Private Collections

Three stories. A solitary sailor falls from his boat and washes ashore on a tropical island. While seeking rescue, he's found by a nearly naked woman who is playful and compliant. He decides to erase his signs of distress and remain on the island. What awaits? In the second, an adolescent searches for the words of a nursery rime he remembers bits of. His journey takes him into dreams, sexual awakening, and Oedipal fantasy. Third, a man of wealth in late-nineteenth century Paris hires a prostitute for the night. She's also cabaret performer...

Immoral Tales

Four erotic tales from in various historical eras. The first, 'The Tide', is set in the present day, and concerns a student and his young female cousin stranded on the beach by the tide, secluded from prying eyes. 'Therese Philosophe' is set in the nineteenth century, and concerns a girl being locked in her bedroom, where she contemplates the erotic potential of the objects contained within it. 'Erzsebet Bathory' is a portrait of the sixteenth-century countess who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins, while 'Lucrezia Borgia' concerns an ...

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne

In 19th century London, a sex maniac sneaks into the engagement party of Dr. Henry Jekyll and Miss Fanny Osbourne, turning the event into a nightmarish whirlpool of murder and debauchery

The Story of Sin

A beautiful Polish girl whose lover has gone to Rome to seek a divorce from his previous wife travels around Europe in search of him and suffers a variety of tragic adventures as the men around her try to fit her into their own selfish schemes.

Diptych

A short film by Walerian Borowczyk in two parts. The first 'panel' follows the morning routine of Leon Boyer who, despite being almost 100 years old, still farms the land, drives a vintage car, and plays with his two dogs. The second panel shows shots of beautiful flowers and a cat, to a recording of Tino Rossi singing 'La romance de Nadir / Je crois encore entendre' from Bizet's opera 'Les pêcheurs de perles'.

Banner of Youth

A short film advertising the newspaper Sztandar Młodych (The Banner of Youth), noteworthy for its abstract elements painted directly onto film stock. An attempt at showing the complexity of the world in a capsule, the film reflects the new policy of the openness to the West during the Thaw of the late 1950s in Poland.

Venus on the Half-Shell

Borowczyk’s portrait of the painter Bona Tibertelli de Pisis and her erotic fusions of men, women and molluscs.

A Private Collection

A witty and eye-opening tour through Borowczyk's own collection of vintage erotica. Originally intended as part of his 'Contes immoraux', it was released first as a separate short, and is therefore marks the turning-point between Borowczyk's career as a highly-regarded animator and surrealist filmmaker, and his subsequent career in the sexploitation field.

Holy Smoke!

An animated film made by Walerian Borowczyk for W.D. & H.O. Wills. A very pompous cigar smoker reminisces about the good old days when the lower classes knew their place and stayed away from cigars meant only for the privileged. However, after he and his society for cigar smokers watch an advert by British tobacco importers W.D. & H.O. Wills explaining their successive methods of cigar-making, his elitist ideals are shaken.

Joachim's Dictionary

A light-hearted animated romp through the alphabet, with each letter identified by both a word and a visual interpretation of that word, by the crudely-drawn Joachim.

Infernal Symphony

The chance encounter between a rebel devil and a nubile angel.

The Concert

A short film by Walerian Borowczyk. Ostensibly a film of a concert given by the round, unassuming Monsieur Kabal and his spiky, terrifying wife, it's actually a cover for their frequent attempts at causing each other extreme physical harm.

The Phonograph

An old phonograph assembles itself, plays songs on wax drums before self destructing. In many ways The Phonograph is a companion piece to Renaissance, there is nevertheless something quietly affecting about Borowczyk’s final ‘object’ animation.