List of surrealist films
Encyclopedia
Surrealist
cinema is a modernist film theory lanched in Paris in the 1920s. Related to an earlier tradition of Dada
cinema, surrealist cinema is characterised by juxtaposition, the rejection of reality, and a frequent use of shocking imagery.
Developed in the early twentieth century, surrealism
is an artistic and literary style which draws upon irrational imagery and the subconscious
mind. Surrealist artists approach both art and life with aims to review and redefine accepted parameters of reality. Surrealists should not, however, be mistaken as whimsical or incapable of logical thought; rather, most Surrealist promote themselves as revolutionaries. Surrealism opposes compartmentalization of experiences; surrealists often synthesize life with dreams. In the 1930’s, after the Surrealist movement had progressed for about a decade, several writers and museum officials repeatedly described Surrealism as having “amusing” and “escapist” elements.
Surrealist works cannot be defined by style or form, but rather as results of the practice of surrealism. Rather than a fixed aesthetic, surrealism can be defined as an ever-shifting art form.
The movement arose in Paris from the anarchist, anti-war Dadaism movement. In contrast to Dadaism, Surrealism was optimistic; surrealist artists approached art as a means to escape and transcend their individual realities. Surrealism was influenced by Freudian concepts, with emphasis on dreams and the unconscious mind.
.
Apollinaire (1880-1918) was a French poet and dynamic figure in the twentieth-century Parisian Avant-Garde
movements. Beginning in 1903, Apollinaire was actively involved in a literary and artistic lifestyle. He urged his contemporaries to explore poetic fancy, and to find relationships between seemingly dissimilar things. A friend of Pablo Picasso
, he played a role in the Cubist movement, publishing a book entitled Les Peintres Cubistes ("The Cubist Painters") in 1913. He published two books of poetry (Alcools
in 1913 and Calligrammes in 1918), and finished his career in 1918 with his only play, ‘’Les Mamelles de Tiresias
’’ (The Breasts of Tiresias). It was in describing this play that Apollinaire first coined the term, “surrealist”—or, rather, “Surréaliste” in French (from sur- meaning “beyond” and realisme meaning “realism.”) Les Mamelles—full of mythical allusions, errotic themes, is one of the earliest examples of surrealism.
Apollinaire was influenced by symbolist poets of previous generations, evidenced by his casual, lyrical poetic style that comprised a blend of both modern and traditional images and techniques. Les Mamelles—full of mythical allusions, errotic themes, and absurd elements—is one of the earliest examples of surrealism.
Apollinaire cast influence over younger poets and artists who would lead the upcoming Surrealist movement. André Breton
(1896-1966), called “the Pope” of the Surrealist movement by his contemporaries, once referred to Apollinaire as a “prodigious gift of wonder.” Influenced by Apollinaire and the Dadaist phase, Breton emerged as a leader of the surrealists in 1924.
In that same year, Breton published Les Manifestes du Surréalisme* (Manifestoes of Surrealism), which he followed in 1929 with a second manifesto, Deuxieme Manifeste du Surréalisme*. Breton was major leader and theorist throughout the movement.
They expressed themselves through surrealist automatism
: a common practice was ecriture automatique*, or “automatic writing,” during which one sat down with pen and paper and wrote whatever came to mind; there was no preconceived subject and no mental censorship
.
. Most of its leadership officially declared membership in the Communist party
in June 1927, which escalated the movement’s presence from a taboo to an offense.
was the first literary and artistic movement to become seriously associated with cinema, though it has also been a movement largely neglected by film critics and historians.This may be partially attributed to confusion regarding the nature and significance of Surrealism—even credited commentators often hesitate to probe surrealism’s abstract concepts.
It is not chance, though, that early Surrealism was linked with cinema
; the beginning foundations of the movement (circa 1900 with Apollinaire) coincided with the birth of motion picture. The Surrealists who then participated in the later, full-scale movement (during Breton’s time) were among the first generation to have grown up with film as a part of daily life.
Breton himself, even before the launching of the Surrealist movement, possessed an avid interest in film: while serving in the First World War, he was stationed in Nantes
and, during his spare time, would frequent the movie houses of France with a superior named Jacques Vaché
.According to Breton’s recollections, he and Vaché paid no heed to movie titles or times—instead, they preferred to drop in at any given moment and view the playing films without any foreknowledge of what each one was supposed to convey.When they grew bored, they left and visited the next theater.Breton’s movie-going habits supplied him with a stream of images which had no constructed order about them. He could juxtapose the images of one film with those of another, and from the experience craft his own interpretation.
