British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass

Synopsis

A ghostly train journey on a forgotten branch line transports a man visiting his dying father in a sanatorium to the edge of a mythic forest. The Quay Brothers third feature film - a tale told through puppet animation and live-action, inspired by the book 'The Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass' by Bruno Schulz.
Official Selection Venice Days 2024 - World premiere
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2024
Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2025

Details

Year
2024
Type of project
Features
Running time
76 min
Director
Quay Brothers (Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay)
Producer
Lucie Conrad
Executive Producer
Keith Griffiths
Principal cast
Tadeusz Janiszewski, Wioletta Kopaska, Andrzej Kak

Genre

Experimental Drama

Categories

Fiction Animation Artist Project and Video / Experimental

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

UK, Germany, Poland co-production

Supported by BFI

Koninck Studios SPK Galicia (UK), IKH Pictures Poroduction (PL), Telewizja Polska [TVP] (PL), The Match Factory (DE, UK), Adam Mickiewicz Institute (PL)

Koninck Studio SPK Galicia

c/o The Match Factory

Sales Company

The Match Factory

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

The Doll's Breath The Doll's Breath

Director: Quay Brothers (Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay)

Year: 2019

Horacio, a former window dresser, sets up complicated charades where women and life-sized dolls change places in a web of jealousy, betrayal and murder. Inspired by Felisberto Hernández's 'Las Hortensias'. Official Selection L'Étrange Festival 2019 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Special Events Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020 - Deep Focus

Experimental
Julie Root as Rita Last Strike

Director: Helen Lyons-Curran

Year: 2026

A woman's New Year's Eve plans are thrown off course in a taut and tense thriller.

Crime Horror Thriller Woman Director
A woman with dark brown hair holds a pair of scissors and looks frightened in a big house. The Daughters (Las hijas)

Director: Daniel Romero

Year: 2026

When Basque woman, Ane (20), is kidnapped by a male taxi driver, she wakes up in a mysterious house in the countryside and discovers that the three other women being held captive act as the kidnapper’s ‘daughters’, with the eldest ‘daughter’ released back into society each time a new daughter is brought into the house. Terrified, Ane must convince the other ‘daughters’ to escape, but they have other plans.

Horror Thriller