To coincide with the theatrical release of THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES, Zeitgeist Films presents a thirteen-film retrospective of shorts by famed twin animators the Quay Brothers. Two of the world’s most original filmmakers, identical twins Stephen and Timothy Quay have been making their unique blend of puppetry and stop-motion animation for nearly 30 years and have spawned an enormous cult following.

The Quays display a passion for detail, a breathtaking command of color and texture, and an uncanny use of focus and camera movement that make their films unique and instantly recognizable. Best known for their classic 1986 film STREET OF CROCODILES, which filmmaker Terry Gilliam recently selected as one of the ten best animated films of all time, they are masters of miniaturization and on their tiny sets have created an unforgettable world, suggestive of a landscape of long-repressed childhood dreams. Zeitgeist is proud to present most of these extraordinary films in brand-new theatrical prints (freshly struck by the British Film Institute).

All films in a printable format

	Nocturna Artificialia directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1979, Color, Magnetic Stereo, 00:21:00 A dreamer is seduced by the mystery of the city at night. He leaves his room and goes into the street, where a tram-car carries him away. “As with much of their later work, it’s impossible to provide a cohere... more info
	The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1984, Color, Magnetic Stereo, 00:14:00 The film is structured as a series of little lessons in perception, taught by a puppet simulacrum of Svankmajer, whose head is an opened book, to a doll whose head the master empties of dross and refills with... more info
	This Unnameable Little Broom or The Epic of Gilgamesh directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1985, Color, Magnetic Stereo, 00:11:00 This was originally conceived as a pilot for a series, which never materialized due to lack of funding. Alternative title: Little Songs of the Chief Officer of Hunar Louse (Being a Largely Disguised Reduction... more info
	Street of Crocodiles directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1986, B&W/Color, Magnetic Monaural, 00:21:00 Adapted from a short story by Polish writer Bruno Schulz, the Quays’ first film in 35mm, and their first masterpiece, delves deep into a nightmarish netherworld. A museum keeper spits into the eyepiece of an ... more info
	Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1987, B&W, Magnetic Stereo, 00:14:00 In the fragile immobility of a room a couple wait, as twilight advances, alternately oblivious to and made anxious by presentiments of some brutal destruction being remorselessly rehearsed outside their door.... more info
	The Comb (From the Museums of Sleep) directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1990, B&W/Color, Magnetic Stereo, 00:18:00 The Comb opens in the shadowy bedroom of a sleeping beauty and seems to enter her mind and burrow into her dreams. Based on a fragment of text by the Austrian writer Robert Walser, The Comb is an exploration... more info
	De Artificiali Perspectiva or Anamorphosis directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1991, Color, Magnetic Stereo, 00:15:00 The Quays’ interest in esoteric illusions finds its perfect realization in this fascinating animated lecture on the art of anamorphosis. This artistic technique, often used in the 16th- and 17th centuries, u... more info
	Stille Nacht I - Dramolet directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1988, B&W, Magnetic Stereo, 00:01:00 A dazzling fugue of iron filings that was made as an Art Break for MTV.... more info
	Stille Nacht II - Are We Still Married? directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1992, B&W, Magnetic Stereo, 00:03:30 A three-minute animated choreography with an ethereal pop soundtrack by the remarkable band called “His Name Is Alive”. With a typically eccentric cast of a ragged doll, a white rabbit and a manic ping-pong b... more info
	Stille Nacht III - Tales From Vienna Woods directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1993, B&W, Magnetic Stereo, 00:03:30 The third in the Stille Nacht cycle, Tales From Vienna Woods was also made with the intention of exploring imagery that they planned to develop further in their first feature Institute Benjamenta, which was t... more info
	Stille Nacht IV - Can't Go Wrong Without You directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 1994, B&W, Magnetic Stereo, 00:03:30 Following their collaboration the previous year with Are We Still Married?, the Quays reunited with His Name Is Alive to create the video for their 1993 single “Can’t Go Wrong Without You.” Very consciously ... more info
	In Absentia directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 2000, B&W/Color, Magnetic Stereo, 00:20:00 The first new film by the Quay Brothers in the five years since Institute Benjamenta, In Absentia is a collaboration with the celebrated avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who composed and conducted ... more info
	The Phantom Museum directed by The Quay Brothers USA, Art / Artist, 2003, B&W/Color, Magnetic Stereo, 00:12:00 Random forays into one of the world’s most extraordinary museum collections: Sir Henry Wellcome’s unique trove of medical curiosities. With their customary dexterity and affinity for the arcane, the Quay Brot... more info

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