Referring to his experiences with Vaché, he once remarked, “I think what we [valued] most in it, to the point of taking no interest in anything else, was its power to disorient." (Disorientation, in this sense, meaning to take man out of his natural surroundings, be these material, mental, or emotional.)Breton believed that film could help one abstract himself from “real life” whenever he felt like it. This was the core idea behind surrealist film.
Other Surrealists of the early 1900’s favored serials over other kinds of films available—serials often contained cliffhanger
effects and hints of “other worldliness” which were attractive to early Surrealists. Examples include Houdini’s daredevil deeds and the escapades of Musidora
and Pearl White
in detective stories. What endeared Surrealists most to the serial genre was its ability to evoke and sustain a sense of mystery and suspense in viewers.
As film continued to develop in the 1920’s, a handful of Surrealists saw in it a medium which nullified reality’s boundaries.Film critic René Gardies wrote in 1968, “Now the cinema is, quite naturally, the privileged instrument for derealising (sic) the world. Its technical resources... allied with its photo-magic, provide the alchemical tools for transforming reality."
Surrealist filmmakers sought to re-define human awareness of reality by illustrating that the “real” was little more than what was perceived as real; that reality was subject to no limits beyond those mankind imposed upon it. Whether as filmmakers, scriptwriters or members of theatre audiences, those who partake in Surrealist cinema experience a world in which imaginative elements become possible; Breton once compared the experiencing of Surrealist literature to “the point at which the waking state joins sleep.” His analogy helps to explain the advantage of cinema over books in facilitating the kind of release Surrealists sought from their daily pressures. The modernity of movies was appealing to the surrealists as well.
Recognition of a cinematographic* genre involves the ability to cite many works which share thematic, formal, and stylistic traits. To refer to Surrealism as a genre is to imply that, within the scope of films so labeled, there is repetition of elements and a recognizable, “generic formula” which describes their makeup. Because Surrealism is based so much on the irrational and on non-sequitur*, several critics have argued the impossibility of Surrealist films to constitute a genre.
The debate has been spurred by the idea that, while there are some films which are true expressions of the movement, many other films which have been classified as Surrealist simply contain Surrealist fragments. Rather than “Surrealist film” the more accurate term for many so-classified works may be “Surrealism in film.”
Joseph Cornell
produced surrealist films in the United States in the later 1930's (such as Rose Hobart in 1936). Antonin Artaud
, Philippe Soupault
, and Robert Desnos
wrote screenplays for later films. Salvador Dalí
designed a dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock
's film Spellbound
(1945).
In 1946, Salvador Dalí
and Walt Disney
began work on a film called Destino
; the project was left unfinished due to a lack of projected profit.
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
cinema is a modernist film theory lanched in Paris in the 1920s. Related to an earlier tradition of Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
cinema, surrealist cinema is characterised by juxtaposition, the rejection of reality, and a frequent use of shocking imagery.
Surrealist Theory
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
is an artistic and literary style which draws upon irrational imagery and the subconscious
Subconscious
The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a definition-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings....
mind. Surrealist artists approach both art and life with aims to review and redefine accepted parameters of reality. Surrealists should not, however, be mistaken as whimsical or incapable of logical thought; rather, most Surrealist promote themselves as revolutionaries. Surrealism opposes compartmentalization of experiences; surrealists often synthesize life with dreams. In the 1930’s, after the Surrealist movement had progressed for about a decade, several writers and museum officials repeatedly described Surrealism as having “amusing” and “escapist” elements.
Surrealist works cannot be defined by style or form, but rather as results of the practice of surrealism. Rather than a fixed aesthetic, surrealism can be defined as an ever-shifting art form.
Original Surrealist Movement
The Surrealist movement rose and flourished in the 1920’s—it was an aesthetic and revolutionary movement, centered on the idea of artistic creation as a means by which one could relate with the world, with oneself, with others, and with society in non-conventional ways.The movement arose in Paris from the anarchist, anti-war Dadaism movement. In contrast to Dadaism, Surrealism was optimistic; surrealist artists approached art as a means to escape and transcend their individual realities. Surrealism was influenced by Freudian concepts, with emphasis on dreams and the unconscious mind.
