Cast & creator
Stephen Quay
Best known for Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
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.
114
film credits
0
television credits
11
1979–2026 · acting roles
6.3
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
★ 5.8Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Director · 2025
★ 5.8Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Screenplay · 2025
★ 5.8Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Animation · 2025
★ 5.8Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Editor · 2025
★ 5.8Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Sound · 2025
Across film & television
Filmography (114)
Showing 114 of 114 credits
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Director
2025Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Screenplay
2025Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Animation
2025Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Editor
2025Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Sound
2025
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Director
2005The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Writer
2005The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Production Design
2005Sledgehammer Revealed
Self
2026
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
Director
1995Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
Writer
1995
The Doll's Breath
Director
2019
The 1000 Eyes of Dr Maddin
2015
Quay
Self
2015Quay
Thanks
2015Inventorium of Traces
Director
2009Inventorium of Traces
Director of Photography
2009Inventorium of Traces
Editor
2009Inventorium of Traces
Sound Designer
2009
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer: Prague's Alchemist of Film
Director
1984
Punch and Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy
Director
1981Punch and Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy
Animation
1981
Stille Nacht V: Dog Door
Director
2001Stille Nacht V: Dog Door
Writer
2001
Eurydice: She, So Beloved
Editor
2007Eurydice: She, So Beloved
Director
2007Eurydice: She, So Beloved
Set Designer
2007
The Art of Time
2009
The Falls
Ipson Fallari
1982
Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)
Director
2011Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)
Sound
2011Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)
Editor
2011Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)
Animation
2011
This Unnameable Little Broom
Director
1985This Unnameable Little Broom
Writer
1985This Unnameable Little Broom
Director of Photography
1985
The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection
Librarian
2003The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection
Director
2003
Alice in Not So Wonderland
Director
2007Alice in Not So Wonderland
Writer
2007Alice in Not So Wonderland
Cinematography
2007
The Making of "The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes"
2006
Inside The Institute
2010
Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods
Director
1993Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods
Animation
1993Stille Nacht III: Tales from Vienna Woods
Camera Operator
1993
Street of Crocodiles
Director
1986Street of Crocodiles
Editor
1986Street of Crocodiles
Writer
1986Street of Crocodiles
Production Design
1986Street of Crocodiles
Animation
1986
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer
Director
1984The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer
Director of Photography
1984
Rain Dance
Director
1988
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
Director
1988Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
Cinematography
1988Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
Animation
1988Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
Decorator
1988
Tales of the Brothers Quay
Director
1987
Stille Nacht I: Dramolet
Director
1988
The Sandman
Director
2000
The Eternal Day of Michel de Ghelderode
Director
1981The Eternal Day of Michel de Ghelderode
Writer
1981
Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H.
Animation
2013Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H.
Writer
2013Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H.
Director
2013
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You
Director
1993Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You
Camera Operator
1993Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You
Animation
1993Igor Stravinsky: The Paris Years Chez Pleyel 1920-1929
Director
1982
VadeMecum
Director
2021
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married?
Director
1992Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married?
Animation
1992Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married?
Camera Operator
1992
The Comb
Director
1991The Comb
Writer
1991The Comb
Animation
1991The Comb
Art Direction
1991The Comb
Camera Operator
1991The Comb
Editor
1991
Wonderwood: Comme des garçons
Director
2010
Quay Brothers: The Short Films 1979-2003
Director
2004The Art Teacher from Drohobycz: Bruno Schulz
Director
2022
Behind the Scenes with the Quay Brothers
Self
2011
The Brothers Quay Collection: Ten Astonishing Short Films 1984-1993
Director
2000
11 Preliminary Orbits Around Planet Lem
Director
2021The Music of Zdeněk Liška
Self
2017
Sonic Cinema: Sparklehorse
Director
2001
Songs for Dead Children
Director
2003
The Bug Trainer
Self - stop-motion animator
2009
Maska
Director
2010Maska
Writer
2010
Anamorphosis
Director
1993Anamorphosis
Animation
1993Anamorphosis
Art Direction
1993Anamorphosis
Camera Operator
1993Anamorphosis
Editor
1993Anamorphosis
Decorator
1993
The Calligrapher
Director
1991The Calligrapher
Animation
1991A Fratricide
Director
1981A Fratricide
Animation
1981
The Summit
Director
1995
In Absentia
Director
2000In Absentia
Animation
2000
Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers
Director
2007
Ghosts and Whispers
Director
2022Ghosts and Whispers
Animation
2022
Nocturna Artificialia
Director
1979Nocturna Artificialia
Cinematography
1979Kieślowski by Quays
Director
Janáček: Intimate Excursions
Director
1983
Kinoteka Ident
Director
2009
Ex Voto
Director
1989