This film is part of Rentals

The Phantom Museum
The Quay Brothers' partly animated exploration of the Wellcome Trust's medical collections.
Director: Brothers Quay
Overview
The Quay Brothers' exploration of the collections of medical paraphernalia amassed by Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), originally commissioned as a video installation for the British Museum's 2003 exhibition 'Medicine Man: The Forgotten Museum of Henry Wellcome'. The result is less a guided tour than a typically idiosyncratic foray through the collection's eccentrically selected miscellany.
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