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Post by petrolino on Apr 6, 2019 22:11:42 GMT
Bohemian Polka : The Prince Of Stop-Motion Surrealism
Jan Švankmajer (Born: September 4, 1934 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
If you built an animator from the ground up, you might get Jan Svankmajer. His extensive education and theatre training takes in every aspect of his craft. He's a formidable puppeteer who's adept at all kinds of animation techniques, a dedicated surrealist with a deep passion for experimentation. He's contributed inventions and contraptions for films directed by Oldrich Lipsky, Jindrich Polak and Juraj Herz, asserting the level of respect he's held in within the Czech and Slovak film industries.
"In addition to puppets, Jan Švankmajer often animated antique dolls and other toys, most notably in the short film 'Jabberwocky' (1971), and feature length films 'Alice' (1988), and 'Surviving Life' (2010). On the one hand this echoes the surrealists’ interest in childhood; on the other the doll is closely related to the puppet. It is worth considering the everyday nature of animating the inanimate, as this has a bearing upon Švankmajer’s understanding of puppetry and animated film. In 1853, Charles Baudelaire observed how children will animate any object, but also felt that looking for the ‘soul’ in the toy “is the first metaphysical stirring”. Rainer Maria Rilke further developed Baudelaire’s suggestions. Children make an emotional investment in dolls and thus breathe life into them, while knowing that behind the mask face of the doll there is nobody there. For Rilke, the doll is a silent vessel which we fill with our own incomprehension of being: “We mixed in the doll, as if in a test-tube, everything we were experiencing and could not recognize”. Behind the doll, there is thus a nothingness which we fill with meaning; it becomes a signifier for the meaning of our own existence. Similarly, contemporary puppeteer Roman Paska recently discussed the puppet as also hiding a profound nothingness. Dolls and puppets, however, differ from the mask, which hides a living being. As Paska notes, “the mask of an actor or dancer conceals a density of humanity; the puppet, nothing but emptiness”. How do we then square these notions of the doll and puppet as profoundly empty vessels with the cinematic puppet or animated figure? Alan Cholodenko distinguishes two uses of the term ‘animation’ – in one sense, as the mechanical simulation of motion in animated film; in another as the animistic or magical notion of endowing something with life; that is, “transforming the inanimate into the animate”. The animation of a doll, a marionette, or a stop motion object creates what he calls the “illusion of life.” Its seeming presence never ceases to be only seeming. For Cholodenko, animation always implies the inanimate, dead, suspended or inert. The animated object works as a metaphysical signifier by nature of its evident inertness. If the illusion was entirely convincing we would not take the object as a signifier, we would accept it as life itself. When Švankmajer animates dolls, toys and antique puppets, their identity and objectness is kept intact; so presumably is their evident emptiness as beings. We can compare them to the use of porcelain dolls in the animated films of the British Brothers Quay. Their film 'The Street of Crocodiles' (1986) in particular, pointedly represents the soullessness of the shopkeepers and seamstresses. However, for Paska the puppet tends to loses its identity as a thing when adopted by cinema, as it is “often smothered by its frequency of exchange with mannequins, masks, automata, stop-action animation figures, dummies, robots, and other staples of the animation, fantasy and horror genres”. Paska’s list constitutes the object contents of the films of the Quays and Švankmajer alike. Rather than smothering the puppet’s identity, a more generous interpretation would say that their use of puppets and dolls was intended to make a particular point about soullessness, and therefore the nature of the human soul, in their films."
- James Frost, 'Jan Svankmajer : Film As Puppet Theatre'
"When The Guardian asked Terry Gilliam to pick his ten favorite animated films, the director included Dimensions of Dialogue, a 1982 short by Jan Švankmajer. According to Gilliam, the Czech director’s stop-motion animations are characterized by a disturbing, nightmarish atmosphere that springs from a particular use of everyday and common objects in unexpected ways. This dreamlike, surreal, almost hallucinatory dimension is the cornerstone of Švankmajer’s work, and has always been, from the very beginning – in fact, in the ’60s, the artist took part in the Czechoslovakian Surrealist Group. His films are full of cultural and scientific allusions, but there is something deeply primal that makes them accessible non only to the intellectual crowd, but to everyone: the director’s vibrant and multi-faceted imagery seems to speak directly to the viewer’s subconscious. Many of his films, such as Down to the Cellar, are shot from a children’s point of view, making the sudden and frightening explosions of violence more confusing for the viewer."