Leaders of the Movement: Guillaume Apollinaire and André Breton
While the Surrealist movement took flight around 1920, several artists are accredited with developing Surrealist ideals prior to that date. Names include Pierre Reverdy, Phillipe Soupault, and, more prominently, Guillaume ApollinaireGuillaume Apollinaire
Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
.
Apollinaire (1880-1918) was a French poet and dynamic figure in the twentieth-century Parisian Avant-Garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
movements. Beginning in 1903, Apollinaire was actively involved in a literary and artistic lifestyle. He urged his contemporaries to explore poetic fancy, and to find relationships between seemingly dissimilar things. A friend of Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, he played a role in the Cubist movement, publishing a book entitled Les Peintres Cubistes ("The Cubist Painters") in 1913. He published two books of poetry (Alcools
Alcools
Alcools is a collection of poems by the French author Guillaume Apollinaire.- External links :* Alcools * Alcools...
in 1913 and Calligrammes in 1918), and finished his career in 1918 with his only play, ‘’Les Mamelles de Tiresias
Les mamelles de Tirésias
Les mamelles de Tirésias is a surrealist two-act opéra bouffe by Francis Poulenc, based on the play of the same title by Guillaume Apollinaire, which was written in 1903 but first performed in 1917...
’’ (The Breasts of Tiresias). It was in describing this play that Apollinaire first coined the term, “surrealist”—or, rather, “Surréaliste” in French (from sur- meaning “beyond” and realisme meaning “realism.”) Les Mamelles—full of mythical allusions, errotic themes, is one of the earliest examples of surrealism.
Apollinaire was influenced by symbolist poets of previous generations, evidenced by his casual, lyrical poetic style that comprised a blend of both modern and traditional images and techniques. Les Mamelles—full of mythical allusions, errotic themes, and absurd elements—is one of the earliest examples of surrealism.
Apollinaire cast influence over younger poets and artists who would lead the upcoming Surrealist movement. André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
(1896-1966), called “the Pope” of the Surrealist movement by his contemporaries, once referred to Apollinaire as a “prodigious gift of wonder.” Influenced by Apollinaire and the Dadaist phase, Breton emerged as a leader of the surrealists in 1924.
In that same year, Breton published Les Manifestes du Surréalisme* (Manifestoes of Surrealism), which he followed in 1929 with a second manifesto, Deuxieme Manifeste du Surréalisme*. Breton was major leader and theorist throughout the movement.
The Nature of Surrealists
Surrealists, especially of the original movement, were anti-conventionalists; they mocked religion and all forms of convention as “[enemies] of art."They expressed themselves through surrealist automatism
Surrealist automatism
Automatism has taken on many forms: the automatic writing and drawing initially practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar, or perhaps parallel phenomena, such as the non-idiomatic improvisation of free jazz....
: a common practice was ecriture automatique*, or “automatic writing,” during which one sat down with pen and paper and wrote whatever came to mind; there was no preconceived subject and no mental censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
.
Unfortunate Timing of the Movement
It has been suggested that the Surrealist movement arrived with poor timing; it was a foreign movement often associated with madness, which arrived just after World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Most of its leadership officially declared membership in the Communist party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
in June 1927, which escalated the movement’s presence from a taboo to an offense.
History
SurrealismSurrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
was the first literary and artistic movement to become seriously associated with cinema, though it has also been a movement largely neglected by film critics and historians.This may be partially attributed to confusion regarding the nature and significance of Surrealism—even credited commentators often hesitate to probe surrealism’s abstract concepts.
It is not chance, though, that early Surrealism was linked with cinema
Cinema
Cinema may refer to:* Film, motion pictures or movies* Filmmaking, the process of making a film* Movie theater, a building in which films are shown* Cinema or Bommalattam, a Tamil film...
; the beginning foundations of the movement (circa 1900 with Apollinaire) coincided with the birth of motion picture. The Surrealists who then participated in the later, full-scale movement (during Breton’s time) were among the first generation to have grown up with film as a part of daily life.
