Stephen Quay

A short documentary on the life of Polish author Bruno Schulz by Stephen and Timothy Quay, who adapted his work for their 1986 animated film Street of Crocodiles, made in honor of the 80th anniversary of his death.

An unbroken sequence of fragments, last thoughts, elegies and absences by Schubert, Mozart, Wagner, Janáček, Stravinsky, Jacquet de la Guerre and Schumann, inter-leaved with movements from John Woolrich's Pianobooks. The programme is performed alongside images from the Quay Brothers.

An unbroken sequence of fragments, last thoughts, elegies and absences by Schubert, Mozart, Wagner, Janáček, Stravinsky, Jacquet de la Guerre and Schumann, inter-leaved with movements from John Woolrich's Pianobooks. The programme is performed alongside images from the Quay Brothers.

To mark the centenary of the great science fiction writer, Stanislaw Lem, we present this tribute by the legendary stop motion animators Stephen and Timothy Quay. Explore the life and impact of Stanisław Lem through an unique lens of the Quay Brothers.

VadeMecum is a new short produced by the Palme d’Or-nominated animators Stephen and Timothy Quay. The film shows the life and works of Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid, and offers a great introduction to his legacy ahead of the bicentennial of his birth in September 2021. The Brothers Quay say: ‘We took the challenge to make this film for an audience who will have probably never ever heard of Norwid; however, in the briefness of this film, we had hoped that we could still ignite the gentle curiosity of the imagination of the viewer towards the legacy that this man left in writing and in art that was simply never validated in his lifetime’.

Afraid of losing his wife, Horatio creates a replica he calls Hortensia. But things don't go as planned... Shot on 35mm and propelled by an impressive score by Michèle Bokanowski, the Quay Brothers evoke an intense drama of jealousy, betrayal and murder, revolving around a window dresser's obsession for a life-sized doll.

One of the best Czech composers of film soundtracks is often described as a genius of film scores. He was not afraid to experiment and the timelessness of his work is proven by the admiration of the world, including the generation who came to know his music only after his death.

Guy Maddin, who has been nicknamed the Canadian David Lynch, is undoubtedly one of the last remaining Magi of cinema. Despite living in the middle of the digital age, this heretical director hailing from the snowy plains of Canada has spent 25 years transposing the uncommon and the uncanny onto screens over-saturated with naturalistic imagery. A lover of primitive cinema, he has cunningly summoned the light-and-shadow techniques and experimentations of the Golden Age of film to resuscitate a unique cinematographic language which plays with the spectator’s unconscious by means of visual trickery as disturbing as it is absurd. In an attitude as playful at that Maddin’s films this documentary follows the mediumistic experiments of this master of illusion, filmed during the ‘’spirit’’ shootings he presented in Europe.

In 2015, Christopher Nolan curated a selection of short films by the surrealist animators the Quay Brothers to be distributed as a touring 35mm presentation. The three films—"In Absentia" (2000), "The Comb" (1991) and "Street of Crocodiles" (1986)—were accompanied by this brief portrait of the brothers at work in their London studio.

In 2015, Christopher Nolan curated a selection of short films by the surrealist animators the Quay Brothers to be distributed as a touring 35mm presentation. The three films—"In Absentia" (2000), "The Comb" (1991) and "Street of Crocodiles" (1986)—were accompanied by this brief portrait of the brothers at work in their London studio.

In a realm beyond the senses, plants interact with surreal cinematography to chart the course of our character: an entity said to embody the life and work of Felisberto Hernández, Uruguayan father of magical realism. Through this journey, we are confronted with an open-ended experience questioning the nature of musicality versus cinematography, entity versus aberration, and self versus space, in a self-referential, blurry, digital and mystical setting.

In a realm beyond the senses, plants interact with surreal cinematography to chart the course of our character: an entity said to embody the life and work of Felisberto Hernández, Uruguayan father of magical realism. Through this journey, we are confronted with an open-ended experience questioning the nature of musicality versus cinematography, entity versus aberration, and self versus space, in a self-referential, blurry, digital and mystical setting.

In a realm beyond the senses, plants interact with surreal cinematography to chart the course of our character: an entity said to embody the life and work of Felisberto Hernández, Uruguayan father of magical realism. Through this journey, we are confronted with an open-ended experience questioning the nature of musicality versus cinematography, entity versus aberration, and self versus space, in a self-referential, blurry, digital and mystical setting.

