Stephen Quay
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- June 17, 1947
- Birthplace
- Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA
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.
Filmography
Postscriptum. Ruminations on My Craft 2026
Director
- Sledgehammer Revealed
Sledgehammer Revealed 2026
as Self
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass 2025
Director, Animation, Screenplay, Sound, Editor
- The Art Teacher from Drohobycz: Bruno Schulz
The Art Teacher from Drohobycz: Bruno Schulz 2022
Director
Ghosts and Whispers 2022
Animation, Director
11 Preliminary Orbits Around Planet Lem 2021
Director
VadeMecum 2021
Director
The Doll's Breath 2019
Director
- The Music of Zdeněk Liška
The Music of Zdeněk Liška 2017
as Self
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin 2015
Actor
Quay 2015
as Self, Thanks
Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H. 2013
Animation, Writer, Director
Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum) 2011
Director, Editor, Sound, Animation
Behind the Scenes with the Quay Brothers 2011
as Self
Wonderwood: Comme des garçons 2010
Director
Maska 2010
Director, Writer
Inside The Institute 2010
Actor
The Art of Time 2009
Actor
Kinoteka Ident 2009
Director
The Bug Trainer 2009
as Self - stop-motion animator
- Inventorium of Traces
Inventorium of Traces 2009
Sound Designer, Director, Director of Photography, Editor
Eurydice: She, So Beloved 2007
Director, Editor, Set Designer
Alice in Not So Wonderland 2007
Writer, Cinematography, Director
Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers 2007
Director
The Making of "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes" 2006
Actor
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes 2005
Director, Writer, Production Design
Quay Brothers: The Short Films 1979-2003 2004
Director
The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection 2003
as Librarian, Director, Animation
Songs for Dead Children 2003
Director
Sonic Cinema: Sparklehorse 2001
Director
Stille Nacht V: Dog Door 2001
Director, Writer
The Sandman 2000
Director
In Absentia 2000
Director, Animation
The Brothers Quay Collection: Ten Astonishing Short Films 1984-1993 2000
Director
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life 1995
Director, Writer
The Summit 1995
Director
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You 1993
Director, Camera Operator, Animation
Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods 1993
Director, Animation, Camera Operator
Anamorphosis 1993
Director, Editor, Animation, Camera Operator, Art Direction, Decorator
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? 1992
Director, Animation, Camera Operator
The Comb 1991
Director, Writer, Editor, Camera Operator, Animation, Art Direction
The Calligrapher 1991
Director, Animation
Ex Voto 1989
Director
Rain Dance 1988
Director
Stille Nacht I: Dramolet 1988
Director
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies 1988
Director, Cinematography, Animation, Decorator
Tales of the Brothers Quay 1987
Director
Street of Crocodiles 1986
Director, Editor, Writer, Production Design, Animation
This Unnameable Little Broom 1985
Director, Director of Photography, Writer
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer: Prague's Alchemist of Film 1984
Director
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer 1984
Director, Director of Photography
- Janáček: Intimate Excursions
Janáček: Intimate Excursions 1983
Director
The Falls 1982
as Ipson Fallari
- Igor Stravinsky: The Paris Years Chez Pleyel 1920-1929
Igor Stravinsky: The Paris Years Chez Pleyel 1920-1929 1982
Director
- A Fratricide
A Fratricide 1981
Director, Animation
The Eternal Day of Michel de Ghelderode 1981
Director, Writer
Punch and Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy 1981
Animation, Director
Nocturna Artificialia 1979
Director, Cinematography
Credits from TMDB.