Iluminace 2017, 29(1):51-68 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1502

Arthouse Films Produced by the Pharmaceutical Company Sandoz

Lea Petříková
Akademie múzických umění

The study maps a unique theme of film history - the corpus of arthouse films produced by the pharmaceutical company Sandoz. The Sandoz laboratories, founded in 1886, were the first to synthetize LSD and engaged in its research and production until as late as 1960s, the period during which the films under question were produced. Since the end of 1950s, the company even featured a specialized institution, Cinémathèque Sandoz, which was in charge of the production of specific artistic works with fine arts qualities. Cinémathèque Sandoz brought together a group of remarkable personalities - e.g., the man of letters and fine artist Henri Michaux, the director Éric Duvivier, the nephew of Julien Duvivier, or the director Jean-Daniel Pollet - and thus created, from the both period and contemporary perspective, a unique platform for the production of arthouse films. The study introduces an interdisciplinary exploration of the surprising, yet underresearched phenomenon of film history, which combines seemingly inconsistent fields, such as surrealist film, pharmaceutical industry, the production of Henri Michaux, and the production of LSD.

Keywords: art film, Cinémathèque Sandoz, film history, surrealist film, film production

Published: March 1, 2017  Show citation

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Petříková, L. (2017). Arthouse Films Produced by the Pharmaceutical Company Sandoz. Iluminace, 29(1), 51-68. doi: 10.58193/ilu.1502
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