The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes 2005

6.10

Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.

2005

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life 1995

7.70

Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta (run by brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta) to learn to become a servant. With seven other men, he studies under Lisa: absurd lessons of movement, drawing circles, and servility. He asks for a better room. No other students arrive and none leave for employment. Johannes is unhappy, imperious, and detached from the school's operation. Lisa is beautiful, at first tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There's a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she to him. As winter sets in, she becomes catatonic. Things get worse; Johannes notes that all this has happened since Jakob came. Is there any cause and effect?

1995

Meat Love

Meat Love 1989

6.70

The story takes place entirely on a kitchen counter and sees two slices of raw meat as protagonists. The first slice is courted by the second and together they dance to the notes of a recording from the 1920s broadcast on the radio, after which the two slices find themselves playing and flirting on a plate full of flour, but the passion is abruptly interrupted by two skewers who fork the two slices and fry them in a pan.

1989

The Comb

The Comb 1991

6.70

A porcelain doll’s explorations of a dreamer’s imagination.

1991

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass 2024

7.00

A man journeys by rail to a nameless sanatorium where his father has recently died. Once there, time loses its linearity and he finds himself in a world that appears both strange and strangely familiar.

2024

Stille Nacht I: Dramolet

Stille Nacht I: Dramolet 1988

6.30

A magnet moves on a floor. A moth beats against a window. A doll child watches the magnet; threads of metal filings gather around the magnet.

1988

London

London 1994

6.60

A psycho-geographic journey through London and its history, as undertaken by an unseen narrator and his companion, Robinson, at the time of the 1992 general election.

1994

Robinson in Space

Robinson in Space 1997

6.90

Robinson is commissioned to investigate the unspecified "problem of England." The narrator describes his seven excursions, with the unseen Robinson, around the country. They mainly concentrate on ports, power stations, prisons, and manufacturing plants, but they also bring in various literary connections, as well as a few conventional landscapes.

1997

Anamorphosis

Anamorphosis 1993

6.50

The Quays' interest in esoteric illusions finds its perfect realization in this fascinating animated lecture on the art of anamorphosis. This artistic technique, often used in the 16th- and 17th centuries, utilizes a method of visual distortion with which paintings, when viewed from different angles, mischievously revealed hidden symbols.

1993

Rose Red

Rose Red 1994

6.00

Simon Pummell's (Bodysong) visually ravishing sci-fi thriller exploring the future of virtual reality and the desire to transcend human limits. The theft of an experimental drug to suppress the immune system reveals a case of virtual reality addiction and forces a detective to confront his nightmares.

1994

Igor Stravinsky: The Paris Years Chez Pleyel 1920-1929

Igor Stravinsky: The Paris Years Chez Pleyel 1920-1929 1982

6.00

Igor: The Paris Years, one segment of a larger biographical program created for Channel 4 on the life and times of Igor Stravinsky, finds the brothers working in a slightly different vein than the one that would come to characterize their later work. This is the first section, which covers the pianist’s “French period” from roughly 1920-1939, and it details, among other things, his connection with Jean Cocteau (who, as a matter of fact, contributes voice work to this project). Filtered through gonzo and impressionistic puppetry (often bearing strong resemblance to the work of Terry Gilliam), the film takes an unconventional and often beautiful stab at the television biography special.

1982

Songs for Dead Children

Songs for Dead Children 2003

5.00

Another short, grainy film from the Quay Brothers. This one has funny singing in it.

2003

Temptation of Sainthood

Temptation of Sainthood 1993

1

The story of a man who believed God was changing him into a woman so he could save the world.

1993

Duo

Duo 1995

1

One of a series of short films inspired by paintings. In this video, Jacques de Loustal's Le Contemplatif or "Duo".

1995

Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye

Doodlin': Impressions Of Len Lye 1987

1

This documentary, made seven years after the death of legendary filmmaker and kinetic artist Len Lye, tells Lye's story: from being a young boy staring at the sun, to travels around the Pacific and life in New York. It includes excerpts from many of his films, and interviews with second wife Ann and biographer Roger Horrocks. Len Lye himself is often heard, outlining his ideas of the ‘old brain’ and how Māori and Aboriginal art influenced his work. The grandeur of his ideas are only matched by their scale, with steel sculptures designed to be "at least 20 foot high".

1987

The Doll's Breath

The Doll's Breath 2019

1

Afraid of losing his wife, Horatio creates a replica he calls Hortensia. But things don't go as planned... Shot on 35mm and propelled by an impressive score by Michèle Bokanowski, the Quay Brothers evoke an intense drama of jealousy, betrayal and murder, revolving around a window dresser's obsession for a life-sized doll.

2019