13
cinema.indiana.edu
Jan Svankmajer
Conspirators of Pleasure
(1996) Directed by Jan Svankmajer
Thursday - August 30 - 9:30 p.m.
According to Jan Svankmajer, "Conspirators of Pleasure is not only the first erotic film without
copulation, but above all a film about freedom." Six ordinary people seek to gratify an idiosyncratic
array of desires, all of which are highly autoerotic. As the story progresses, we find that although
these people prefer to retreat into their individual fantasies, they are in fact connected. With "expert
advisers" such as Sigmund Freud, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the Marquis de Sade and Luis Buńuel,
the film brings to life the most deliciously perverse aspects of the id. Czech language with English
subtitles. (35mm. 75 min. Not Rated.)
Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)
(2010) Directed by Jan Svankmajer
Monday - August 20 - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday - August 26 - 6:30 p.m.
Evzen is a man who has fallen in love with his
dreams, a man who seeks to abandon his waking
life and make his dreams his "first life." In them,
he meets a woman in a red dress whose name
changes each time he falls asleep. Apples roll
through the background and giant snakes peek
out of the windows. Evzen prefers this reality, but
has trouble holding onto it, and so he tries various
means to conjure the dream at will. Combining live
action and cut-paper animation, the film shows
what happens when the lines between dream and
reality fall away. Czech language with English
subtitles. (35mm. 109 min. Not Rated.)
Little Otik
(2000)
Directed by Jan Svankmajer
Thursday - August 30 - 6:30 p.m.
All Mrs. Horáková wants is to have a
child. She looks jealously on the prams of
women in the street, knowing her and her
husband can never conceive. Hoping to
lighten her mood, Mr. Horák carves a baby
from a wooden stump, but to his surprise,
the desire of his wife is so strong, it brings
the stump to life. Unfortunately for the
Horáks and their neighbors, their wooden
child Otík possesses an extraordinary
appetite, threatening to consume
everything and everyone around it. Czech
language with English subtitles. (35mm.
132 min. Not Rated.)