A documentary on the subject of the collections of books, instruments and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mutter Museum housed there. This short film represents the first to be made by the internationally recognized Quay Brothers in the United States. While not a stop-motion animation film, a form for which the Quays are best known, the entire film is vibrantly constructed and 'animated'. Musical score by composer Tim Nelson and voice-over provided by Derek Jacobi.

A documentary on the subject of the collections of books, instruments and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mutter Museum housed there. This short film represents the first to be made by the internationally recognized Quay Brothers in the United States. While not a stop-motion animation film, a form for which the Quays are best known, the entire film is vibrantly constructed and 'animated'. Musical score by composer Tim Nelson and voice-over provided by Derek Jacobi.

A documentary on the subject of the collections of books, instruments and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mutter Museum housed there. This short film represents the first to be made by the internationally recognized Quay Brothers in the United States. While not a stop-motion animation film, a form for which the Quays are best known, the entire film is vibrantly constructed and 'animated'. Musical score by composer Tim Nelson and voice-over provided by Derek Jacobi.

A documentary on the subject of the collections of books, instruments and medical anomalies at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia and the Mutter Museum housed there. This short film represents the first to be made by the internationally recognized Quay Brothers in the United States. While not a stop-motion animation film, a form for which the Quays are best known, the entire film is vibrantly constructed and 'animated'. Musical score by composer Tim Nelson and voice-over provided by Derek Jacobi.

A bird acts as an alchemist in an enchanted forest, selecting different kinds of wood to combine them in a parquet floor.

"Maska" is the latest animated film of Quay brothers, directors and puppet animators, with the music composed by Krzysztof Penderecki. The film is an adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s short story of the same title. The action of “Maska” is set in a technologically developed but, at the same time, feudal world. Beautiful Duenna was created in order to carry out certain mission. However, she will be forced to choose between accomplishing the task she was created for and love.

"Maska" is the latest animated film of Quay brothers, directors and puppet animators, with the music composed by Krzysztof Penderecki. The film is an adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s short story of the same title. The action of “Maska” is set in a technologically developed but, at the same time, feudal world. Beautiful Duenna was created in order to carry out certain mission. However, she will be forced to choose between accomplishing the task she was created for and love.

Docimentary about the work of the Qway Brothers for their film Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Opening sequence for the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival.

In the Renaissance castle of the Polish count - Jan Potocki - in Lancut, the modern traces of a past glory persevere and become visible again at the tones of Krzysztof Penderecki's music and Brothers Quay's imaginary animation.

In the Renaissance castle of the Polish count - Jan Potocki - in Lancut, the modern traces of a past glory persevere and become visible again at the tones of Krzysztof Penderecki's music and Brothers Quay's imaginary animation.

In the Renaissance castle of the Polish count - Jan Potocki - in Lancut, the modern traces of a past glory persevere and become visible again at the tones of Krzysztof Penderecki's music and Brothers Quay's imaginary animation.

In the Renaissance castle of the Polish count - Jan Potocki - in Lancut, the modern traces of a past glory persevere and become visible again at the tones of Krzysztof Penderecki's music and Brothers Quay's imaginary animation.

Commissioned by Opera North, the Brothers Quay created the installation and film 'She, So Beloved' inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem ‘Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.’ The Orfeo myth is re-told through a combination of art forms; film, dance, music and visual art contained within a contemporary staged installation to provide an intimate sensory experience.

Commissioned by Opera North, the Brothers Quay created the installation and film 'She, So Beloved' inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem ‘Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.’ The Orfeo myth is re-told through a combination of art forms; film, dance, music and visual art contained within a contemporary staged installation to provide an intimate sensory experience.

Commissioned by Opera North, the Brothers Quay created the installation and film 'She, So Beloved' inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem ‘Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.’ The Orfeo myth is re-told through a combination of art forms; film, dance, music and visual art contained within a contemporary staged installation to provide an intimate sensory experience.

The story of Alice in Wonderland, explored in the stop-motion world of the Quay brothers.

The story of Alice in Wonderland, explored in the stop-motion world of the Quay brothers.

The story of Alice in Wonderland, explored in the stop-motion world of the Quay brothers.

Two of the world’s most original filmmakers, identical twins Stephen and Timothy Quay have been creating their unique blend of puppetry and stop-motion animation for nearly 30 years and have spawned an enormous cult following. The Quays display a passion for detail, a breathtaking command of color and texture, and an uncanny use of focus and camera movement that make their films unique and instantly recognizable. Best known for their classic 1986 film STREET OF CROCODILES -- which filmmaker Terry Gilliam recently selected as one of the ten best animated films of all time -- they are masters of miniaturization and on their tiny sets have created an unforgettable world, suggestive of a landscape of long-repressed childhood dreams.

