The Flat
A man too curious for his own good gets trapped in an apartment where nothing works according to the laws on nature. His attempt to eat is less than successful because the spoon changes into a strainer, an egg weights literally a ton and the table top is selectively permeable. The bed is no different. A subtle revolt of everyday things.
- Czechoslovakia
- 1968, 13 min
- Director: Jan Švankmajer
- Director of photography: Svatopluk Malý
- Editor: Hana Walachová
- Screenplay: Jan Švankmajer
- Music: Zdeněk Liška
- Cast: Ivan Kraus, Juraj Herz
- Contacts: ATHANOR – společnost pro filmovou tvorbu, s.r.o.
- Producer: Erna Kmínková, Jiří Vaněk
- Production: Krátký film Praha
Jan Švankmajer
Jan Švankmajer (1934, Czechoslovakia) graduated in puppet theater from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He started discovering the possibilities of film in 1962, when he joined Laterna Magika as director for two years. In 1964, he made his first short film and remained focused on the format, with an involuntary break in the 70s, until 1988, when he made his feature debut, Alice, that brought him international fame and allowed him to work independently on other projects including Lesson Faust (1993), Conspirators of Pleasure (1996), Greedy Guts (2000), Lunacy (2005) and Surviving Life (2010).