Film Info



		Bohemian Alchemy: CZECH HORROR AND FANTASY ON FILM These thematically and stylistically diverse films, made between 1964 and 2000, display immense artistic creativity and an imaginative visual treatment of real-life social concerns. Through the sheer forcefulness of their directors' styles, they transcend their particular time and place to explore such universal themes as fate, lust, greed, madness, and death. The surrealistic animation of Jan Svankmajer, the brilliant puppetry of Jirí Barta, the noirish mise-en-scène of Karel Kachyna, the expressionistic set design of Zbynek Brynych, and the Gothic excess of Juraj Herz are among the treasures found lurking in the shadowy corners of Czech cinema. And while the utterly unique visions present in these films may at first seem to have little in common besides a focus on irrational minds and the undesirable consequences of desperate actions, watching them in the context of this series reveals a surprising unity. An injection of black humor often makes itself felt in these transgressive tales of moral and physical violation, and the horrors are typically handled with subtlety and inventiveness.— Stephen Jay Schneider. This touring series was curated and organized by Steven Jay Schneider, Harvard University, in conjunction with the Czech Center New York. Prints for the series were kindly provided by the National Film Archive in Prague, the Slovak Film Institute, the Prague Film Academy, Zeitgeist Films, New York, and Zlín Film School. Special thanks to Irena Kovárová, Deputy Director of the Czech Center New York. NOV 21 22 FRI 7 P.M., SAT 4:30 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS CZECH republic 1970. DIRECTOR: Jaromil Jires. Based on a surrealist novel by Vitezslav Nezval, this remarkable celluloid poem has been described as "a Jodorowsky/Bergman co-production of a Grimm's fairytale." In a 19th century Central European village, a 13-year-old girl crosses the threshold into womanhood, her life entering a baroque, gothic world of vampires, witchcraft, mysticism and lacivious priests. Rich in imagination, color, and sensual textures, VALERIE remains a Czech cult classic, “A delicate, exquisite jewel . . . one of the most charming romantic tales on a girl coming of age ever made.”—VARIETY. (77 mins.) Preceded by THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER CZECH repiblic 1980 DIRECTOR: Jan Svankmajer. Poe's classic tale of terror, envisioned with stones, trees, furniture, and other objects in place of humans is a remarkable example of tactile animation. (15 mins.) and THE RAVEN CZECH republic 2000 DIRECTOR: Lucie Simková-Sunková "What could have inspired Edgar Allen Poe to write the poem, The Raven?" (5 mins.) NOV 22 SAT 7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM INVISIBLE AKA THE DAMNED HOUSE OF HAJN CZECH republic 1988 DIRECTOR: JIRÍ SVOBODA. In his fanciful reinvention of the ‘lunatic-in-the-attic’ tradition, Svoboda blends narrative and stylistic elements that invoke, simultaneously, Roman Polanski, Billy Wilder, Maya Deren, and Dario Argento. Petr, a young, ambitious Prague businessman, marries Sona, beautiful daughter of country aristocrats, and moves into the House of Hajn, her family’s gothic mansion. Petr quickly discovers that the place is cursed, and that he has a dangerous rival for Sona’s sexual attentions in Cyril, her lunatic uncle, who thinks he is invisible. Perhaps best described as an experimental Gothic noir, the film transcending its particular time and place to explore such universal themes as fate, lust, madness, and, as the opening line reveals, the (im)possibility of happiness. “A most enjoyable, bumpy ride . . . [It] plays like ROSEMARY’S BABY on amphetamines, DARK SHADOWS on LSD, albeit filtered through a distinctly Czech sense of propriety and interior design”— VANCOUVER FILM FESTIVAL. (107 mins.) Preceded by DEFECTOR CZECH republic 1998 DIRECTOR: Václav Kadrnka "Beyond the shores of evil lies the vast, unmapped kingdom of the darkest sides of the human soul. It is the realm of an unnamed demon...We call him Defector." (9 mins.) NOV 23 SUN 7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM THE PIED PIPER CZECH republic 1986 DIRECTOR: Jirí Barta. One of the most ambitious projects in Czech Republic animation history. Barta was inspired by a German legend to createthis expressionistic visual metaphor for the fall of a materialistic society. The medieval drama unfolds through an assortment of techniques, including wooden puppets, oil paintings, and footage of live rats. “An impressive film, notable not only for its richly imaginative juxtapositions of visual textures, but for its resolutely grotesque account of a society’s lemming-like race towards self-annihilation” —Geoff Andrew,TIME OUT. “Extraordinary... Barta creates a gothic never-was world caught somewhere between Gaudí and Kafka, Caligari and Svankmajer”—Pacific Film Archive. (55 mins.) Preceded by THE LAST THEFT CZECH republic 1987 DIRECTOR: Jirí Barta. A jewel thief breaks into a crypt and finds a group of vampires who lure him into a dangerous game. Mixing animation, live-action, and puppetry techniques, Barta combines scary and comic moments in an otherwise serious parable. (21 mins.) and GOLEM CZECH republic 1999 DIRECTOR: Jirí Barta. An excerpt from a presently unfinished feature which uses exceptional animation and trick methods. (7 mins.) NOV 28 FRI 7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM LITTLE OTIK CZECH republic 2000 DIRECTOR: JAN SVANKMAJER Described by fellow Czech filmmaker Milos Forman as “Disney + Buñuel.” LITTLE OTIK is one of the masterworks by Czech animation legend Jan Svankmajer. A mostly live-action work work, it is a bizarre, satirical parable of parenting, food phobia, and monstrous mass consumption, modelled on a famous Czech folktale. A childless couple dig up a tree stump, treat it as their baby, and, by the force of their love, bring it to life. . .at which point it starts devouring everything around it, the family cat and the the postman being only the first victims. Svankmajer's surrealist vision bristles with a barbed politica, psychological intelligence and grotesque suprises.