Závis,
the Prince of Pornofolk under the Influence
of Griffith’s 'Intolerance' and Tati’s
'Mr. Hulot’s Holiday',
or The Foundation and Doom of Czechoslovakia
[1918 – 1992] (35mm,
147min, 2006) on
October 27
and
Elective
Affinities (35mm, 85min, 1968) on
October 28
Balgan
Film Series in collaboration with The Film Study
Center, the Department of Visual and Environmental
Studies, the Department of Slavic Languages
and Literatures, the Davis Center Literature
and Culture Seminarat at Harvard University
are pleased to welcome Karel Vachek, the groundbreaking
Czech filmmaker whose works mix cinema verité,
improvisation, and staged scenes, creating a
fascinating perspective on the political and
intellectual history of the Czech Republic
Závis,
the Prince of Pornofolk under the Influence of
Griffith’s 'Intolerance' and Tati’s
'Mr. Hulot’s Holiday', or The Foundation
and Doom of Czechoslovakia [1918 – 1992]
(35mm,
147min, 2006) A
dog's funeral becomes part of a chain of absurd
events including a tomato ketchup battle, a reconstruction
of the battle of Austerlitz and a motorbike show.
Its common denominator is the commercial interest
of sponsors and big business, the ambivalent winners
of privatization and participants of numerous
corruption affairs. Vachek debates corruption
and environmental disaster, but insists that there
is an alternative. Against the mass of "pseudoevents"
is the independent techno-party CzechTekk, raided
by the police despite the fact that it was entirely
law-abiding, whose participants are Vachek believes
to be the new "unionists".
"The director presents in isolated takes
the provocativeness and oddities of normal life
and, in this sense, offers a thoughtful and (for
the audience) demanding study of occurrences in
front of the camera. From ketchup contests at
tomato tournaments right through to a nonsensically
over-adorned pet cemetery, from kids in large
soap bubbles to a stuffed polar bear – all
these pictures form a mosaic which catches the
state of the nation through personal space rather
than from the public arena. ... Závis¼
conveys provocative shots of cultural artefacts,
personalities as well as historical and national
eccentricities which are deposed in the directors
own personal space." - Alice Lovejoy
 |
Elective
Affinities (35mm, 85min, 1968)
"The
oft-borrowed title is here a pun, since this
documentary looks behind the scenes during the
stormy Czech election of March 1968, when Antonin
Novotny resigned as president and other politicians
jockeyed to keep themselves, and the Prague
Spring they had engineered, in place. The cinematography
by Jozef Ort-Snep is intimate, intrusive, ironic;
there’s nary a talking head in the picture.
Rather, images of nervous hands and half-shut
eyes, of bottles in a meeting hall and bottoms
firmly planted in their chairs, immovable, accompany
the conversations. The talk is fascinating,
an exposé of process and passion, optimism
and its opposite, the shadow of doubt. Among
the politicians in the film are Novotny, Alexander
Dubchek, and General Ludvik Svoboda, whose election
as president marks the end of the film and so
much else." – Pacific Film Archive.
Little
known outside his own country, the poet provocateur
and philosopher Karel Vachek
(b. 1940) is one of the Czech cinema’s
most original talents. His recent works, so-called
"film-novels," are antic, obsessive,
kaleidoscopic epics of impressive cinematic
skill and enormous scope and ambition. His works
reveal the proximity between the serious and
absurd sides of life with a viewpoint that is
belligerent, comic and shrewd.
A
teacher at FAMU, the Czech National Film Academy,
since 1994, and head of its documentary department
since 2002, Vachek has gained a growing reputation
as one of the Czech Republic’s greatest
living directors.
This presentation is part of a touring series
curated by Irena Kovarova and Alice Lovejoy.
Produced by Radim Procházka Productions
with the support of The Czech Republic State
Fund for Support and Development of Cinematography.
Reviews:
"Mixing cinema verité, improvisation,
and staged scenes, Vachek’s polyphonic
films border on chaos; yet for those who are
patient, his carefully selected threads weave
into a fascinating and informative perspective
on the political and intellectual history of
the Czech Republic"
— Kathy Geritz, UC Berkeley Art Museum
and Pacific Film Archive
“If
you haven’t figured it out by now, these
movies resist easy descriptive grasp —
their restlessness, sprawl and genre-defying
sense of play must be experienced, heavy a time
investment as that might seem. They are not,
however, ‘heavy’ films, but frequently
delightful ones." — Dennis Harvey,
SF360
"Like
Michael Moore, whose desire for provocation
he shares, or Ross McElwee, like Vachek at times
a picaresque figure, Vachek is a central presence
in all of his films, in deep conversation (often
argument) with his subjects." — Alice
Lovejoy