LITTLE OTIK

(2000) dir. Jan Svankmajer; 132min.

FRIDAY, August 6th at 7 & 9:30pm

SATURDAY, August 7th at 7 & 9:30pm

SUNDAY, August 8th at 3pm

A combination of real actors and stop-action animation, Jan Svankmajer's "Little Otik" is a handmade dream, cobbled together from dirt, wood and more imagination than most of us can muster in our most fevered states. The film centers on a desperate, childless couple, Karel (Jan Hartl) and his anxious wife, Bozena (Veronika Zilkova). When Karel finds a tree stump that reminds him of a baby and brings it to Bozena, she hungrily lavishes it with maternal care and demands they treat it as a real child. Because this Czech master refuses to work in the scrubbed, antiseptic manner of most animators, this fable comes to life as hilarious and creepy.

– Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times