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Faust

Faust

A film by Jan Svankmajer

Jan Svankmajer’s Faust is a rendering of the infamous Dr. Faustus fable of temptation and damnation. Borrowing freely from both Marlowe and Goethe and ancient folktales and timeless myths, the story follows a lonely Czech businessman who sells his soul to the devil in return for 24 years of self-indulgence. A visually fantastic combination of live-action, claymation, puppet theatre, stop-motion animation, and other special effects, Svankmajer creates an unsettling universe presided over by diabolic life-size marionettes and haunted by sinister human messengers from hell.

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Streaming

 

"The devil summoned by Faust’s magic wand produces such genuine terror that, even though Faust is only a puppet, we rush, like the protagonist, to escape from his grasp."

- THE GUARDIAN

"The director grafts a wealth of themes, motifs, allusions and gags, his method an expertly executed, profoundly imaginative combination of live action, claymation, puppet theatre, stop-motion animation and special effects…this is a film which galvanizes the mind and astonishes the eye. In a word, magic."

- TIME OUT

"With its blend of live action, chattering marionettes, and weird, fleshy stop-motion sequences—not to mention the pitch-black of the humor—it throws you off balance more thoroughly than any other movie in town."

- THE NEW YORKER

"A totally bizarre mix of live action, animation and life-size puppets, there is both an unsettling nightmarish quality to this film, as well as an eccentric humour."

- BBC

Play Dates
Theater/FestivalCityStateDate
The Loft CinemaTucsonAZ9/18/20
Brattle TheatreCambridgeMA9/18/20
Cleveland CinemathequeCleveland OH9/18/20
Portland Museum of ArtPortlandME9/18/20
Gold Town NickelodeonJuneauAK 9/18/20
Webster Film SeriesSt. LouisMO9/18/20
Lightbox Film CenterPhiladelphiaPA9/18/20
Laemmle TheatresLos AngelesCA9/18/20
Texas TheatreDallasTX9/18/20
Roxie TheatreSan FranciscoGA9/18/20
Film ForumNew YorkNY9/18/20
Amherst CinemaAmherstMA9/25/20
Oklahoma City Museum of ArtOklahoma CityOK 9/25/20
Row House Cinema PittsburghPA10/2/20
Sag Harbor Cinema Sag HarborNY10/2/20
CinemapolisIthacaNY10/9/20
Grand Illusion CinemaSeattleWA10/9/20
Time & Space LimitedHudsonNY10/9/20
The Museum of Fine Art, Houston Houston TX10/28/20
About the Director

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 multimedium 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.

Cast and Crew

CREW

Executive Prodcucers: Karl Baumgartner, Keith Griffiths, Michael Havas, Hengameh Panahi, Colin Rose

Producers: Jaromír Kallista

Director: Jan Svankmajer

Screenwriter: Jan Svankmajer

Cinematography: Svatopluk Malý

Editor: Marie Zemanová   

Sound: Ivo Spalj

Production Design: Jan Svankmajer, Eva Svankmajerová

Art Direction: Jan Svankmajer, Eva Svankmajerová

 

CAST

Petr Cepek

Jan Kraus

Vladimír Kudla

Antonin Zacpal

Jirí Suchý

Film Info

Year: 1994

CountryCzech Republic

Runtime: 97 min

Color: Color

LanguageCzech

Subtitles: English

Format: 1.37

Awards and Festivals

Cannes Film Festival

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

Melbourne International Film Festival

Fantasporto Film Festival

Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival

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