The original 54-minute documentary, as broadcast by Channel Four on 20 June 1984, after which the animated links by the Quay Brothers were recompiled as a separate short.

Švankmajer demonstrates the darkly humorous approach to life and politics which the Czech authorities at one time regarded as so subversive that they banned him from film-making for eight years.

Featuring all 26 entries in the official filmography, this is the world's first complete DVD edition of the short films by the legendary Czech Surrealist filmmaker-animator Jan Švankmajer. Technically and conceptually astonishing in their own right, these films are also as remarkable for their philosophical consistency as for their frequently mind-boggling imagery. This package also includes a bonus short, Johanes Doktor Faust (1958), the longer cut of 'The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer' with a new introduction by the Quay Brothers, the documentary Les Chimeres des Švankmajer (2001), interviews with Jan and Eva Švankmajer and examples of their work in other media. There's also a chance to see some Švankmajer special effects, created when he was banned from directing his own films.

A prestidigitator orders his assistant to bring a cabinet, which is displayed piece by piece to the audience. Two gentlemen are then introduced; they enter the cabinet and are securely bound with ropes to the chairs. The doors are closed and immediately the heads of the two men appear through apertures in the doors. The doors are immediately thrown wide open and the men are disclosed bound to the chairs as securely as at first. From this moment the most amusing scenes are enacted without interruption. The poor prestidigitator even loses his head, which is found upon a stool, while his body has been struggling in the most amusing way.

Featuring music instead of any dialogue and set in a near Kafkaesque future, this loose remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari follows a bureaucrat whom mysterious Dr. Ramirez and his hideous sidekick want as their latest victim.

The last days of the Second World War in Prague.

Berlin, 1920-1930s. A colony of Russian cinematographers is creating film production on a truly Hollywood scale. Hundreds of studios, dozens of "stars", European blockbusters.

Becoming a wife of a minister, Zivka changes her former way of life and becomes a lady. However, her fashionable way of life is of short duration, since her husband is forced to resign after a being involved in a scandal. Based on a highly popular Serbian comedy novel by Branislav Nusic.

Jan Merta (1952) is currently one of the most important Czech visual artists. In his painting work, shaped by the postmodernism of the 1980s, he leans towards abstract abbreviation and symbolic depiction of reality through everyday objects. The film is a snapshot of his life filled with painting, working in his garden and cohabitation with his partner. The civilian camera follows Merta as he prepares an exhibition for which he attempts to create new works. However, his engagement with the current geopolitical situation enters into the work, as well as the discovery of new compositional principles and creative otherworldliness that co-create his enchanted personal world.

João Lucas works at a video store and always ends up revealing the ending of films to customers. After being approached by a girl who always rents the same movie, the two eccentric characters start to argue about the true meaning of the plot and attract each other through their passion for cinema.