The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer: Prague's Alchemist of Film

Jun 20, 1984

0h 54m

★ 6.0

Overview

The original 54-minute documentary, as broadcast by Channel Four on 20 June 1984, after which the animated links by the Quay Brothers were recompiled as a separate short.

Genres

Documentary

Animation

Production Companies

Large Door Ltd.

The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer: Prague's Alchemist of Film Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Jan Švankmajer

Paul Hammond

Dawn Ades

Dalibor Veseley

Conroy Maddox

Roger Cardinal

Self

Robert Benayoun

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

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