Breton himself, even before the launching of the Surrealist movement, possessed an avid interest in film: while serving in the First World War, he was stationed in Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
and, during his spare time, would frequent the movie houses of France with a superior named Jacques Vaché
Jacques Vaché
Jacques Vaché was a friend of André Breton, the founder of surrealism. Vaché was one of the chief inspirations behind the Surrealist movement. As Breton said:...
.According to Breton’s recollections, he and Vaché paid no heed to movie titles or times—instead, they preferred to drop in at any given moment and view the playing films without any foreknowledge of what each one was supposed to convey.When they grew bored, they left and visited the next theater.Breton’s movie-going habits supplied him with a stream of images which had no constructed order about them. He could juxtapose the images of one film with those of another, and from the experience craft his own interpretation.
Referring to his experiences with Vaché, he once remarked, “I think what we [valued] most in it, to the point of taking no interest in anything else, was its power to disorient." (Disorientation, in this sense, meaning to take man out of his natural surroundings, be these material, mental, or emotional.)Breton believed that film could help one abstract himself from “real life” whenever he felt like it. This was the core idea behind surrealist film.
Other Surrealists of the early 1900’s favored serials over other kinds of films available—serials often contained cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
effects and hints of “other worldliness” which were attractive to early Surrealists. Examples include Houdini’s daredevil deeds and the escapades of Musidora
Musidora
Musidora was the stage name of Jeanne Roques, a popular French silent film actress. She became famous for her vamp roles in such film serials as Les Vampires and Judex, in which she developed a persona comparable to that of Theda Bara...
and Pearl White
Pearl White
Pearl Fay White was an American film actress, the so-called "Stunt Queen" of silent films, most notably in The Perils of Pauline.-Early life:...
in detective stories. What endeared Surrealists most to the serial genre was its ability to evoke and sustain a sense of mystery and suspense in viewers.
As film continued to develop in the 1920’s, a handful of Surrealists saw in it a medium which nullified reality’s boundaries.Film critic René Gardies wrote in 1968, “Now the cinema is, quite naturally, the privileged instrument for derealising (sic) the world. Its technical resources... allied with its photo-magic, provide the alchemical tools for transforming reality."
Why Film?
From Surrealism’s first years as an articulate, realized movement (around 1920), its artists were particularly fond of the use of cinema as a medium for expression.Cinema was a paradoxical medium: as it continued to develop in the 1920’s, many Surrealists saw in it an opportunity to portray the ridiculous as rational, blurring the line between the two. Cinema provided more convincing illusions than even its closest rival, theatre, could give, and thus the tendency for Surrealists to express themselves through film was a sign of their confidence in the adaptability of cinematography to Surrealism’s goals and requirements. They were the first to take seriously the resemblance between film’s imaginary images and those of dreams and the unconscious mind. Surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel once said of film, “The film seems to be the involuntary imitation of the dream.”Surrealist filmmakers sought to re-define human awareness of reality by illustrating that the “real” was little more than what was perceived as real; that reality was subject to no limits beyond those mankind imposed upon it. Whether as filmmakers, scriptwriters or members of theatre audiences, those who partake in Surrealist cinema experience a world in which imaginative elements become possible; Breton once compared the experiencing of Surrealist literature to “the point at which the waking state joins sleep.” His analogy helps to explain the advantage of cinema over books in facilitating the kind of release Surrealists sought from their daily pressures. The modernity of movies was appealing to the surrealists as well.
"Surrealist Film" versus "Surrealism in Film"
Critics of art and literature have debated back and forth on the legitimacy of the term “Surrealist Film”—many argue that such a term implies that “Surrealism” can be used to describe a genre*.Recognition of a cinematographic* genre involves the ability to cite many works which share thematic, formal, and stylistic traits. To refer to Surrealism as a genre is to imply that, within the scope of films so labeled, there is repetition of elements and a recognizable, “generic formula” which describes their makeup. Because Surrealism is based so much on the irrational and on non-sequitur*, several critics have argued the impossibility of Surrealist films to constitute a genre.
The debate has been spurred by the idea that, while there are some films which are true expressions of the movement, many other films which have been classified as Surrealist simply contain Surrealist fragments. Rather than “Surrealist film” the more accurate term for many so-classified works may be “Surrealism in film.”
