Gargantua

Gargantua is a short film about a book by the 16th century monk, surgeon, and writer François Rabelais.

The original novel was described by Voltaire as “the worst filth ever vomited up by a drunken monk.” The film lives up to that giddy description and uses a different visual technique for every scene- from typewriter drawings to stop motion animation.

The story of the original ‘Gargantua and Pantagruel’ centres around two giants who devour armies and gobble knowledge as they explore the known and unknown world. But this film doesn’t really tell that story. It does something else.

Every frame of Gargantua was hand made by Stephen Crowe who is also to blame for the music.

Featuring contributions from Stephen Fry, Jonathan Meades, Radhika Apte and Sarah Perry. Gargantua received the award for Best Film in the 2025 Experimental Fiction Film Festival (INEFF)