About

From fantastical adventures to cautionary tales, 'Fairytales and Fables' looks at the cinematic allure of these two traditional forms, and their continued ability to enchant, enthral and unnerve.

The program reaches beyond the well-known animated Disney adaptations, which dominate contemporary understandings of fairytales in particular, to delve into wider filmic interpretations of European tales and their influence on these genres in North America and beyond. It considers the early silent magical tales of Georges Méliès and the animated fairytales and fables of Lotte Reiniger, through to fantastical contemporary tales by filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam and more. Ranging in tone from light-hearted romps to more disturbing accounts, the program incorporates cinematic renditions and reinterpretations of classic tales, as well as original stories that combine elements of fairytale and fable with parody, experimental film and horror.

'Fairytales and Fables' offers an opportunity to revisit some of the genre's most popular titles, and to discover other films that investigate and reinvigorate these narrative genres on the big screen.

QAGOMA thanks George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; National Film Archive, Prague; National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra and UCLA Film and Television Archive, Los Angeles for providing film prints. Program curated by Amanda Slack-Smith, Australian Cinémathèque.

List of Works

• Silent Cinema
• Highlighting the magical possibilities offered by silent cinema, this program strand explores the early silent tales of Georges Méliès, Lotte Reiniger and Ernst Lubitsch as well as the reappearance of the visual aesthetic of silent cinema in contemporary fairytale films.
• Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) 1902 | Director: Georges Méliès
• Le royaume des fées (The Kingdom of the Fairies) 1903 | Director: Georges Méliès
• La lanterne magique (The Magic Lantern) 1903 | Director: Georges Méliès
• Le voyage à travers l'impossible (An Impossible Voyage) 1904 | Director: Georges Méliès
• Le palais des mille et une nuits (The Palace of Arabian Nights) 1905 | Director: Georges Méliès
• Les aventures de baron de Munchhausen (Baron Munchausen's Dream) 1911 | Director: Georges Méliès
• Die Puppe (The Doll) 1919 | Director: Ernst Lubitsch
• Die Austernprinzessin (The Oyster Princess) 1919 | Director: Ernst Lubitsch
• Peter Pan 1924 | Director: Herbert Brenon
• Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed) 1926 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Der kleine Schornsteinfeger (Little Chimney Sweep) 1935 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Aladdin and the Magic Lamp 1953 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Snow White and Rose Red 1953 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Grasshopper and the Ant 1954 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Puss in Boots 1954 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• The Three Wishes 1954 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Sleeping Beauty 1954 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Thumbelina 1955 | Director: Lotte Reiniger
• Claire 2001 | Director: Milford Thomas
• Blancanieves 2012 | Director: Pablo Berger
• Coming of Age
• A selection of films that explores a reoccurring theme in fairytales and fables: the trope of a child abandoned - emotionally or physically - in an uncertain world. Left to confront seemingly insurmountable obstacles, these young protagonists become the author of their own narrative.
• Wizard of Oz 1939 | Directors: Victor Fleming, Mervyn Leroy, King Vidor
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 1971 | Director: Mel Stuart
• The Neverending Story 1984 | Director: Wolfgang Petersen
• The Company of Wolves 1984 | Director: Neil Jordan
• Labyrinth 1986 | Director: Jim Henson
• The Juniper Tree 1990 | Director: Nietzchka Keene
• Edward Scissorhands 1990 | Director: Tim Burton
• Kirikou et la sorcière (Kirikou and the Sorceress) 1998 | Director: Michel Ocelot
• Azur et Asmar (Azur and Asmar: The Princes' Quest) 2006 | Director: Michel Ocelot
• Where the Wild Things Are 2009 | Director: Spike Jonze
• Beasts of the Southern Wild 2012 | Director: Benh Zeitlin
• Classic Tales and Twists
• A selection of films offering cinematic renditions and reinterpretations of classic tales, as well as original stories that draw on the structural elements of both literary and oral fairytale and fable traditions.
• The Thief of Bagdad 1940 | Directors: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan
• The Red Shoes 1948 | Director: Michael Powell
• 7th Voyage of Sinbad 1958 | Director: Charles H Schneer
• Baron Prášil (The Fabulous Baron Munchausen) 1961 | Director: Karel Zeman
• The Pied Piper 1972 | Director: Jacques Demy
• Tri orísky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella) 1973 | Director: Václav Vorlícek
• Jabberwocky 1977 | Director: Terry Gilliam
• The Princess Bride 1987 | Director: Rob Reiner
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 1988 | Director: Terry Gilliam
• Sleepy Hollow 1999 | Director: Tim Burton
• Big Fish 2003 | Director: Tim Burton
• Corpse Bride 2005 | Director: Tim Burton
• The Fall 2006 | Director: Tarsem Singh
• Stardust 2007 | Director: Matthew Vaughn
• Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard) 2009 | Director: Catherine Breillat
• Rare Exports 2010 | Director: Jalmari Helander
• Animals and Shapeshifting
• Celebrating depictions of animals in folklore, these films feature anthropomorphic animals with human character traits and protagonists who have been physically transformed, voluntarily or not, into animal form through magical intervention. From the endearing fable of the sheep-herding pig Babe 1995 to the tortured prince bound in the body of a beast in the fairytale Beauty and the Beast 1946, these animal forms provide the plot device and moral lesson of the tales.
• Le Roman de Renard (The Story of the Fox) 1930 | Directors: Irene Starewicz, Wladyslaw Starewicz
• La belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast) 1946 | Director: Jean Cocteau
• Peau d'âne (Donkey Skin) 1970 | Director: Jacques Demy
• LadyHawke 1985 | Director: Richard Donner
• Babe 1995 | Director: Chris Noonan
• El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) 2006 | Director: Guillermo Del Toro
• Fantastic Mr. Fox 2009 | Director: Wes Anderson
• The Brick House 2013 | Director: Gustavo Cervantes
• Through the Looking Glass
• Drawing on the classic European fairytales, these films present the stories through another cultural lens. The program includes Cinderella Moon 2012 a film based on the Chinese tale Ye Xian (768 A.D.), on the earliest known literary version of Cinderella, the thrillers Cinderella 2006 and Hansel and Gretel 2007 from Korea, and Ponyo 2008 an eco-inspired spin on the Little Mermaid from Japan.
• Cinderella 2006 | Director: Bong Man-dae
• Henjel gwa Geuretel (Hansel and Gretel) 2007 | Director: Yim Pil-sung
• Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea) 2008 | Director: Hayao Miyazaki
• Cinderella Moon 2012 | Director: Richard Bowen
• Into The Woods
• Combining elements of fairytale with surrealistic and poetic filmmaking, this selection of films seeks to question,