Pavel Juráček:
Czech Film Miracles of the 1960s
March 11–15, 2004
With his original
docudrama The Key to Defining Dwarfs or The Last Travel of Lemuel
Gulliver (2002), contemporary filmmaker Martin Šulík
has rediscovered one of the least-known figures of the Czech nouvelle
vague: Pavel Juráček. A pivotal writer and director
of few but central works of the 1960s, the period just prior to
and after the Prague Spring of 1968, Juráček defined
what was known as the Czech “Film Miracle.” This series
brings together a film by Šulík based on Juráček’s
diaries; two feature films and a short by Juráček; and
four rarely screened films based on Juráček’s
stories or screenplays, directed by other filmmakers. Taken together,
these films capture the visionary, dreamlike imagery—fueled
by melancholy lyricism and humor—that lies at the core of
Juráček’s originality. Thursday and Friday screenings
will be introduced by Ludmila Cvikova, Programmer, International
Film Festival Rotterdam, and Marek Juráček, writer and
actor.
Organized by
Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film and Media, in collaboration
with Irena Kovářová, Acting Director, Czech Center
New York; and Ludmila Cvikova, Programmer, International Film Festival
Rotterdam. Thanks to the National Film Archive, Prague, and Czech
Television for prints, and to Čestmír Kopecký,
Vladimír Opěla, and Jan Lukeš for their kind cooperation.
Additional support for the series is provided by Czech Airlines.
. 2002. Czech Republic.
Directed by Martin Šulík. With Marek Juráček
(playing his father), Edita Levá. This collage of archival
footage and photographs combined with acted scenes evoking the private
life, work, and social activities of Pavel Juráček in
the difficult period around the Prague Spring captures the mood
of the 1960s and the intimacy of Juráček’s diaries.
In Czech, English subtitles. 58 min.
. 1963. Czechoslovakia.
Directed by Pavel Juráček, Jan Schmidt. Screenplay by
Juráček. With Karel Vašíček, Consuela
Morávková. In this series of Kafkaesque situations
related to the period of the “personality cult,” the
hero borrows a tomcat from a cat-hire service but can find neither
the clerk nor the service when he tries to return it. In Czech,
English subtitles. 38 min.
. 1969. Czechoslovakia. Written and
directed by Pavel Juráček. With Lubomír Kostelka,
Pavel Landovský. Like Jonathan Swift, Juráček
takes his own Gulliver to a world that seems to be the same as ours
but where things are a little bit more absurd than usual, portraying
a passive, degenerate country in this, his best-known work. In Czech,
English subtitles. 102 min.
.
1966. Czechoslovakia. Written and directed by Pavel Juráček.
With Pavel Landovský, Ivan Vyskočil, Hana Růžičková.
Juráček’s feature debut is divided into two segments:
In the first, a corporal accompanies a new soldier for an examination;
in the second, soldiers prepare for a dance. In Czech, English subtitles.
83 min.
.
1960. Czechoslovakia. Directed by Zdenek Sirový. Screenplay
by Pavel Juráček. With Eman Fiala, Ladislav Kazda, Zdeněk
Kutil. Juráček’s screenplay is based on a story
by Jan Drda that takes place during the Nazi occupation of a small
village, where all the men, who work in a nearby quarry, continuously
sabotage the efforts of the occupiers. In Czech, English subtitles.
24 min.
. 1964.
Czechoslovakia. Directed by Karel Zeman. Screenplay by Pavel Juráček,
Zeman. With Petr Kostka, Miloslav Holub, Emília Vašáryová.
An ironic, surreal tale that follows the adventures of a cowardly
buffoon and his companion, a battle-scarred mercenary, as they struggle
to survive the idiocy of generals and the clash of colliding armies.
This gorgeous blend of live-action and animation collage is set
in Moravia, 1625 (in case anybody should find contemporary parallels…).
In Czech, English subtitles. 80 min.
.
1963. Czechoslovakia. Directed by Jindřich Polák. Screenplay
by Polák, Pavel Juráček. With Zdeněk Štěpánek,
Radovan Lukavský, Dana Medřická. In the second
half of the twenty-second century, social problems on Earth have
been solved by Communism, and the rapid development in rocket technology
has enabled our descendants to travel to distant planets and make
contact with new peoples. Commander Abajev observes a half-crazed
man on closed-circuit monitors while his inner eye contemplates
a varied stream of memories. In Czech, English subtitles. 84 min.
.
1966. Czechoslovakia. Directed by Jan Schmidt. Screenplay by Pavel
Juráček. With Ondrej Jariabek, Beta Poničanová,
Magda Seidlerová. In a barren, postthermonuclear landscape,
eight healthy young women led by a crone are in search of surviving
men with whom to procreate. They encounter an old man living in
the Hotel Ozone who has a TV set, a gramophone with only one record,
and the last fragment of a newspaper that came out the day before
“it” happened. In Czech, English subtitles. 80 min.
top
|
|
