Check out this info on his final project, Insects.
Czech surrealist filmmaker and puppet animator Jan
Švankmajer has spent the last five years preparing to begin what will be his
final film.
Švankmajer launches an ambitious Indiegogo campaign today
– May 25th, 2016 – to help fund his last film, the stop-motion /
live-action hybrid Hmyz (Insects), based
loosely upon Karel and Josef Čapek's decidedly Kafkaesque satirical stage play,
Ze života hmyzu (Pictures from the
Insect’s Life).
The Čapeks’ dark comedy, which provides a basic framework
for the newest Švankmajer odyssey, is both allegory and wry commentary on the
(often quite literally) flighty moralities and eccentricities inherent
throughout the human race, as illustrated through social groups’ similarities
to various species of insect. Švankmajer will utilize the themes from the 1922
play as a backdrop for his critiques of modern society, and the people who
inhabit it.
Švankmajer, at eighty-one years of age, continues to be
prolific despite the length of time between films – his most recent release
having been six years ago, he has been developing ideas for Insects, consulting experts in
entomology and cultivating his materials. Insects
entered pre-production in 2014, and the impending release of the film itself
will be accompanied by behind-the-scenes documentary footage, detailing the
progression and scope of Švankmajer’s creative process as he brings his final magnum opus to life.
Upon completion of Insects,
Švankmajer will retire from filmmaking, leaving behind him a canon of genius
including a brilliantly bizarre, terrifying adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland tales and an
uncanny, hauntingly beautiful version of the Faust mythos. His brutal
honesty and ability to bring the dreamlike worlds of animation together with
the strangeness of reality will undoubtedly course through the lifeblood of Insects, drawing the curtain on a truly
incredible career.
To donate to the Indiegogo campaign, and help Jan
Švankmajer bring his project to fruition, visit http://insectsmovie.com, where you will find
information and updates on the film’s progression and a direct link to the
project’s crowdfunding page – or follow Švankmajer at his official Facebook
page.