Blood Tea and Red String

A 16mm stop action animation film from 2006, Christiane Cegavske's Blood Tea and Red String is a marvel of imagination and aesthetic reach. Her fairy tale world is phantasmagorical with dialogue banished and narrative secondary to spell conjuring. The film's visual texture and splendor rival Bunuel and Švankmajer. There are aspects of the film that resemble American surrealists such as Anger, Lynch and the Quay brothers, but Cegavske is her own animal. She populates her film with creatures from the dark woods of fables. The result is a kaleidoscopic wonder of unbridled unconsciousness.

Too kinky and gory for the kids, Blood Tea and Red String, as the title implies, is awash with undigested clinical material. Mice drink and argue over cards, wings are clipped and all creatures struggle against bondage. A perverse little masterpiece. Ms. Cegavske's website, www.christianecegavske.com , is well worth a gander.