Synopsis

Like Stan VanDerBeek and Larry Jordan, Borowczyk saw the potential of animating cut outs from Victorian encyclopedias and novels. Like Lenica’s Labyrinth (completed the same year), Borowczyk takes the idea at the heart of Max Ernst’s graphic novel Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness), and makes it move for both comic and surrealistic effect.

Walerian Borowczyk

Master craftsman, dadaist prankster and unrepentant sensualist, Walerian Borowczyk (1923 - 2006) and his films have yet to be both fully discovered and appreciated. Having relocated to France during the late 1950s, Borowczyk produced a succession of startling, often comic short films that were as innovative as they were provocative. Not only was Borowczyk a trailblazer for fine artists working in film, but he also brought a keen, painterly eye to framing and editing objects, animals and bodies. Often, Borowczyk would place special emphasis on props, which often play vital roles in his highly visual approach to storytelling. A master at marrying film to both classical and electronic music, Borowczyk’s approach to cinema harked back to both the silent days and even pre-cinema. A parodic, sense of earthy humour masks Borowczyk’s distinctly moral sensibility, eager to satirise the corruption of institutions, whether they be feudal, clerical or bureaucratic. Prepare to be dazzled.