(121 mins.) Preceded by DOWN TO THE CELLAR CZECH republic 1983 DIRECTOR: JAN SVANKMAJER A little girl heads to the cellar to fetch potatoes, and encounters all manner of disturbing and threatening obstacles. (15 mins.) NOV 29 SAT 7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDIRORIUM THE FIFTH HORSEMAN IS FEAR CZECH republic 1964 DIRECTOR: ZBYNEK BRYNEK After removing a bullet from a Resistance fighter, a Jewish physician begins a nightmarish search for morphine through the Prague streets. What he encounters is an Orwellian landscape of hallucinatory horrors: a warehouse full of confiscated Jewish property; a brothel where Czech women are paraded before leering German soldiers; an insane asylum; a decadent nightclub whose delirious patrons are people facing deportation. “Made during the onset of the Czech New Wave, this powerful tale of personal responsibility is informed as much by Cold War paranoia – and Czech resistance to Soviet impositions – as it is by the torments of the Nazi era . . . it’s a striking portrait of a society in moral meltdown”–TIME OUT. (98 mins.) Preceded by FOOD CZECH Republic 1993 DIRECTOR: JAN SVANKMAJER Three vignettes offer surreal depictions of gluttons, cannibals, and human vending machines. (14 mins.) NOV 30 SUN 7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM WHO KILLED JESSIE? CZECH republic 1966 DIRECTOR: Václav Vorlícek A surrealistic sci-fi comedy about an unhappily married scientist couple. While the henpecked husband fantasizes about the voluptuous Jessie from a comic strip, his domineering wife tries her new experiment on him: a serum that dispels the unpleasant parts of dreams. But there's a side-effect…whatever escapes the dreamer's mind becomes reality. Soon, the scientists’ world is invaded by scantily-clad Jessie and the comic book villains out to get her – all talking, hilariously, in cartoon-style dialogue balloons that the “real” characters must look up at and read. The clever chaos is rendered in beautiful black-and-white CinemaScope. Coming from mid-60s Communist Czechoslovakia, the film readily reads as an arch political parable about brainwashing and freedom of the imagination. (80 mins.) Preceded by TILL EARLY MORNING CZECH republic 1999 DIRECTOR: Marie Kubátová. A short narration about the last night of one dumb vampire. (5 mins.) DEC 2 TUE 7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM MORGIANA CZECH republic 1971 DIRECTOR: JURAJ HERZ Based on a novel by Alexander Grin,“Russia’s Edgar Allan Poe,” MORGIANA is set in the imaginary country of Grinland (site of many of Grin fantasies) and showcases Iva Janzurová in the difficult dual role of sisters Klara and Viktoria. The former is sweet, the latter psychotic. Upset with the terms of their late father’s will, wicked sister poisons nice sister with a slow-acting toxin that induces hallucinations and madness. “[A] delirious gothic fairytale . . .an elegant, beautifully executed, post-60s essay on sex and repression”—TIME OUT. (99 mins.) Preceded by LITTLE COUSINS CZECH republic 1988 Directed by Václav Mergl This sarcastic animated horror tale about two cousins, one beautiful, one ugly, proves that all that glitters is not gold. (8 mins.) DEC 5 6 FRI 7 P.M., SAT 4 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM THE CREMATOR CZECH republic 1968 DIRECTOR: JURAJ HERZ Herz's blackly comic and brilliantly gothic horror tale is set in the late 1930s, as Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland is being handed over to Germany under the notorious Munich Agreement. A mild-mannered family man and crematorium operator becomes unhinged by ambition, the corrupting influence of National Socialist ideology and a delusional vision of a better future through more efficient crematoria. Hoping to establish that he has German blood, he learns instead that his wife is part Jewish—a discovery with diabolical consequences for his entire family. (87 mins.) Preceded by CASTLE OF OTRANTO CZECH republic 1977 DIRECTOR: JAN SVANKMAJER An amateur archeologist devotes his life to uncovering the truth behind a legendary tale, in one of Svankmajer's most organic early blends of live action and animation. (20 mins.) DEC 6 7 SAT 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM THE EAR CZECH republic 1970 DIRECTOR: KAREL KACHYNA A chilling cross between 1984 and WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, this paranoiac thriller set in the Stalinist 1950s was banned by Czech authorities for 20 years. Ludvik, a high-ranking government official, and Anna, his semi-estranged, alcoholic wife, attend a Communist Party reception, only to discover that Ludvik’s immediate superior and several other officials have been purged and placed under arrest. Returning home to find their electricity cut off, their house bugged, and an ominous-looking car parked down the street, they become convinced that a similar fate awaits them. During a long and sleepless night, fear builds, potentially incriminating documents are destroyed, and the tensions of their troubled marriage erupt. (94 mins.) Preceded by THE PIT, THE PENDULUM, AND HOPE CZECH republic 1983 DIRECTOR: JAN SVANKMAJER This homage to Poe is seen entirely through the eyes of an Inquisition prisoner who awakens to find himself strapped to a table beneath a sweeping pendulum. (15 mins.)