Directed by Jan Svankmajer • Drama • With Petr Cepek, Jan Kraus, Vladimír Kudla • 1994 • 97 minutes
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.
Up Next in Czech Republic
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Freckled Max And The Spooks
Directed by Juraj Jakubisko • Drama • With Gerhardt Karzel, Eddie Constantine • 1987 • 100 minutes
A bittersweet, slapstick cross between MONSTER SQUAD, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and the Island of Misfit Toys, FRECKLED MAX is a nostalgic Gothic fairytale from acclaimed Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko a...
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The Golden Fern
Directed by Jiří Weiss • Drama • With Karla Chadimová, Vít Olmer • 1963 • 107 minutes
Czech director Jiří Weiss's breathtaking B&W fairy tale is one of the most unjustly neglected treasures of 1960s fantasy filmmaking with overtones of Cocteau's BEAUTY & THE BEAST. A handsome young shepherd (V...
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The Mysterious Castle In The Carpathians
Directed by Oldřich Lipský • Drama • With Miloš Kopecký, Michal Dočolomanský, Evelyna Steimarová, Rudolf Hrušínský • 1981 • 99 minutes
A unique and almost indescribable mix of Gothic fiction, steampunk gadgetry (designed by Czech animation wizard Jan Švankmajer), slapstick comedy and romantic op...
