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Brothers Quay Night*footnotes 2019
Institute Benjamenta or This Dream People Call Human Life Brothers Quay

Jakob enters the Benjamenta siblings’ servants’ school. The protagonist of Robert Walser’s novel “Jakob von Gunten” becomes an observer of a place that lies still and dreams.

Institute Benjamenta or This Dream People Call Human Life

Feature Film
Germany,
Japan,
UK
1995
105 minutes
Subtitles: 
German

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Atelier Koninck QbfZ, Image Forum, Pandora Filmproduktion
Director
Brothers Quay
Music
Leszek Jankowski
Cinematographer
Nic Knowland
Editor
Larry Syder
Animation
Brothers Quay
Script
Alan Passes, Brothers Quay
Cast
Mark Rylance, Alice Krige, Gottfried John, Daniel Smith
Jakob enters the Benjamenta siblings’ servants’ school. The protagonist of Robert Walser’s novel “Jakob von Gunten”, which was published in 1909, becomes an observer of a place that lies still and dreams. The pupils still take mysterious exercises, for example the canon of the singing forks. But the soul of the institute glows in hidden chambers. The Brothers Quay’s first feature film features a brilliant cast, but breathes the spirit of animation. Just as Walser’s language personifies matter and states of being and objectifies persons, objects, light and the forest take over that role in the film.

André Eckardt
Brothers Quay Night*footnotes 2019
Wonderwood for Comme des Garçons Brothers Quay

Forest fruits burst. Fir cones shed their leaves. Light dramatises resinous surfaces. Wooden panels absorb the intoxicating atmosphere. Macro shots appeal to their sense of smell.

Wonderwood for Comme des Garçons

Animated Film
UK
2010
3 minutes
Subtitles: 
_without dialogue / subtitles

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Brothers Quay
Music
Timothy Nelson
Cinematographer
Brothers Quay
Editor
Brothers Quay
Animation
Brothers Quay
Sound
Brothers Quay
With this advertising film, the Brothers Quay created a synaesthetic poem for a perfume of the fashion label Comme des Garçons. Forest fruits burst. Fir cones shed their leaves. Light dramatises resinous surfaces. Wooden panels absorb the intoxicating atmosphere. Macro shots bring the gaze of a fascinated viewer very close and appeal to their sense of smell.

André Eckardt