The Kidnapping of the Sun and Moon
Sándor Reisenbüchler: four psychedelic shorts from Hungary’s hippie of animation
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12m
Directed by Sándor Reisenbüchler • 1968 • Hungary
Inspired by Carpathian folklore and based on the epic poem by Ferenc Juhász, this mesmerising animated short by the great Sándor Reisenbüchler imagines a world destroyed and then rebuilt. A fearsome, seven-headed dragon swallows the sun and moon, wreaking devastation on man and beast alike, until a hero with a flaming sword rides to the rescue. Reisenbüchler brings his folkloric, ecologically-minded worldview vividly to life with an eye-popping colour palette and a radical paper collage technique.
THE KIDNAPPING OF THE SUN AND MOON • A NAP ÉS A HOLD ELRABLÁSA
Written and directed by Sándor Reisenbüchler
From the poem by Ferenc Juhász
Cinematography by István Harsági
Music by Carl Orff, Krzysztof Penderecki, Antonio Vivaldi
In Hungarian with English subtitles
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, 1969
Up Next in Sándor Reisenbüchler: four psychedelic shorts from Hungary’s hippie of animation
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Moon Flight
Directed by Sándor Reisenbüchler • 1975 • Hungary
One of the finest examples of Sándor Reisenbüchler’s psychedelic take on animation, this cult classic short reimagines science fiction by way of sixties counterculture. Two scientists propose that the moon is in fact an ancient spaceship, and tra...
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Panic
Directed by Sándor Reisenbüchler • 1978 • Hungary
One of Sándor Reisenbüchler’s most playful and politically pointed shorts, Panic weds his familiar dazzling colour palette and engagingly naive visual style to a parable about the dangers of unchecked technology. An advanced civilisation...
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Ecotopia
Directed by Sándor Reisenbüchler • 1995 • Hungary
Dedicated to the memory of Fritz Lang, this rarely seen late short from Sándor Reisenbüchler offers up an eye-popping ecological vision. Moving from frantic cityscapes bursting with lurid colours and a phantasmagoria of commodities to idyllic pas...