- Flavia Ferrucci, 'The Surreal Animations Of Jan Svankmajer'
'Before I begin to properly recount what there is to see at UNAgaleria during December 11th 2014 – January 31st 2015, as part of the exhibition 'Another air. Jan Švankmajer & The Group of Czech and Slovakian Surrealists', maybe it wouldn’t hurt to recap a little art history.
The artists of this exhibition come from the third or fourth generation of Czechoslovakian surrealists that came together in the late 60s around publications such as Bestiar, Dunganon, Analogon, Le La or Surrealismus, that were secretly published in the country and abroad. The movement began in the late 20s in Prague with the poetism that was promoted by the Devětsil art union, headed by Karel Teige. This was followed by The Surrealist Group of Czechoslovakia, which was active in Prague (Skupina surrealistů v ČSR, between 1934 and 1939), which for a while overlapped with Avant-garde 38 from Slovakia (up until 1948). In Prague, Skupina ČSR continues its activity from 1941 to 1945 with the help of The Surrealist Group of Spořilov (Spořilovští surrealists, named after the neighborhood where they would meet and where most of the members lived) and Group 42, which was later (somewhere between 1946 and 1948) renamed Group Ra. In 1950, art veteran Teige along with other artists such as Istler, Tikal, Effenberger, Hynek and Medek secretly regroup around The Reconstituted Surrealist Group. The soon to be literary theorist Vratislav Effenberger and the photographer Emila Medkova come up with the initiative to reunite the surrealists under The Circle of the Five Objects (1953-1962), at first, and then as USD (1963-1968) with newcomers Roman Erben and Milan Napravnik. The approximate structure of the group we see at UNAgaleria ended their legal activity in august 1968, when the troops of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia, with the exhibition Princip Slasky (The principle of pleasure) at Narodni Gallery in Prague. From then onwards, the status of the group becomes illegal and stays this way until 1989. Vratislav Effenberger and Emila Medkova were the strongest links of the movement in the early 70s, and not the Švankmajers as it would seem. Back then, Jan was working with Eva on his sixth animated film, Zahrada (The Garden, 1968), under the strong influence of theorist Vratislav Effenberger. He actually made them abandon their previous mannerist style and bring surrealism into their work. They were joined by Karol Baron, Albert Marencin, Frantisek Dryje, Alena Nadvornikova, Jakub Effenberger, Ivo Purs, Josef Janda, Martin Stejskal and Ludvik Svab. Until 1989, the artists showcase their work in all sorts of thrifty spaces, the kind we would call today artist-run or underground, such as Švankmajer or Martin Stejskal’s workshops. But the most intense artistic activity took place in the Samizdat, in almanac publications with confidential circulation or outside the country. The Group of Czechoslovakian Surrealist leave secrecy and make their first public appearance in 1989, with a few changes in the list of members. Vratislav Effenberger had died in 1986, and Jiří Koubek, Andrew Lass (back from the USA) and Milan Napravnik (repatriated from Germany) joined the remaining members. During 1990-1991, the artists take back the name The Group of Czechoslovakian Surrealists, and in 1992 they change the name to The Surrealist Group of Prague, with subsidiaries in Bratislava and Brno.'
- Igor Mocanu, 'Other Air. Jan Svankmajer & The Group Of Czech And Slovak Surrealists (+ 4 Romanians)'
Jan Švankmajer
'Alice' (1988, Něco z Alenky - Jan Svankmajer)
An adaptation of the children's story 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll.
Kristýna Kohoutová
'Faust' (1994, Lekce Faust - Jan Svankmajer)
A Faustian tale inspired by the writings of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe and Christopher Marlowe.
Petr Čepek
'Conspirators Of Pleasure' (1996, Spiklenci slasti - Jan Svankmajer)
A warped cinematic convulsion prompted by a waltz through the inner-worlds of fetishism, with musical contributions from the Brothers Quay.
