Jan Švankmajer to embark on final feature film ‘Insects’
The title photo of Jan Švankmajer’s Indiegogo campaign for his last feature film, Insects
Jan Švankmajer – the world-renowned Czechoslovakian surrealist animation filmmaker whose body of work includes over thirty films including the features Alice, Conspirators of Pleasure and Little Otik – has recently announced plans to begin filming what he has declared as his final feature film Insects this summer. Following five years of development alongside longtime producer Jaromir Kallista, Švankmajer and Athanor Production Company have today launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for the film to assist with funds.
A prominent figure of the surrealist movement, Švankmajer is capable of creating dark yet playful worlds that dissect the very core of our society. Insects will be a surreal film whose imagery echoes that of Kafka and the Čapek Brothers. In a local pub in a small town, a troupe of amateur actors rehearse a play by the Čapek Brothers, The Insect Play. On a raised platform across the room we see a stage, set for Act II of the play. As the rehearsal progresses, the characters of the play are born and die with no regard to time. The actors slowly become one with them and some of them experience frightening transformations.
Jan Švankmajer working on one of the unique lithographs that will be available as rewards in the ongoing Indiegogo campaign for his final film.
Incentives available to those who wish to get involved include signed scripts, lithographs and DVDs, digital downloads, set visits, the opportunity to own one of the film’s insect ‘actors’ after the film is completed, producer credits and dinner with the director.
The Čapek brothers’ play is very misanthropic. I’ve always liked that — bugs behave as a human beings, and people behave as insects. My screenplay extends this misanthropy further while also reflecting Franz Kafka and his famous Metamorphosis. It gets increasingly difficult to fund independent art that scrutinizes the very core of our society. Who would deliberately support their own critics? We make a film every five or six years not because of a lack of ideas, but due to the lack of funds to back up our projects. Our hope is that crowdfunding may be the way to change this. The initial $150,000 we aim to raise on Indiegogo will enable us to start shooting with live actors; eventually, we will need to raise far more in order to complete the animations and post-production.
-Jan Švankmajer, director
Keep your eyes on Skwigly in the coming days for exclusive insight into this new venture from Švankmajer himself. In the meantime you can learn more about the film at insectsmovie.com