"It will combine dark comedy, grotesque, classic horror genre, and both animation and feature acting," Švankmajer said. He had previously worked on this Čapek´s novel back in 1970´s and dreamed for years of making this film.

"This Čapek´s play is a very misanthropic, and I always liked it - bugs behave as a human beings, and people behave as insects. It also reminds one a lot of Franz Kafka and his famous ‘Metamorphosis'," he added.

Insects is still at the very early stage of preparation, with plans to release the film in 2015, Švankmajer´s long-time producer Jaromír Kallista of Athanor (www.athanor.cz), Kallista and Švankmajer´s production company, confirmed.

Kallista said the budget is estimated at CZK 40 million, and the film will be produced and shot primarily at Švankamjer´s studio in Knovíz, central Bohemia, as were his previously films. Kallista has worked on all of Švankmajer´s films, which include Aspects of Alice (1987), Faust Lesson (1994), Otesánek (2000) and Lunacy (2005).

"We are working on the first draft of the screenplay, and discussing the art production and its visual form, and the actors we would like to have in this project," Kallista said. The funding is still not secured. "We are thinking also about foreign coproducers, and we already spoke with several people at the last Rotterdam festival as Jan Švankmajer has such a good reputation abroad. Seriously, we´d love to do this film. However we are both very old mates. Švankmajer is 76 and I'm 72. We are still filmmakers, and we still passionately need to shoot new films. It's like a breathe of fresh air," he concluded.

ATHANOR
Jaromír Kallista & Jan Švankmajer
Knovíz 35
274 01
Czech Republic

Contact address:

U 5. baterie 21

162 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
Tel.: +420 233 322 905

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