Barbora Hrzánová
'Little Otik' (2000, Otesánek - Jan Svankmajer)
An adaptation of the fairy tale 'Otesanek' by Czech folklorist Karel Jaromir Erben.
Veronika Žilková
"André Breton would not say "Surrealistic painting", he would say "Surrealism in painting". In the same way, I speak of Surrealism in film. Surrealism is psychology, it is philosophy, it is a spiritual way, but it is not an aesthetic. Surrealism is not interested in actually creating any kind of aesthetic."
- Jan Svankmajer
'Andromeda' - Věra Špinarová
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gw
Junior Member
@gw
Posts: 1,515
Likes: 556
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Post by gw on Apr 11, 2019 6:59:36 GMT
I have seen a fair number of animated works from Czech filmmakers. Of feature films, my favorite is probably Krabat The Sorceror's Apprentice. It's very atmospheric and it sort of sucked me in with its dark view of magic. Krysar is very good too, very dark and it has some very interesting woodcut sets and character designs. One film that I've only seen without subtitles not knowing the language was The Devil and Kate. It has an interesting sort of stylized hand drawn animation, probably based on folk art. I can't tell what the characters are saying, but the dialogue along with the boisterous acting makes it interesting to watch. I am not as big of a fan of Jiri Trnka's films as many are. I've seen The Emperor's Nightingale and A Midsummer Night's Dream and both felt a bit too boring since there wasn't much character expression and the sets were beautiful but bland.
As far as short films go, I still like some of Trnka's shorts. The hand was pretty good and I really liked his Merry Circus cutout short. Jan Svankmajer is, in my opinion, one of the best short animators around. I especially like his short film Lunch. That film is a hilarious surreal situation and it's the most memorable of his shorts for me. I wish that Bretislav Pojar's Two Bears cartoons were subtitled in English. They have both interesting situations and some of the most creative stylized animation that I've ever seen. Jiri Barta has made some interesting shorts too. I really like his candy animated short.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 12, 2019 18:46:20 GMT
I have seen a fair number of animated works from Czech filmmakers. Of feature films, my favorite is probably Krabat The Sorceror's Apprentice. It's very atmospheric and it sort of sucked me in with its dark view of magic. Krysar is very good too, very dark and it has some very interesting woodcut sets and character designs. One film that I've only seen without subtitles not knowing the language was The Devil and Kate. It has an interesting sort of stylized hand drawn animation, probably based on folk art. I can't tell what the characters are saying, but the dialogue along with the boisterous acting makes it interesting to watch. I am not as big of a fan of Jiri Trnka's films as many are. I've seen The Emperor's Nightingale and A Midsummer Night's Dream and both felt a bit too boring since there wasn't much character expression and the sets were beautiful but bland. As far as short films go, I still like some of Trnka's shorts. The hand was pretty good and I really liked his Merry Circus cutout short. Jan Svankmajer is, in my opinion, one of the best short animators around. I especially like his short film Lunch. That film is a hilarious surreal situation and it's the most memorable of his shorts for me. I wish that Bretislav Pojar's Two Bears cartoons were subtitled in English. They have both interesting situations and some of the most creative stylized animation that I've ever seen. Jiri Barta has made some interesting shorts too. I really like his candy animated short.
Do you watch any of the new Czech animated movies? I was thinking about trying to see Tomas Lunak's comic book animation 'Alois Nebel' (2011), it looks interesting.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 12, 2019 21:55:58 GMT
The Dissolution of Czechoslovakia took effect on 1 January 1993, implementing the self-determined split of the federal state of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities that had arisen as the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic in 1969 (within the framework of a federal republic). To the outside world, it became known as the Velvet Divorce, but for Czechs and Slovaks it was a divisive issue that cut across boundaries like the land disputes that followed. To this day, scholars argue as to whether a majority of the public in either nation actually wanted to separate, but for a new generation coming up, independence is all they know.
