The Extinct World of Gloves (Zaniklý svět rukavic)

Czechoslovakia, 1982. Director Jiří Bárta.

The gloves in Jiří Bárta’s 1982 animation become metaphors for people. In the film’s six episodes told through “found” film footage, gloves assume roles as diverse as policeman, dictator, war victim, lascivious hedonist, adulterous mistress, her cavalier and her dissatisfied husband. The humour and poignancy of  The Extinct World of Gloves derives not only from the well-observed typology of the glove characters Bárta presents, but also from the sophisticated body-language upon which their performances are chiefly based.

For further reading, see Petra Dominkova and Vaclav Kofron’s essay The Extinct Globe and the Found Glove.

Past screenings:

Between Stigma and Enigma – London
Tuesday 16 May 2006, 20:30 | ICA Cinema 1

The 1st Fashion in Film Festival – Prague
Thursday 28 September 2006, 20:30 | Kino Svetozor

The 1st Fashion in Film Festival – Arnhem
Sunday 17 Jun 2007, 14:00 | Focus

The 1st Fashion in Film Festival – New York
Saturday 17 March 2007, 14:00 | Museum of the Moving Image