‘Czechoslovakia’ Archives
Breaking the Rules talks
There are some intriguing-looking spin-off events from the British Library's ongoing Breaking the Rules: The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900 – 1937 exhibition, including two that have strong links with the 1930s avant-garde cinema of Czechoslovakia and Poland. The full list of January events is here, and the two I'm particularly [...]
A Švankmajer timeline
During a routine office spring-clean last week, I came across an elaborate timeline that I drew up earlier this year, setting events in the life and career of Jan Švankmajer against a wider backdrop of Czech history and culture of the time.It began life as a crib sheet to help those baffled by the historical references in his 1990 film The Death [...]
Adelheid
Czechoslovakia, 1969, colour, 99 minsAlthough František Vláčil's directing career continued to 1987, Adelheid (1969) was the last of his films to get much exposure outside his native country. It also marked the end of his most creatively fertile period: in the years following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Communist authorities [...]
The Valley of the Bees
Údolí včelCzechoslovakia, 1967, black and white, 97 mins. The year that Marketa Lazarová finally came to the end of its protracted five-year production schedule, František Vláčil wrote, shot and completed a second medieval film. This initially arose from an expedient plan to reuse the earlier film's sets, though in the event [...]
Marketa Lazarová
Czechoslovakia, 1967, black and white, 162 minsFirst, the superlatives. While I’m not competent to judge whether Marketa Lazarová really is the greatest Czech film ever made (as asserted by a poll of 100 Czech film critics in 1998), after three viewings I’m certainly confident enough to rank it alongside Bergman’s Virgin Spring [...]
The White Dove
Holubice Czechoslovakia, 1960, black and white, 76 minsFrantišek Vláčil's debut feature, after a decade spent making shorts and documentaries, is a self-consciously poetic portrait of children and their relationship to the world around them.It's based around two parallel situations: young Susanne, living on an unnamed Baltic island, awaits the [...]
Jan Švankmajer interview
Previously hidden behind a subscriber-only wall, the interview that I conducted with Jan Švankmajer for Vertigo magazine earlier this year (it was originally published in the Spring 2007 issue) now seems to be freely accessible. Great illustrations, too - though with this subject you're a bit spoilt for choice!
Tomorrow I’ll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea
Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem 1977, colour, 95 mins Director: Jindřich Polák Producer: Jan Šuster Screenplay: Jindřich Polák, Miloš Macourek, based on the short story by Josef Nesvadba Photography: Jan Kališ Editor: Zdeněk Stehlík Design: Milan Nejedlý Music: Karel Svoboda Cast: Petr Kostka (Jan Bureš / Karel Bureš); [...]
Icarus XB-1 / Voyage to the End of the Universe
Ikarie XB 1 Czechoslovakia, 1963, black and white, 87 minsIn many ways the missing link between Forbidden Planet and 2001: A Space Odyssey (and Star Trek), Icarus XB-1 is a fascinating sci-fi curio. For decades this was only available to English-speaking viewers in the form of Voyage to the End of the Universe, one of American International [...]
Diamonds of the Night
Démanty noci Czechoslovakia, 1964, black and white, 64 minsOne of the earliest Czech New Wave films, Jan Němec's debut feature Diamonds of the Night (Démanty noci) is also one of the most startling, and remains a thrillingly original piece of cinema even today. Shot largely hand-held and virtually dialogue-free, it follows the desperate [...]