Perinbaba (The Feather Fairy). 1985. Czechoslovakia/West Germany/Italy/Austria. Directed by Juraj Jakubisko. Screenplay by Juraj Jakubisko, Ľubomír Feldek, based on a story by the Brothers Grimm. With Giulietta Masina, Valerie Kaplanová, Soňa Valentová, Tobias Hoesl. 35mm, courtesy Slovenský filmový ústav. In Slovak; English subtitles. 90 min.
As normalization kicked into gear, Juraj Jakubisko’s radical, baroque films were confined to the vault or banned outright, and he spent most of the 1970s restricted from working. Upon returning with the acerbic Build a House, Plant a Tree, he was again harshly scolded by the censors. But eventually, Jakubisko would find popular success with this delirious fantasy for families. Having long admired Federico Fellini, the Slovak filmmaker found himself praised by the Italian maestro at the Moscow Film Festival. It was with Fellini’s blessing that Jakubisko improbably secured Giulietta Masina for the role of the winter fairy who governs the world through her mystic control of the weather. A vortex of visual sumptuousness and practical effects ingenuity, The Feather Fairy is a Christmas TV staple in Slovakia, even with its many avant-garde qualities.