An Interview with The Quay Brothers & Alan Passes April 2006 at Atelier Konick, London

Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.

Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.

Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.

Filtering a huge range of literary, musical, cinematic and philosophical influences through their own utterly distinctive sensibility, each Quay film is a dialogue-free and usually non-narrative experience, riveting the attention through hypnotic control of décor, music and movement. With a grasp of the uncanny that rivals Luis Buñuel and Lewis Carroll, their films evoke half-remembered dreams and long-suppressed childhood memories, fascinating and deeply unsettling by turns. This colection is a selection of 13 short films.

A display at the strange and wonderful artifacts in a collection of medical curiosities.

A display at the strange and wonderful artifacts in a collection of medical curiosities.

Another short, grainy film from the Quay Brothers. This one has funny singing in it.

Tom Waits, the brothers Quay, and a dog door.

Tom Waits, the brothers Quay, and a dog door.

One of several collaborative dance films by the Brothers Quay & (dancer, choreographer) William Tuckett. Little enough info around on line, but there's briefly by way of Wikipedia entry. Adapted rather loosely from the works of the E.T.A. Hoffman. Familiar Quays' tropes, much in evidence: automata, trompe l'oeil effects, etc. No credit on the sound design (which is fairly elaborate), tho' that is possibly Larry Sider.

A woman sits alone on a chair at a table in a room on one of the top floors of an asylum. Bright spot lights dot the night, sometimes shining on her window. She sharpens pencils and writes on a page in a copy book. The pencil point often breaks under her fingers' force. She places broken points outside the window on the sill. A satanic figure is somewhere nearby, animated but of straw or clay, not flesh. She finishes her writing, tears the paper from the pad, folds it, places it in an envelope, and slips it through a slot. Is she writing to her husband? "Sweetheart, come." Written by

Ten stop-motion animation works by brilliant animators The Brothers Quay, including six previously unavailable shorts and two unique music videos by “His Name is Alive.”

Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta (run by brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta) to learn to become a servant. With seven other men, he studies under Lisa: absurd lessons of movement, drawing circles, and servility. He asks for a better room. No other students arrive and none leave for employment. Johannes is unhappy, imperious, and detached from the school's operation. Lisa is beautiful, at first tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There's a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she to him. As winter sets in, she becomes catatonic. Things get worse; Johannes notes that all this has happened since Jakob came. Is there any cause and effect?

Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta (run by brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta) to learn to become a servant. With seven other men, he studies under Lisa: absurd lessons of movement, drawing circles, and servility. He asks for a better room. No other students arrive and none leave for employment. Johannes is unhappy, imperious, and detached from the school's operation. Lisa is beautiful, at first tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There's a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she to him. As winter sets in, she becomes catatonic. Things get worse; Johannes notes that all this has happened since Jakob came. Is there any cause and effect?

Two men seek to negotiate an agreement of international significance.

Short animated film featuring the song "Can't Go Wrong Without You" by His Name Is Alive.

The Quays' interest in esoteric illusions finds its perfect realization in this fascinating animated lecture on the art of anamorphosis. This artistic technique, often used in the 16th- and 17th centuries, utilizes a method of visual distortion with which paintings, when viewed from different angles, mischievously revealed hidden symbols.

Near an extraordinary chair with many legs, a hand is visible gripping an edge. The hand is weathered, the fingers cracked and scarred. The end of a rifle appears and a shot fires. The bullet is visible whirling through space; it caroms and then goes through a pine cone. A long spoon emerges from a drawer in the chair and stretches toward the hand. The bullet is on the spoon. Later, the hand holds the bullet between two fingers; another shot is fired.

Stop-motion animated short film with a white ball, a rabbit, and a girl, and a voice singing "Are We Still Married".

A porcelain doll’s explorations of a dreamer’s imagination.

A porcelain doll’s explorations of a dreamer’s imagination.

With harpsichord music in the background, a dandy, seated at a table, plucks a quill pen from a ceiling full of them above him, dips it in ink, thinks, then draws a straight line down the page in front of him, out of which sprout six more quill pens, each held by a hand. The calligrapher moves all the hands and pens in unison, drawing an elaborate feathered wing, which comes to live, peeling off the page, and, now a quill pen, slips in to his hand. He tucks it behind his left ear.