Films of the Original Movement
- Entr’acte: (Released in December 4, 1924) Written by René Clair and Francis Picabia, and directed by Clair, Entr’acte is a 22-minute, silent, black and white French film in which someone is killed, and subsequently his coffin starts to go out of control. After several people chase the coffin, it stops, the deceased person gets out of it, and all those who were previously involved in the chase disappear.
- Le fantôme du Moulin-Rouge: (Released in February 1925 in the USA/March 1925 in France) Written by René Clair and Walter Schlee, and directed by Clair, Le fantôme is a 90-minute, silent, black and white French film in which a ghost wreaks havoc in Paris while doctors and authorities search for the dead body of the ghost.
- The Seashell and the ClergymanThe Seashell and the ClergymanThe Seashell and the Clergyman is considered by many to be the first surrealist film.-Production background:The film was directed by Germaine Dulac, from an original scenario by Antonin Artaud, and premiered in Paris on 9 February 1928...
: (Released in 1928) Written byAntonin Artaud, and directed by Germaine Dulac, The Seashell and the Clergyman is a 41-minute, silent, black and white German film in which a clergyman struggles with eroticism, obsession with a married woman, and visions of death and lust.
- Etoile de Mer: (Released in 1928) Written by Robert Desnos and directed by Man Ray, Etoile de Mer is a 21-minute, silent, black and white French film, depicting a man and woman on a road. The camera is out of focus. The couple proceed upstairs, the woman undresses, and then the man says, "Adieu." A sequence of images proceed, followed by a depiction of the man, still out of focus, muttering about the woman's beauty.
- Un Chien AndalouUn chien andalouUn Chien Andalou is a 1929 silent surrealist short film by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí. It was Buñuel's first film and was initially released in 1929 to a limited showing in Paris, but became popular and ran for eight months....
: (Released in 1929) Written by Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel, and directed by Buñuel, Un Chien Andalou is a 16-minute, silent, black and white French film, depicting a dream-like sequence in which a woman's eye is cut open, juxtaposed with an eye-shaped cloud. A man is shown with ants in his palms (in French, the phrase "ants in the palms" means "itching to kill." He pulls a piano, the Ten Commandments tablets, and a dead donkey toward a woman he desires to kill.
- L’Age d’or: (Released in 1930) Written by Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel, and directed by Buñuel, L'Age d'or is a 60 minute, monauralMonauralMonaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
, black and white French film. The film depicts a man and woman who are passionately in love. Their efforts to consummate their love are constantly hindered by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
Later Films
Joseph Cornell
Joseph Cornell was an American artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage...
produced surrealist films in the United States in the later 1930's (such as Rose Hobart in 1936). Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
, Philippe Soupault
Philippe Soupault
Philippe Soupault was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later founded the Surrealist movement with André Breton...
, and Robert Desnos
Robert Desnos
Robert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day.- Biography :...
wrote screenplays for later films. Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
designed a dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's film Spellbound
Spellbound (1945 film)
Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1945. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation by Angus...
(1945).
In 1946, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
and Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
began work on a film called Destino
Destino
Destino is an animated short film released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production originally began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion...
; the project was left unfinished due to a lack of projected profit.
Filmmakers
- Jean CocteauJean CocteauJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
- René ClairRené ClairRené Clair born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker.-Biography:He was born in Paris and grew up in the Les Halles quarter. He attended the Lycée Montaigne and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. During World War I, he served as an ambulance driver. After the war, he started a career as a journalist...
- Luis BuñuelLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
- Alfred HitchcockAlfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
- Antonin ArtaudAntonin ArtaudAntoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
- Robert DesnosRobert DesnosRobert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day.- Biography :...
- Salvador DalíSalvador DalíSalvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
- Francis PicabiaFrancis PicabiaFrancis Picabia was a French painter, poet, and typographist, associated with both the Dada and Surrealist art movements.- Early life :...
- Walter Schlee
- Germaine DulacGermaine DulacGermaine Dulac was a French filmmaker, film theorist, journalist and critic. She was born in Amiens and moved to Paris in early childhood. A few years after her marriage she embarked on a journalistic career in a feminist magazine, and later became interested in film...
- Man RayMan RayMan Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
Further reading
- Short, Robert. The Age of Gold: Surrealist Cinema. Creation Books, 2003. Print.
- Williams, Linda. Figures of Desire: A Theory and Analysis of Surrealist Film. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1981. Print.