Down the Rabbit Hole: Films inspired by Carroll's Alice books.
A "canon" of films inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice novels. Includes films cited as being Carroll-esque by reviewers and scholars, as well as films from the festivals "Alice and other Lost Girls in Fantastic Worlds" (LACMA, 2011) "Alice: A Mental Journey" (Kyoto Minami-Kaikan, 2015) "Alice is Everywhere" (ACMI, 2018) and "Alice film programme: Through the Looking-Glass" (EyeFilmMuseum, 2019)
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- DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018. Played EyeFilmMuseum's "Alice film programme: Through the Looking-Glass" in 2019.
Based on the L Frank Baum novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". - DirectorMaya DerenStarsJohn CageMaya DerenAlexander HammidSilently, a woman wakes on a beach as the tides go in reverse. Her dreamscape unfolds as she tries to locate a chess piece traveling from the beach to a party to a country road and then back.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorSidney PetersonStarsMarie HirshA number of scenes are cut and assembled together to explore the meaning and interpretation of art.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorRay AshleyMorris EngelRuth OrkinStarsRichard BrewsterWinifred CushingJay WilliamsA young boy fears that he shot his older brother, who is only faking. He then runs away to Coney Island, a crowded beach area, and gets money by returning soda bottles for their deposits.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsCatherine DemongeotPhilippe NoiretHubert DeschampsWith her mother away for the weekend, a brash and precocious ten-year-old country girl sets out to explore Paris during a Métro strike under her uncle's not-so-watchful eye. But can a little girl cause so much chaos in the city centre?Played Kyoto Minami-Kaikan's "Alice: A Mental Journey" film festival in 2015
Based on the Raymond Queneau novel of the same name. - DirectorFederico FelliniStarsGiulietta MasinaSandra MiloMario PisuVisions, memories, and mysticism all help a 40-something woman to find the strength to leave her cheating husband.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsIvana KarbanováJitka CerhováMarie CeskováAfter realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves. They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?Played LA LACMA's "Alice and Other Lost Girls in Fantastic Worlds" film festival in 2011.
- DirectorWilliam KleinStarsDorothy McGowanJean RochefortSami FreyA model tells a television crew about her dreams of a life with Prince Charming while she is fending off the lecherous advances of a horde of men.
- DirectorJud YalkutStarsYayoi KusamaJoe JonesDon SnyderThe artist uses polka dots to cover and conceal people, animals, the environment, and everything around. It is a metaphor of giving up identity, abolishing uniqueness, and becoming one with the universe-or "self-obliteration."Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsJaroslava SchallerováHelena AnýzováPetr KoprivaSurreal tale in which love, fear, sex, and religion merge into one fantastic world. Based on a classical Czech novel of the same title.Played LA LACMA's "Alice and Other Lost Girls in Fantastic Worlds" film festival in 2011. Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
Based on the Vitezslav Nezval novel of the same name. - DirectorVera ChytilováStarsJitka NovákováKarel NovakJan SchmidAn experimental retelling of the story of Adam and Eve which then progresses into an allegorical depiction of loss of innocence.Played LA LACMA's "Alice and Other Lost Girls in Fantastic Worlds" film festival in 2011.
- DirectorPavel JurácekStarsLubomír KostelkaKlára JernekováMilena ZahrynowskaLemuel Gulliver (Lubomír Kostelka) has had a car accident and continues his journey across the unknown countryside on foot. On the road he finds a dead rabbit dressed like a man and takes a watch from its waistcoat breast pocket. The half-ruined house that he enters reminds Lemuel of his childhood and brings up a painful memory of a dearly loved girl Markéta who was drowned years ago. Gulliver finds himself in Balnibarbi, a country where he doesn't understand the laws and habits and so continually offends against public decency. It is a day when people are ordered to keep their mouths shut and they force their visitor to follow suit. He faces harsh interrogation and finds it difficult to explain that he is not the rabbit Oscar whose watch has been found in his possession.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerLewis Carroll's poem is read and followed by a free-form animated depiction of images and toys from childhood, repeatedly overturned by a live cat.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsMarcello MastroianniSydne RomeHugh GriffithDuring her Italian vacation, a young and beautiful American tourist finds herself as a guest in a coastal villa inhabited by some odd people.Content warning: Contains sexual behaviour considered outdated.
