The Ironic Curtain: Czech Cinema since the Velvet
Revolution
October 23-29
The Walter Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center
165 W 65th Street, Lincoln Center, Upper Level Plaza
For tickets & more information please visit www.filmlinc.com & www.czechcenter.com
Citizen Havel / Občan Havel Pavel Koutecký and
Miroslav Janek, Czech Republic, 2008; 120m. The private
and public life of dissident playwright-turned-president
Václav Havel.
Fri Oct 23: 6:30pm
Divided We Fall / Musíme si pomáhat Jan Hřebejk, Czech Republic, 2000; 122m. Humor is rarely blacker than in this
boudoir drama set in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.
Nominated for an Oscar.
Sun Oct 25: 2:20pm; Wed Oct 28: 6:15pm
Empties / Vratné lahve Jan Svĕrák, Czech Republic / UK,
2007; 100m. Following the Oscar-winning Kolya in 1996,
father-and-son team Zdenĕk and Jan Svĕrák returned with
a bittersweet smash hit.
Sat Oct 24: 6:00pm; Wed Oct 28: 2:15pm
The Ferrari Dino Girl / Holka Ferrari Dino Jan Nĕmec,
Czech Republic, 2009; 68m. Seminal New Wave director
Jan Nĕmec’s autobiographical thriller includes his original
footage of the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Prague.
Don’t miss it. FAMU dean Pavel Jech to introduce.
Screening with:
The Kind Revolution / Nĕžná revoluce Jíří Střecha and
Petr Slavík, Czech Republic, 1990; 37m. The first film
to document the Velvet Revolution. Q&A with UN Amb.
Martin Palouš.
Fri Oct 23: 2:00pm; Sun Oct 25: 7:00pm
The Return of the Idiot / Návrat idiota Saša Gedeon,
Czech Republic / Germany, 1999; 100m. This loose
adaptation of Dostoevsky’s The Idiotfollows a wise
fool who leaves an asylum and enters the lives of
four romantically linked friends.
Q&A with Ana Geislerová. Screening with:
Czech Peace / Ceský mir Filip Remunda and Vit Klusák,
Czech Republic , 2004; 19m. The merry pranksters behind
Czech Dream present a sneak preview of their newest documentary, a pre-war comedy about recent U.S. plans
to install a radar base on Czech soil.
Sat Oct 24: 8:00pm; Tue Oct 27: 4:00pm
Some Secrets / V let Alice Nellis, Czech Republic /
Slovakia, 2002; 93m. Personal and political histories
intertwine during a family road trip to scatter a patriarch’s
ashes over the Czech-Slovak border. Inspired by William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Singer/actor Iva Bittová to
introduce.Sun Oct 25: 4:45pm; Wed Oct 28: 4:15pm
Something Like Happiness / Štĕstí Bohdan Sláma,
Czech Republic / Germany, 2005; 102m. Three friends
grapple with loneliness and unrequited desires.
Q&A with Aňa Geislerová.
Fri Oct 23: 9:10pm; Thu Oct 29: 2:15pm
The Karamazovs / Karamazovi Petr Zelenka,
Czech Republic / Poland, 2008; 100m. A Czech
theater troupe stages The Brothers Karamazov
like never before, at a Polish steelworks. Q&A
with Petr Zelenka.
Thu Oct 29: 6:15pm
The Cremator / Spalovač mrtvol Juraj Herz,
Czechoslovakia, 1969; 95m. What better way to ring
in Halloween than with this creepy black comedy set
in a Czech crematorium in the ’30s? A masterwork
well worth discovering.
Tue Oct 27: 9:00pm
Daisies / Sedmikrásky Vĕra Chytilová, Czechoslovakia,
1966; 74m. A surrealist romp and a keystone of the Czech
New Wave. Michal Bregant, dean of FAMU International, to introduce.
Tue Oct 27: 2:15pm; Thu Oct 29: 8:50pm
Loves of a Blonde / Lásky jedné plavovlásky
Miloš Forman, Czechoslovakia, 1965; 88m. This gently
rebellious satire breaks with Socialist realism to take a
Truffaut-esque look at young adult life. Nominated for
an Oscar. Screening with:
The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia / Konec stalinismu
v Čechách Jan Švankmajer, UK, 1990; 10m. Working in
stop-motion claymation and documentary, the master
image-maker surveys Czech history.
Fri Oct 23 4:15pm; Wed Oct 28: 8:40pm
Voyage to the End of the Universe / Ikarie XB 1
Jindrich Polák, Czechoslovakia, 1963; 87m. Czechoslovakia’s maiden foray into sci fi inspired Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Sun Oct 25: 9:15pm; Thu Oct 29: 4:20pm
Ecstasy / Extase Gustav Machatý, Czechoslovakia /
Austria, 1933; 87m. An unhappily married Eva falls for a
seductive young Adam in this “adult” classic that made
Hedy Lamarr a succès de scandale prior to Hollywood
.Sun Oct 25: 12:30pm.
Opening and Closing Night: Reception to follow, catered
by the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden and Pilsner Urquell.
COME CELEBRATE THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF CZECH FREEDOM!
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