Stephen Quay

Directing·Jun 17, 1947·Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA

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Stephen Quay was born in 1947 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA. He studied illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art and later continued his education at the Royal College of Art in London, where he met his twin brother Timothy and began collaborating in animation. Together, they founded Atelier Koninck and produced their first experimental short films in the late 1970s. Throughout his career, Stephen has directed and co-directed short films, feature films, and stop-motion projects, including Nocturna Artificialia (1979), Street of Crocodiles (1986), Institute Benjamenta (1995), and The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005). His work is characterized by dreamlike, detailed, and symbolic worlds, often using dolls and carefully crafted objects to create surreal and unsettling atmospheres.

Film	Credit
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass2025 · Director, Screenplay	Director, Screenplay
TThe Art Teacher from Drohobycz: Bruno Schulz2022 · Director	Director
Ghosts and Whispers2022 · Director	Director
11 Preliminary Orbits Around Planet Lem2021 · Director	Director
VadeMecum2021 · Director	Director
The Doll's Breath2019 · Director	Director
TThe Music of Zdeněk Liška2017 · Self	Self
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin2015 · Actor	Actor
Quay2015 · Self	Self
Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H.2013 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Behind the Scenes with the Quay Brothers2011 · Self	Self
Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)2011 · Director	Director
Wonderwood: Comme des garçons2010 · Director	Director
Maska2010 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Inside The Institute2010 · Actor	Actor
The Art of Time2009 · Actor	Actor
Kinoteka Ident2009 · Director	Director
The Bug Trainer2009 · Self - stop-motion animator	Self - stop-motion animator
IInventorium of Traces2009 · Director, Director of Photography	Director, Director of Photography
Eurydice: She, So Beloved2007 · Director	Director
Alice in Not So Wonderland2007 · Writer, Director	Writer, Director
Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers2007 · Director	Director
The Making of "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes"2006 · Actor	Actor
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes2005 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
Quay Brothers: The Short Films 1979-20032004 · Director	Director
The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection2003 · Librarian, Director	Librarian, Director
Songs for Dead Children2003 · Director	Director
Sonic Cinema: Sparklehorse2001 · Director	Director
Stille Nacht V: Dog Door2001 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Sandman2000 · Director	Director
In Absentia2000 · Director	Director
The Brothers Quay Collection: Ten Astonishing Short Films 1984-19932000 · Director	Director
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life1995 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Summit1995 · Director	Director
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You1993 · Director	Director
Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods1993 · Director	Director
Anamorphosis1993 · Director	Director
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married?1992 · Director	Director
The Comb1991 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
The Calligrapher1991 · Director	Director
Ex Voto1989 · Director	Director
Rain Dance1988 · Director	Director
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies1988 · Director	Director
Stille Nacht I: Dramolet1988 · Director	Director
Tales of the Brothers Quay1987 · Director	Director
Street of Crocodiles1986 · Director, Writer	Director, Writer
This Unnameable Little Broom1985 · Director, Director of Photography, Writer	Director, Director of Photography, Writer
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer1984 · Director, Director of Photography	Director, Director of Photography