This film is currently unavailable
Invention for Destruction
Karel Zeman's wildly inventive take on the stories of Jules Verne, told with a ground-breaking, pre-'steampunk' combination of live-action, animation and design.
Director: Karel Zeman
Overview
Karel Zeman's heartfelt homage to Jules Verne's wonderful tales of science and adventure, and a valiant cry against man's propensity for self-destruction by the ‘Czech Méliès’, who has been a profound influence on generations of filmmakers.
Originally released to huge success in 1960 as The Fabulous World of Jules Verne, it tells the story of the brilliant but naïve scientist Roch, whose inventions are coveted by the power-hungry Count Artigas wanting to take over the world. When pirates in a submarine kidnap Roch, taking him to Artigas’s laboratory to develop a superweapon, it is up to Roch’s assistant Hart to warn an unsuspecting world to rally and defend itself. Wildly inventive, and breaking new ground in its combination of live-action, animation and design, Invention for Destruction created a 'steampunk' aesthetic decades ahead of its time with Zdeněk Liška being responsible for the innovative music, from elegant harpsichord to foursquare fairground waltz and beyond.
very mild threat, violenceRelated
Memoir of a Snail Memoir of a Snail
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2024 95 mins Director: Adam Elliot
Nick Cave and Sarah Snook voice an Oscar-nominated stop-motion classic of divided twins, told with adult candour and uncanny warmth.
Ghost in the Shell Ghost in the Shell
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1995 83 mins Director: Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii's beautifully animated and disturbingly prophetic anime classic about the hunt for a supreme hacker in a transhumanist dystopia.
Watership Down Watership Down
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1978 92 mins Director: Martin Rosen
An apocalyptic vision pushes a group of rabbits to abandon their warren in search of a new home, in this landmark British animation.
Requiem for a Village Requiem for a Village
Documentary 1975 68 mins Director: David Gladwell
The idyllic, pastoral past of a Suffolk village is reborn through memory in this extraordinary, little-known film from director David Gladwell.
Un Chien Andalou Un Chien Andalou
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1928 16 mins Silent Director: Luis Buñuel
A scabrous study of desire, the subconscious and anti-clericalism - Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative first film is a classic of Surrealist cinema.
Eden and After Eden and After
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1969 98 mins Director: Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s sensual fantasy follows a group of students who enter a bizarre sado-masochistic realm after taking a mysterious drug.
Last Exit to Brooklyn Last Exit to Brooklyn
Crime 1989 104 mins Director: Uli Edel
Jennifer Jason Leigh stars in the controversial drama about the underbelly of 1950s Brooklyn, from the pen of Hubert Selby Jr (Requiem for a Dream).
Four Mothers Four Mothers
Drama 2023 89 mins Director: Darren Thornton
Hilarious, uplifting tale of an Irish son juggling four very different mothers over one chaotic weekend in Dublin.
Of Horses and Men Of Horses and Men
Drama 2013 81 mins Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Human romance and a passion for horses intertwine in this wildly beautiful, darkly funny equine tale from Iceland.
2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.
Blind Blind
Drama 2013 96 mins Director: Eskil Vogt
A woman’s blindness sharpens her capacity for imagination and fantasy in the Eskil Vogt’s inventive debut.
The People vs. Larry Flynt The People vs. Larry Flynt
Biopic 1996 130 mins Director: Milos Forman
Milos Forman’s provocative biopic starring Woody Harrelson as a notorious pornographer turned unlikely hero and champion of free speech.