Played EyeFilmMuseum's "Alice film programme: Through the Looking-Glass" in 2019. - DirectorJacques RivetteStarsJuliet BertoDominique LabourierBulle OgierA mysteriously linked pair of young women find their daily lives preempted by a strange boudoir melodrama that plays itself out in a hallucinatory parallel reality.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsYella RottländerRüdiger VoglerLisa KreuzerA German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsCathryn HarrisonTherese GiehseAlexandra StewartTo escape a gender war, a girl flees to a remote farmhouse and becomes part of an extensive family's unusual, perhaps even supernatural, lifestyle.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsSylvia KristelCharles VanelFernand LedouxAlice Carol leaves her husband one rainy night, telling him that she does not love him anymore. She travels alone but when her windscreen breaks on a lonely road, she has to stop and seek help. She goes to a creepy manor and is welcomed by the owner, Henri Vergennes, and his butler, Colas. Alice is invited to spend the night in the house. The next morning, Alice can't find the two men from he previous night but finds her car surprisingly fixed. She tries to leave but cannot find the gate. She stops the car and walks around the wall trying to find an exit but becomes increasingly worried with what she finds.Has an Essay in the 2018 ACMI Exhibition book "Wonderland: Alice on Screen" written by Darragh O’Donoghue
- DirectorJan SvankmajerStarsMonika Belo-CabanováOlga VronskáAleksandr LetkoA little girl goes down to the basement cellar to fetch some potatoes, and finds all her hidden fears about the cellar depicted in animated form.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018
- DirectorWalter MurchStarsFairuza BalkNicol WilliamsonJean MarshDorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.Based on L Frank Baum's books "Land of Oz" and "Ozma of Oz".
- DirectorSusan SeidelmanStarsRosanna ArquetteMadonnaAidan QuinnA bored New Jersey suburban housewife's fascination with a free-spirited woman she has read about in the personal columns leads to her being mistaken for the woman herself.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsGriffin DunneRosanna ArquetteVerna BloomAn ordinary word processor has the worst night of his life after he agrees to visit a girl in Soho he met that evening at a coffee shop.
- DirectorJim HensonStarsDavid BowieJennifer ConnellyToby FroudSixteen-year-old Sarah must solve a labyrinth to rescue her baby brother when he is taken by the Goblin King.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJoëlle MiquelJessica FordeMr. HousseauTwo unlike girls are going to learn each other's world - lovely countryside and bustling Paris.Thematically similar to "Celine and Julie Go Boating" (1974) and has a 2 protagonist duality similar to "Daisies" (1966)
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNicolas CageLaura DernWillem DafoeYoung lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.Content warning: Contains strong, extreme violence and sexual content.
Played EyeFilmMuseum's "Alice film programme: Through the Looking-Glass" in 2019.
Based on the novel of the same name by Barry Gilford. - DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowWilliam HurtJoe MantegnaA spoiled Manhattan housewife re-evaluates her life after visiting a Chinatown healer.Inspired by "Juliette of the Spirits" from 1965
- DirectorStephen QuayTimothy QuayA tear falls from the eyes of a veiled face. A white ball whips around a heart-shaped paddle. A mournful voice sings, "Are we still married?" A child's stuffed rabbit watches, sees someone's legs hanging and shoes jiggling, and sees a girl holding a heart-shaped paddle. A hand seen through a door's glass knocks incessantly; the lock jiggles, the child holds the heart-shaped object and leans against the wall, sometimes moving up and down on the toes of her shoes. The rabbit watches, plays with the ball, tries to keep the door shut. The child raises her face; we see a woman's eyes.Has an Essay in the 2018 ACMI Exhibition book "Wonderland: Alice on Screen" written by James Hewison.
- DirectorStephen QuayTimothy QuayA short black and white animated film with a contemporary musical accompaniment.Has an Essay in the 2018 ACMI Exhibition book "Wonderland: Alice on Screen" written by James Hewison.
