Coffin Factory

Rakvickarna

10 minutes, 35 mm, colour, 1966
Puppet animation
Audience: adults
Commentary: none

Producer: KF a.s. - Jiri Trnka Studio
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Designer: Jan Svankmajer

Jan Svankmajer used traditional folk glove-puppet technology to shoot a modern film about an old familiar truth that if two people are fighting a third ends up the winner. The actors are the traditional Jester and Buffoon, but also a real guinea pig and props that cannot be missed -- a meat-beater and a coffin. The end of the film is different to the typical folk story as it generalises the relationship between the Jester and the Buffoon, transforms it to a relationship similar to those between two people, and the glove-puppet theatre changes to the real world.

Awards: "Golden Ducat" - Manheim 1966, Prize of Josef von Sternberg - Manheim 1966, Honourable mention - Montevideo 1967

All films directed by Jan Svankmajer:
Coffin Factory • Darkness, Light, Darkness • Dimensions of Dialogue • Et cetera • The Fall of The House of Usher • The Flat • Manly Games • The Otrants Castle • The Pendulum, the Pit and the Hope • A Quiet Week in a House

All films designed by Jan Svankmajer:
Coffin Factory • Darkness, Light, Darkness • Dimensions of Dialogue • Et cetera • The Fall of The House of Usher • The Flat • Manly Games • The Otrants Castle • The Pendulum, the Pit and the Hope • A Quiet Week in a House