Before the nightmarish taxidermy and Jungian symbolism of Jan Švankmajer and the irreverent surrealism of Terry Gilliam came Czech film director, artist, production designer and animator Karel Zeman. Over the course of thirty years, Zeman produced a series of accessible, witty and imaginative fantasies. Zeman had a preoccupation with the stories of Jules Verne and Rudolf…
Tag: Věra Chytilová
Věra Chytilová Double Bill
Czech director Věra Chytilová’s most famous film Daisies (1966) is a classic of avant-garde cinema. Seemingly childish and playful but with a searing undercurrent of transgressive politics, it is short but packs a punch above it’s weight. But the arrival of Daisies had been heralded by Chytilová’s earlier films: notably A Bagful of Fleas (1962) and Something Different (1963)….
Witchhammer (1970)
There was something in the air in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Witchfinder General (1968) had smuggled elements of realism and noir into the Hammer-esque Gothic horror cycle, and in doing so had spearheaded a run of films preoccupied with the persecution of women in the 17th century, some more salacious than others. Witchhammer, a Czech film…
I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967)
“Are there any interesting social cases here? People in sleazy flats? People with unpaid dental bills? Drug cases will do, too. I work for “Expressen” the paper with a sting. My paper is planning a conservative victory in the ’68 elections. We’re doing a series on the ten most sordid social welfare cases” ‘I Am…
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