The Dark Crystal
Giants, fairies, magicians, ghosts, dragons, and monsters of all kinds… Here’s what your Cinémathèque has in store this summer! Since Méliès, filmmakers have embraced the fanstastic potential of cinema, creating infinite phantasmagorias and extraordinary spectacles where the unreal becomes real. Step into a world of fantasy and boundless imagination: whatever your generation, the monsters and wonders that once filled your childhood dreams are back this summer 2025!
Known for their collaboration on the television series The Muppet Show, Jim Henson and Frank Oz here present their first feature film, an astonishing puppet movie that has achieved cult status over the years. In the world of Thra, the last survivors of the Gelfling people join forces with the UrRu to resist the cruel Skeksis.
Jim Henson
Jim Henson was an American puppeteer, filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, and actor who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating Fraggle Rock (1983–1987) and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). He created Sam and Friends (1955–1961), a short-form comedy television program on WRC-TV, while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park, in collaboration with fellow student Jane Nebel. Henson and Nebel co-founded Muppets, Inc. – now The Jim Henson Company – in 1958, and married less than a year later in 1959. Henson graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in home economics. In 1969, Henson joined the children's television program Sesame Street, where he helped to develop Muppet characters for the series. He and his creative team also appeared on the first season of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. He produced the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show (1976–1981) during this period. Henson revolutionized the way puppetry is captured and presented in video media, and he won fame for his characters – particularly Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, and the characters on Sesame Street. He won the Emmy Award twice for his involvement in The StoryTeller (1987–1988) and The Jim Henson Hour (1989).
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is an American puppeteer, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and George Lucas through The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Star Wars, as well as his directorial work in feature films and theater. The son of puppeteers, Oz worked as an apprentice puppeteer during his teenage years in Oakland, California. Despite his interest in journalism, he continued his career as a puppeteer when he was hired by The Jim Henson Company in 1963, going on to perform several television characters such as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle on The Muppet Show (1976–1981) and Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover on Sesame Street (1969–2013). He was hired by Lucas to perform as Yoda in the Star Wars film series, beginning with The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and reprising the role in seven subsequent films and various media for more than four decades. Oz is also known for his work as a filmmaker, having directed the films such as The Dark Crystal (1982), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), What About Bob? (1991), and Death at a Funeral (2007).
.jpg){kind=link}