Alice
PG

Sun 23 Aug · 14:30

Never meet your heroes… Apart from Jim Henson

22 Jul 2026 , programme news industry

When agit-prop puppetry meets Lewis Carroll, the result is Jan Svankmajer's dark film inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Strange, bewildering, haunting and beautiful, you’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Fantasy • Adventure • Hidden gem • Surreal

Part of reRUN

Part of No Strings On Me: Cinema’s Living Puppet

Legendary Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer combines live action and stop motion animation in this surreal adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale.

Dissatisfied with previous adaptations of Carroll’s Alice books, Jan Švankmajer puts the well-known story through his own distinctive worldview. Alice (Kristyna Kohoutova) follows her stuffed rabbit through a portal inside her dresser to be whisked away to Wonderland. While familiar characters White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat are still present, the fairytale world of other adaptations has undergone an unsettling transformation in Švankmajer debut feature.

Part of our season celebrating puppets - No Strings On Me: Cinema’s Living Puppet.

Details

Original language title

Neco z Alenky

Duration

1hr 26mins

Director

Jan Švankmajer

Distributor

Park Circus

Featuring

Kristýna Kohoutová

Year

1988

Country of origin

Czechoslovakia • Switzerland • UK • Germany

Strobe lighting

Content guidance

No content warnings identified

Part of reRUN

Our regular classics strand, exploring the depths of cinema’s rich history. Some films may be familiar, others might become new favourites – everything is ripe for rediscovery on the big screen!

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