Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall collapsed. This fact is the point of departure for Cultural Sunday, which coincides with the closing day of the 2009 HAFF. The themes are political commitment, freedom of speech and political activism. The HAFF joins in with Cultural Sunday with the film Alice by Jan Svankmajer (Czech Republic) and a live animation performance in Centraal Museum, executed by filmmaker Motomichi Nakamura. Motomichi Nakamura (Tokyo, Japan) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He made the leader for the HAFF. His films and live animations are characterised by a minimum use of colour (black, white and red), a mixture of intense graphic elements and the exploration of fearsome yet witty characters that are part human, part monster. In his live performances, he uses the latest video mix technology to create an intense atmosphere to convey his view on fear and inner peace in everyday life. Featuring ‘bashing and slashing’ computer music by Otto Von Schirach (USA).

This program screened as part of HAFF 2009

Showing in this program

Alice

• Jan Svankmajer
• Czech Republic, 1988
• 86 min.

First feature film by Jan Svankmajer, master of the Czech surrealist animation film and source of inspiration for directors like Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. Adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s famous novel Alice in Wonderland in a sinister combination of animated puppets and live action. Alice ends up in a miraculous world when she follows a talking rabbit into a table drawer. She meets all sorts of strange creatures and peculiar characters, in a world between dream and nightmare. In Svankmajer’s hands, Wonderland becomes more wondrous than ever before. And with its dark overtones, it is no longer purely a children’s story.