). Švankmajer has gained a legendary reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish and yet somehow funny pictures. He is still making films in Prague to this day. His movies utilise exaggerated sounds & sped-up sequences and often involve inanimate objects being brought to life through stop-motion to perform perverse and often violent acts. While many of Jan Švankmajer's films depict destructive aspects of the human psyche, 'Darkness, Light, Darkness' is a depiction of Man building himself.