With harpsichord music in the background, a dandy, seated at a table, plucks a quill pen from a ceiling full of them above him, dips it in ink, thinks, then draws a straight line down the page in front of him, out of which sprout six more quill pens, each held by a hand. The calligrapher moves all the hands and pens in unison, drawing an elaborate feathered wing, which comes to live, peeling off the page, and, now a quill pen, slips in to his hand. He tucks it behind his left ear.

An extremely obscure minute-long short by the Brothers Quay in 1989. Animation appears to be done in 'Cutout' style, is abstract and plotless - more a moving painting than anything else. Featured on the 'Inner Sanctums' blu-ray boxset featuring a vast collection of shorts by the Quay brothers.

A farming family and their livestock dance during a much-needed downpour in this Quay Brothers short made for Sesame Street.

A magnet moves on a floor. A moth beats against a window. A doll child watches the magnet; threads of metal filings gather around the magnet.

This compilation by the Bother Quay is a montage of several of their stop-motion short films.

Stop-motion animated short film in which, among other things, a man made of wire looks malevolent.

Stop-motion animated short film in which, among other things, a man made of wire looks malevolent.

A puppet, newly released from his strings, explores the sinister room in which he finds himself.

A puppet, newly released from his strings, explores the sinister room in which he finds himself.

A puppet, newly released from his strings, explores the sinister room in which he finds himself.

A puppet, newly released from his strings, explores the sinister room in which he finds himself.

Stop-motion animated short film in which a puppet on a trike captures a puppet bird-man.

Stop-motion animated short film in which a puppet on a trike captures a puppet bird-man.

Stop-motion animated short film in which a puppet on a trike captures a puppet bird-man.

In Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.

In Prague, a professorial puppet, with metal pincers for hands and an open book for a hat, takes a boy as a pupil. First, the professor empties fluff and toys from the child's head, leaving him without the top of his head for most of the film. The professor then teaches the lad about illusions and perspectives, the pursuit of an object through exploring a bank of drawers, divining an object, and the migration of forms. The child then brings out a box with a tarantula in it: the professor puts his "hands" into the box and describes what he feels. The boy receives a final lesson about animation and film making; then the professor gives him a brain and his own open-book hat.

Janacek: Intimate Excursions is a short experimental documentary that attempts to find visual references in the correspondence of Leos Janacek, the Czechoslovak composer.

Igor: The Paris Years, one segment of a larger biographical program created for Channel 4 on the life and times of Igor Stravinsky, finds the brothers working in a slightly different vein than the one that would come to characterize their later work. This is the first section, which covers the pianist’s “French period” from roughly 1920-1939, and it details, among other things, his connection with Jean Cocteau (who, as a matter of fact, contributes voice work to this project). Filtered through gonzo and impressionistic puppetry (often bearing strong resemblance to the work of Terry Gilliam), the film takes an unconventional and often beautiful stab at the television biography special.

Using the tricks of the Flemish playwright's own trade--puppetry, masks, and a Breughelesque sense of bizarre carnival, the collaborators succeeded in bringing about a rich and sardonic humor lurking at the edge of the playwright's macabre, death-obsessed imagination in an allusive homage.

Using the tricks of the Flemish playwright's own trade--puppetry, masks, and a Breughelesque sense of bizarre carnival, the collaborators succeeded in bringing about a rich and sardonic humor lurking at the edge of the playwright's macabre, death-obsessed imagination in an allusive homage.

An unusual documentary from the Brothers Quay and Keith Griffiths about the history of the Punch and Judy puppet show.

An unusual documentary from the Brothers Quay and Keith Griffiths about the history of the Punch and Judy puppet show.

The exploration of the effects of an unexpected catastrophe, known as VUE (violent unknown event) through the bios of 92 survivors.

Enigmatic, stop-motion, animated story of a man's day.

Enigmatic, stop-motion, animated story of a man's day.

A man journeys by rail to a nameless sanatorium where his father has recently died. Once there, time loses its linearity and he finds himself in a world that appears both strange and strangely familiar.

A man journeys by rail to a nameless sanatorium where his father has recently died. Once there, time loses its linearity and he finds himself in a world that appears both strange and strangely familiar.

A man journeys by rail to a nameless sanatorium where his father has recently died. Once there, time loses its linearity and he finds himself in a world that appears both strange and strangely familiar.