Frans Zwartjes

A man and his female helper lather a blindfolded woman's naked body with various foodstuffs.

Frans Zwartjes' adaptation of Euripides' tragedy, originally produced for stage by the actresses Josée Ruiter and Çanci Geraerdts.

Zwartjes made many films without dialogue or sound. The music can however be very important. Zwartjes composes it himself, sometimes together with his brother Rudolf and Lodewijk de Boer. Audition is a fine example of a Zwartjes film with an important soundtrack. It is a visual improvisation of cinematography and acting. There is hardly a ‘story line’. A man and a woman watch another woman singing, predominantly in exciting black and white images.

A strangely-dressed man reaches for some sorbet and then eats it; A playful, expertly-edited excercise from Zwartjes.

In a monumental building a group of scientists submit women to obscure experiments in which sexuality and cruelty constantly merge into one another. "Pentimento" is an art-historical term for a hidden image underneath the actual image giving an indication of how the latter evolved to its current state.

A short documentary about dancer and choreographer Rudi van Dantzig.

Film in three parts. A man and a woman, Trix Zwartjes and Lodewijk de Boer (Zwartjes’s regular actors) circle around each other in a house and outside at the water side. They attract and reject each other.

An experimental film by Dutch filmmaker Frans Zwartjes.

Short, abstract film of a woman in a toilet. Black and white film with some tinted shots.

Compilation film consisting of material from various artists who are involved in body art

The central element in this film is formed by the preparation for and execution of a performance. The performance, a parachute jump, is carried out by an artist (Perrenet) and his girlfriend during the opening of an exhibition. As spectators to the performance, which takes place in the artist’s studio, an art dealer and several friends have been invited. The art dealer enters first, followed by Armand, who looks at some paintings made by Zwartjes; they spout the usual ‘gallery nonsense’. The art dealer appears most interested in the girlfriend. ‘My latest creation’ is how Amand introduces her. The guests who arrive thereafter are introduced in short, independent sections.

Film shot entirely in the open air with women walking around a garden, life-sized photos in the grass and people at the table. A film from the series Home Sweet Home.

Frans Zwartjes and his wife explore their new home, and the sexual tension they've brought with them to it.

Zwartjes' reflections on Beckett, situated between trees.

A woman plays with a bird as the camera's gaze is drawn to her legs.

A man in drag sits on a couch holding a fan. The wallpaper behind him is floral patterned. Although the man does little more than looking around and waving his fan, Zwartjes created enormous tension.

To mark his ninetieth birthday, EYE has restored Zwartjes’ very first film, originally shot on Super-8 and long thought lost. Zwartjes started his career as a violinist and visual artist. He took photographs, made music and built instruments – but only really broke through with his equally craftsmanlike films.

An experimental look at the sexual life of a couple.

Observations of a woman with a Japanese mask dressed in a large painted robe. She moves along the ground amid a (photographed or painted) backdrop of trees and a Japanese window. In the beginning, she is restless and her movements occasionally reveal her naked body beneath the robe. After a climax, also in the music, she is quiet and introverted.

"The Great Magician" - A portrait of Frans Zwartjes (1927-2017), sometimes called 'the most important experimental filmmaker of his time' by the American essayist Susan Sontag.