13° FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE CINEMA GIOVANI
European Perspectives 1995 - Great Britain
The Institute Benjamenta or This Dream People Call Human Life
by Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay
Country: UK
Year: 1995
Duration: 105'
Jakob von Gunten rings at the front door of the Benjamenta Institute, a school for domestics, where he expects to learn his trade. Here he makes the acquaintance of his fellow students, come from all over the world, as well as those who run the- institute: "Herr" Johannes Benjamenta, its director, who seems never to have ventured outside the Institute; "Fräulein" Lisa, his younger sister, both professor in bearing and the house's "Sleeping Beauty", half-witch, half-angel; and Kraus, the model servant, devoted body and soul to his mistress and to the Institute's rules and regulations. Jakob sinks gradually into the depths of the Institute, unveiling the hidden enigmas of this hermetic world, the secrets of the desiderable Lisa and the hieratic Benjamenta, and becomes witness to the slow disintegration of the Institute - indeed, its eventual demise.
Biography
film director
Timothy Quay
Stephen and Timothy Quay (Norristown, PA, USA, 1947), twin brothers, studied at the Philadelphia College of Art, then later moved to London, where he attended the Royal College of Art. In 1980 the formed Koninck with colleague Keith Griffiths and during a thirty-year career thay have produced a hybrid variety of puppets animation film work. Their work also includes decors for opera and theatre productions.
FILMOGRAFIA
filmografia essenziale/essential filmography
Nocturna Artificialia (cm, anim., 1979), Punch & Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy (coregia/codirectors Keith Griffiths, Larry Sider, mm, anim., 1980), The Eternal Day of Michel De Ghelderode (coregia/codirector Keith Griffiths, cm, anim., 1981), Ein Brudermord (cm, anim., 1981), Stravinsky: The Paris Years (cm, anim., 1983), The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer (coregia/codirector Keith Griffiths, cm, anim., 1984), This Unnameable Little Broom (coregia/codirector Keith Griffiths, cm, anim., 1985), Street of Crocodiles (cm, anim., 1985), Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (cm, anim., 1988), The Comb (cm, anim., 1990), De Artificiali Perspectiva (cm, anim., 1991), Tales from the Vienna Woods (cm, anim., 1992), Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995), The Sandman (cm, TV, 2000), In Absentia (cm, anim., 2000), The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005), Inwentorium ?ladów (cm, anim., 2009), Maska (cm, anim., 2010).
Stephen Quay
Stephen and Timothy Quay (Norristown, PA, USA, 1947), twin brothers, studied at the Philadelphia College of Art, then later moved to London, where he attended the Royal College of Art. In 1980 the formed Koninck with colleague Keith Griffiths and during a thirty-year career thay have produced a hybrid variety of puppets animation film work. Their work also includes decors for opera and theatre productions.
FILMOGRAFIA
filmografia essenziale/essential filmography
Nocturna Artificialia (cm, anim., 1979), Punch & Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy (coregia/codirectors Keith Griffiths, Larry Sider, mm, anim., 1980), The Eternal Day of Michel De Ghelderode (coregia/codirector Keith Griffiths, cm, anim., 1981), Ein Brudermord (cm, anim., 1981), Stravinsky: The Paris Years (cm, anim., 1983), The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer (coregia/codirector Keith Griffiths, cm, anim., 1984), This Unnameable Little Broom (coregia/codirector Keith Griffiths, cm, anim., 1985), Street of Crocodiles (cm, anim., 1985), Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (cm, anim., 1988), The Comb (cm, anim., 1990), De Artificiali Perspectiva (cm, anim., 1991), Tales from the Vienna Woods (cm, anim., 1992), Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995), The Sandman (cm, TV, 2000), In Absentia (cm, anim., 2000), The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005), Inwentorium ?ladów (cm, anim., 2009), Maska (cm, anim., 2010).
Cast
& Credits
Director: Brothers Quay.
Screenplay: Alan Passes, Brothers Quay.
Director of photography: Nic Knowland.
Editor: Larry Sider.
Music: Lech Jankowski.
Sound: Peter Glossop.
Cast: Mark Rylance, Alice Krige, Gottfried John, Daniel Smith.
Production company: Keith Griffiths, Janine Marmot.
Foreign sales agent: Koninck Studios, 175 Wardour Street, London WI, UK, tel. +44-171-7344943, fax +44-171-4940405.
Screenplay: Alan Passes, Brothers Quay.
Director of photography: Nic Knowland.
Editor: Larry Sider.
Music: Lech Jankowski.
Sound: Peter Glossop.
Cast: Mark Rylance, Alice Krige, Gottfried John, Daniel Smith.
Production company: Keith Griffiths, Janine Marmot.
Foreign sales agent: Koninck Studios, 175 Wardour Street, London WI, UK, tel. +44-171-7344943, fax +44-171-4940405.
