The Brothers Quay

FORTHCOMING & NEW RELEASES

INSTITUTE BENJAMENTA: OR THIS DREAM PEOPLE CALL HUMAN LIFE
ZEITGEIST FILMS
ISBN: 9781938922046 | US $29.99
Pub Date: 10/31/2012
Active | In stock

THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES
ZEITGEIST FILMS
ISBN: 9781938922039 | US $29.99
Pub Date: 10/31/2012
Active | In stock

ACTIVE BACKLIST

QUAY BROTHERS: ON DECIPHERING THE PHARMACIST’S PRESCRIPTION FOR LIP-READING PUPPETS
Edited by Ron Magliozzi. Text by Edwin Carels, the Quay Brothers.
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK
ISBN: 9780870708435 | US $24.95
Pub Date: 8/31/2012
Active | In stock

PHANTOM MUSEUMS: THE SHORT FILMS OF THE QUAY BROTHERS
ZEITGEIST FILMS
ISBN: 9781935202424 | US $34.99
Pub Date: 7/31/2012
Active | In stock

The Brothers Quay

Institute Benjamenta: Or This Dream People Call Human Life

A Film by the Quay Brothers

Published by Zeitgeist Films

The Quay Brothers are among the most acclaimed and beloved animator-filmmakers in the world, influencing visionary directors like Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, Julie Taymor and Tarsem. Their first feature, Institute Benjamenta, presented here in a gorgeous new director-approved transfer, is an exquisitely realized anti-fairytale as unique and astonishing as their celebrated animations. Jakob (Mark Rylance) enrolls at the titular Institute--a dilapidated, moribund boarding school for the training of servants--and becomes embroiled in the strangely hypnotic world of the enigmatic siblings at its helm. Inspired by the writings of Swiss author Robert Walser, Institute Benjamenta also boasts a stellar arthouse cast, including Tony Award-winner Mark Rylance, Star Trek Borg Queen Alice Krige and Fassbinder regular Gottfried John.

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

A Film by the Quay Brothers

Published by Zeitgeist Films

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is the breathtakingly beautiful second feature from the Quay Brothers. On the eve of her wedding, the beautiful opera singer Malvina is mysteriously killed and abducted by a malevolent Dr. Droz. Felisberto, an innocent piano tuner, is summoned to Droz’s secluded villa to service his strange musical automatons. Little by little, Felisberto learns of the doctor’s plans to stage a “diabolical opera” and of Malvina’s fate. He secretly conspires to rescue her, only to become trapped himself in the web of Droz’s perverse universe. Starring Amira Casar, Assumpta Serna, Cesar Sarachu and Gottfried John.

Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets

Edited by Ron Magliozzi. Text by Edwin Carels, the Quay Brothers.
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York

For more than 30 years, internationally renowned moving image artists and designers the Quay Brothers have been in the avant-garde of stop-motion puppet animation. Creating work in the tradition of Czech Surrealists Jan Svankmajer and Jiri Trnka, Russian animator Yuri Norstein and Polish animator Walerian Borowczyk, the twin brothers practice a design aesthetic influenced by the graphic surrealism of Polish poster artists of the 1950s and 1960s such as Jan Lenica, Roman Cieslewicz, Franciszek Starowieyski and Henryk Tomaszewski. Since 1971, they have produced more than 45 moving images, including features, music videos, dance films and documentaries, and have designed sets and projections for opera, drama and concert performances. Published to accompany an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art--the first presentation of the Quay Brothers’ work in all their fields of creative activity--this publication presents their films as well as previously unseen moving image works and graphic design, drawings, typography and notebooks for films.
The Quay Brothers were born near Philadelphia and have worked from their London studio, Atelier Koninck, since the late 1970s. Their works include The Street of Crocodiles (1986), the Stille Nacht series (1988–2008), Institute Benjamenta (1995) and In Absentia (2000). They have also designed sets and projections for opera, drama, and concert performances such as Ionesco’s The Chairs (Tony-nominated design, 1997) and recent site-specific pieces based on the work of Bartók and Kafka.

Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers

Published by Zeitgeist Films

Best known for their classic 1986 film Street of Crocodiles--which Terry Gilliam selected as one of the ten best animated films of all time--the Quay Brothers are masters of miniaturization, and with their tiny sets have created unforgettable worlds. This two-disc set contains 13 of their classic short films in restored and remastered editions (personally supervised by the Quays), plus audio commentaries, interviews, alternative versions, unrealized pilot projects and more. Phantom Museums also features a gorgeously illustrated booklet, including a “Quay Dictionary” and an essay by Michael Atkinson.