A Game with Stones

A Game with Stones is a 1965 short animated film by Czech animator Jan Švankmajer. It utilizes stop-motion animation.

Themes

The animator uses a motif of clocks and stones, accompanied by bizarre sounds and a xylophone/music box score. The film makes use of texture and pattern, with an emphasis on the dichotomy of black and white. The use of old and antique objects reappears in many of the filmmaker's later works.

Production

The film was Švankmajer's first collaboration with Austrian producer Alexander Hans Puluj and cinematographer Peter Puluj, who were both born in Prague. They were sons of a famous physicist Ivan Puluj. The whole film was shot in an Austrian farmhouse.