Surreal in the Suburbs

The Surrealist artistic movement was born in the aftermath of World War I, as shell-shocked nations strove to rebuild and artists began to explore the unconscious mind, seeking to synthesize an expression of the illogical world of dreams with the cold reality they found themselves in. Most Surrealists considered themselves philosophers first, expressing their worldview in their artistic pieces, which were secondary to their exploration of Surrealist ideas. A revolutionary movement, Surrealism sought to challenge the traditional function of art to represent reality by using irrational, absurd, and psychological imagery. Surrealism was the first artistic movement to become seriously associated with cinema, as the Surrealists were, in large part, the first generation of artists to have grown up with motion pictures as a part of daily life. The Surrealists saw in film a medium that eliminated reality's boundaries and allowed a pure expression of Surrealist aesthetic ideas. Beginning in France and dominated by Parisian Surrealists, the movement grew throughout the Western world and merged with the aesthetic popularity of the Expressionist movement in Germany, which sought to portray the internal psychology of its subjects as an external expression of their surrounding world. The independent art film community of the 1920s embraced Surrealism, producing a number of incredible titles ranging from abstract animation to portraits of city life and films that defied narrative even as they engaged with it. These short films proved highly influential on generations of filmmakers, even in commercial Hollywood, where filmmakers like Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock collaborated with Salvador Dalí. Surrealist ideas continue to inform cinematic language through the films of David Lynch and other modern masters. The Calgary Cinematheque is excited to present a curated selection of these classic shorts, accompanied by live music.