The Brothers Quay – Stop Animation

Steven and Timothy Quay (identical twins, born 17 June 1947 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States) are two of the most influential stop-motion animators of all time. They are better known as Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers.

The Quays' extensive body of works (1979-present) show a wide range of esoteric influences, from the Polish animators Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica to writers Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, Robert Walser and Michel de Ghelderode, puppeteers Wladyslaw Starewicz and Richard Teschner and composers Leoš Janáček, ZdenÄ›k Liška and Leszek Jankowski, the last of whom created many original scores for their work. Jan Švankmajer (Czech animator), for whom they payed homage to in the title of one of their films (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer), is also frequently mentioned as a major influence, but they actually discovered Švankmajer's work later, in 1983, by which time their unique style and themes had been fully formed.

Most of their films feature partially disassembled dolls, in a dark, moody scenarios. Perhaps their best known film is Street of Crocodiles, based on the short story by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz (with the same title). Terry Gilliam selected this short film as one of the ten best animated films of all time.