In the year of Jan Švankmajer’s 80th birthday, and the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, we present this program of astonishing short films informed by themes of dialogue (always destructive with respect to his films’ antagonists, but highly productive between Švankmajer, his early mentor Emil Radok, and his son and fellow Surrealist, Václav) and resistance.

Featuring Johanes Doktor Faust (Radok, 1958), The Last Trick (Poslední trik pana Schwarzewaldea a pana Edgara, 1964), Dimensions of Dialogue (Možnosti dialogu, 1982), The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope (Kyvadlo, jáma a nadeje, 1983), The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (Konec stalinismu v Cechách, 1990) and Torchbearer (Svetlonoš, Václav Švankmajer, 2005).

Co-presented with the Melbourne Cinémathèque.