1984Nominee
Best Director
The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer
Stephen Quay
Actor · Director · Writer
Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA
June 17, 1947
Biography
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.
Photo
Representative Works
Awards and Honors
Critical Favorites
2025Nominee
Best Director
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
2015Nominee
Best Performance
Quay
Career Highlights
1995Highlight
Best Director
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
1982Highlight
Best Performance
The Falls
Video
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
The Falls