Jean Painlevé (1902–89) made over 200 films that defy conventional notions of genre. A friend of Jean Vigo and other Surrealists, Painlevé—whose motto was “Science is Fiction”—made films of simple visual lyricism marked by a literary wit and a humorous sensibility. The Vampire (1945) is an observational film about bats based on the story of Nosferatu, and the first science film with a jazz (Duke Ellington) soundtrack. The Sea Horse (1934) pairs striking underwater footage of the hermaphroditic animal with music by Darius Milhaud, while The Love Life of the Octopus (1965) employs a musique concrète score by Pierre Henri. Working with an innovative camera apparatus, Painlevé was able to capture life under the microscope and sea creatures in their underwater habitats. This ninety-minute selection of Painlevé’s films includes his 1926 seven-minute adaptation of Ivan Goll’s Mathusalem, featuring Antonin Artaud.