- DirectorKôji MorimotoStarsChika SakamotoYôko SômiHiro YûkiIt's bedtime and Nonoko is about to go to sleep. But the play of light and shadow on those objects on the wall, look almost like - a person.
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.Content warning: Contains strong violence.
Played EyeFilmMuseum's "Alice film programme: Through the Looking-Glass" in 2019. - DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsDaveigh ChaseSuzanne PleshetteMiyu IrinoDuring her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
- DirectorHiroyuki MoritaStarsChizuru IkewakiYoshihiko HakamadaAki MaedaAfter helping a cat, a seventeen-year-old girl finds herself involuntarily engaged to a cat Prince in a magical world where her only hope of freedom lies with a dapper cat statuette come to life.Based on the Aoi Hiiragi manga "Baron: The Cat Returns".
- DirectorMamoru HosodaA corporate sponsored short subject takes the viewer on a spin through an elastic, hieroglyphic wonderland.Has an Essay in the 2018 ACMI Exhibition book "Wonderland: Alice on Screen" written by David Surman.
- DirectorAndrew AdamsonStarsTilda SwintonGeorgie HenleyWilliam MoseleyWhile playing, Lucy and her siblings find a wardrobe that lands them in a mystical place called Narnia. Here they realize that it was fated and they must now unite with Aslan to defeat an evil queen.Based on the C.S Lewis novel of the same name.
- DirectorDave McKeanStarsStephanie LeonidasJason BarryRob BrydonIn a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a fifteen-year-old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJeff BridgesJennifer TillyJodelle FerlandBecause of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.Content warning: Contains disturbing scenes
Played Kyoto Minami-Kaikan's "Alice: A Mental Journey" film festival in 2015. Played EyeFilmMuseum's "Alice film programme: Through the Looking-Glass" in 2019.
Based on the Mitch Cullin novel of the same name. - DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsIvana BaqueroAriadna GilSergi LópezIn the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.Played Kyoto Minami-Kaikan's "Alice: A Mental Journey" film festival in 2015
- DirectorJoanna LipperStarsDavid CastroNicolas SalgadoRaquel CastroSet in present-day Brooklyn, this film is a remake of the 1953 classic "Little Fugitive." With his father in jail and his mother working long hours at a nursing home, Lenny, 11, is burdened with the responsibility of looking after his 7-year-old brother Joey. Lenny plays a practical joke on his little brother, and when the joke goes too far, Joey runs away to Coney Island.Remake of the 1943 film of the same name.
- DirectorStephen QuayTimothy QuayThe story of Alice in Wonderland, explored in the stop-motion world of the Quay brothers.Has an Essay in the 2018 ACMI Exhibition book "Wonderland: Alice on Screen" written by James Hewison.
- DirectorHenry SelickStarsDakota FanningTeri HatcherJohn HodgmanWandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.Based on the Neil Gaiman novella of the same name.
- CreatorKatie KrentzPatrick McHaleStarsElijah WoodCollin DeanMelanie LynskeyTwo brothers find themselves lost in a mysterious land and try to find their way home.
- DirectorAlena LodkinaStarsTeresa BarraganDavid Myles BrownHarlem CallejaHannah walks through the city, observing people and objects, searching for something, looking at delicious pastries. She is on her way to an appointment with a tarot reader and inside and house space unfolds like the walls of a dream, only to reveal a pair of rummaging thieves. Alone, Hannah is entering a mystery and the clues are sparse and uncertain. She floats like a jellyfish, but perhaps there is no such thing.Played ACMI Melbourne's "Alice is Everywhere" film Festival in 2018
- DirectorRosemary MyersStarsBethany WhitmoreHarrison FeldmanAmber McMahonThe world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen she can't bear to leave her childhood, it contains all the things that give her comfort in this incomprehensible new world.Based on the Matthew Whittet play of the same name.
