Sunday January 13th 2013, Movie night: Case for a Rookie Hangman (original title: Případ pro začínajícího kata) from Pavel Jurácek, Czechoslovakia, 1969, 102 min, in czech with english subtitles. Door open at 20pm (films start at 21:00pm)
Made in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Pavel Juracek’s second and final feature is a formally audacious political fantasia that transforms the third book of Gulliver’s Travels into an allegory on coercion and tyranny. […Lees verder]
Sunday December 16th 2012, Movie night: Larks on a String (orginal titel: Skřivánci na niti) from Jiří Menzel, Czechoslovakia, 1969, 94 min. In Czech with English subtitles. Door open at 20pm (films start at 21:00pm).
Although it was shot in 1968, Jiří Menzel’s sociopolitical comedy Larks On A String didn’t actually see the light of day until 1990, when it premiered and won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Censorship had been lifted in Czechoslovakia for a short period, resulting in a fleeting burst of liberalization, especially for filmmakers – but the freedom was soon crushed by the invasion of Soviet tanks, which restored Czechoslovakia’s oppressive regime. Communism once again held a vice-like grip over the country, and Menzel’s film (which had finished shooting) was banned. […Lees verder]
Sunday September 16th 2012, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema with a double feature: Diamonds of the Night (Jan Němec, 1964) and The Miners’ Hymns (Bill Morrison, 2011). Screened by guest programmer Jeffrey Babcock, in high-definition. Door open at 20pm (films start at 21:00pm)
DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT 1964
(Démanty noci)
Directed by Jan Němec
63 minutes
In Czech with English subtitles
This film is a intense, illuminating and harsh story of two Czech boys who escape from a train taking them from Prague to a concentration camp. As they run wildly through the hilly, forested landscape they are being hunted down by armed German villagers. The film is visceral and visual, with very few words spoken. It is an anti-war film that doesn’t deal with actual warfare, but rather focuses on human survival in almost surrealistic dimensions. The film constantly breaks with normal storytelling, intersecting hallucinations and flashbacks into the two boy’s exhaustive physical journey. […Lees verder]
