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Up Next in Science Is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlevé

  • Acera, or The Witches’ Dance

    Directed by Jean Painlevé • 1972 • France

    The lives of miniscule mollusks are intimately captured as they wallow in mud, mate and give birth. Director Jean Painlevé sublimely sets their dance like movements to music.

  • The Vampire

    Directed by Jean Painlevé • 1945 • France

    Jean Painlevé’s short THE VAMPIRE draws the connection between the movie monsters of the same name and the South American vampire bat. The animal’s gruesome feeding habits are on full display.

  • Freshwater Assassins

    Directed by Jean Painlevé • 1947 • France

    The academic and the fantastic merge in Jean Painlevé’s educational film about the food chain in a freshwater pond.