- DirectorCatti EdfeldtLena HannoStarsAstrid LövgrenLilly BrownHenrik GustafssonLittle Siv is supposed to sleep over at Cerisia's place, but the later it gets the stranger things start to appear in her new friend's odd home.Based on the book by Pija Lindenbaum of the same name. Played festival circuits in the late 2010s, currently only available in Sweden
- DirectorMasaaki YuasaStarsGen HoshinoKana HanazawaHiroshi KamiyaIn this comedy about one epic night in Kyoto, a college sophomore goes on a series of surreal encounters with the local nightlife, all the while unaware of the romantic longings of her classmate Senpai.Based on the Tomihiko Morimi novel of the same name.
- DirectorFulvio RisuleoStarsGiacomo FerraraAurélia PoirierLou CastelDuring a break on a rooftop, Teco notices the intriguing fall of a strange bird. He decides to venture to the next roof to have a closer look. This is the beginning of an unbelievable journey on the labyrinthine rooftops of Rome.Played festival circuits in late 2010s. Currently only available in Italy.
- DirectorJosh KlausnerStarsTate EllingtonTara SummersVictoria ClarkSeeking an escape from his isolated life in New York City, Alex accepts a mysterious invitation to house-sit a picturesque 'Enchanted Cottage' on Long Island. There he ends up lost on a surreal musical all-night odyssey of misadventures.
- DirectorJimmy MarbleStarsNika de CarloJohnny RobishKaterina TannenbaumTwo best friends make a laundry list of all the things they'll miss now that the world's ending.Inspired by the opening scene of Daisies (1966)
- DirectorOtakáro SchmidtJana StudnickováStarsJirí DvorákMikulás MatousekJana PidrmanováBased on Jana Kristina Studničková's short story of the same name. Currently only available in Czechia
- DirectorSuri KrishnammaStarsSanah AhsonCandylandLe Gateau ChocolatA young person escaping into a building at night is propelled into a surreal theatrical adventure by a mysterious guide who offers an alternative way out. Filmed in a single shot.Currently only available in the UK via BBC
- DirectorAkinola DaviesStarsPamilerin AyodejiOsayi UzamereCharles EtubiebiAn 8-year-old girl with an ability to sense danger gets ejected from Sunday school service. She unwittingly witnesses the underbelly in and around a Mega Church in Lagos.Short film which played festival circuits. Unreleased to the public currently.
- DirectorKaren CinorreStarsGrace Van PattenMia GothSokoAna is transported to a dreamlike and dangerous land where she joins an army of girls engaged in a never-ending war. Though she finds strength in this exhilarating world, she realizes that she's not the killer they want her to be.currently on festival circuits, not fully released yet.
- DirectorUldus BakhtiozinaStarsViktoria AssovskayaUldus BakhtiozinaAlbina BerensFishmonger Polina drinks some tea given to her by a strange old woman that transforms her sleep into a fairy tale where she thinks she's the tsar's daughter.Currently on festival circuits, not fully released.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsSoma SantokiMasaki SudaKô ShibasakiIn the wake of his mother's death and his father's remarriage, a headstrong boy named Mahito ventures into a dreamlike world shared by both the living and the dead.
- DirectorFrancesco LucenteStarsTed LevineElisabeth RöhmJohn Rhys-DaviesWhat happens when Cinderella meets Mean Streets.in development. (Post production)
- Based on the C.S Lewis novels of the same name. In development (announced)
- Based on the book by Norton Juster of the same name. (Announced)
- DirectorJon Russell CringStarsLupe Sujey CuevasMichalina ScorzelliMonique ParentGirl in the Palms is the story of a young woman at the cross roads of her life. After experiencing a mysterious tragedy LUNA leaves everything she knows behind and rides her thumb south to Florida. Like a modern day Alice in Wonderland she meets a plethora of amazing characters and has a illuminating adventures that inform her quest for self actualization. From the hippie hideaways to the open sea to the edge of Key West "Girl in the Palms" is a technicolor odyssey that you won't want to end.
- DirectorGeremy JasperStarsKelly MacdonaldSadie SinkMurray BartlettA farm girl in search to recover a cherished family heirloom. She travels to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love. To save his soul, she must put the power of destiny to the ultimate test.in pre production