"Against the wishes of many of its 15 million citizens, Czechoslovakia today split into two countries: Slovakia and the Czech Republic. A multi-ethnic nation born at the end of World War I in the glow of pan-Slavic brotherhood, Czechoslovakia survived dismemberment by the Nazis and more than four decades of Communist rule only to fall apart after just three years of democracy. Czechoslovakia's breakup, though peacefully accomplished, adds new potential trouble spots to a Central Europe already convulsed by nationalism. While the Czech Republic's 10.3 million people are almost entirely composed of Czechs, Slovakia's population of 5.2 million includes nearly 600,000 ethnic Hungarians who already feel anxieties about the new Government. The split, which became effective at midnight, was cheered in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, by bonfires and joyous speeches in the main square. "Two states have been established," Vladimir Meciar, Prime Minister of Slovakia, said on Thursday. "Living together in one state is over. Living together in two states continues." There was no similar ceremony or celebration in Prague, which was for 74 years the federal capital. The Czechoslovak flag, which has been adopted by the Czech Republic as its own, remained atop Government buildings as the clocks tolled midnight. Czechoslovakia's federal television, which became Czech Television at midnight, marked the occasion by playing the Czechoslovak national anthem, which has verses in both the Czech and Slovak language, one last time. Shortly after midnight, it played the anthem of the new Czech Republic, which has only the Czech verses. Czechs in bars and their own homes drank to the new year rather than the birth of a new nation. Miriam Huskova, a 22-year-old graphic artist, expressed the sentiments of many Czechs. Just three years ago, she stood in Prague's Wenceslas Square with hundreds of thousands of people shouting, "Havel to the Castle," a then seemingly outrageous demand that Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright, take power from the Communists. On Thursday night, as the Czechoslavic republic's final hours ticked away, she stood pensively at the fog-shrouded castle. Mr. Havel, Czechoslovakia's only post-Communist President, had left months ago after he was defeated for re-election. Although he is expected to run for president of the Czech Republic, Miss Huskova said it wouldn't be the same. "Three years ago, people came together," she said. "The atmosphere was a little like Christmas eve, when everyone is nice to each other. That's ended, and it's sad." There is considerable uncertainty about what the next few months and years will bring these Slavic peoples, who speak similar languages and differ mainly in their ancient histories."
- Stephen Engelberg writing in 1993, The New York Times
"It has been less than seven years since the Czech and Slovak republics peacefully split up after some 70 years together as Czechoslovakia. But recent surveys indicate that, although Czech and Slovak are among the closest of languages in the family of Slavic tongues, and the two peoples can communicate without difficulty, the youngest of Czech schoolchildren now have difficulty understanding their Slovak counterparts. ''My 10-year-old granddaughter visited Slovakia this summer, and I swear she didn't understand a single word,'' said Bozena Ivankova, 62, a former director of the only Slovak elementary school in the Czech Republic. Mrs. Ivankova, a Slovak who has lived in Czech lands for 20 years, was shocked. ''It made me realize how little time you need to lose touch,'' she said. ''I try to teach her Slovak words, but it might as well be Russian. For Czech children, Slovak is just another foreign language. There is no hope of restoring what we had before.'' ''This is very sad,'' she said with a sigh, considering that Czechs and Slovaks, who had shared a state since 1918 with a five-year interruption during World War II, used to read one another's poetry, watch one another's TV programs and attend one another's universities without any language barrier. The barriers began to grow after Dec. 31, 1992, when Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czechs, anxious to catch up on the years lost under Communist rule, turned their attention to the West, losing interest in all of their Eastern neighbors. In Slovakia, on the other hand, the rule of Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar was deemed sufficiently undemocratic by mainstream Europe to block his country's progress into the European Union and NATO, and to damage the economy. Yet, despite six years of relative isolation that ended with the election a year ago of a more democratic Government, surveys suggest that Slovak children have remained far more proficient in both languages than their Czech counterparts.
''The situation is much better in Slovakia,'' said Nadia Vokusova, chairwoman of the Czechoslovak Club, a Prague-based group that promotes Czech and Slovak cultural cooperation. Unlike Czech children, who see and hear virtually no Slovak language in their media, schools or entertaintment, young Slovaks ''can watch undubbed Czech films on TV and they can buy Czech books and newspapers,'' she said. And Slovak intellectuals and teachers are real Czechophiles. While the Slovak commercial TV channel Markiza takes 7 percent of its foreign acquisitions from the Czech Republic, Czech channels do not even bother to keep statistics on the volume of their Slovak programming, since it is virtually nonexistent. Late last month, Mrs. Vokusova tried to bring together Czechs and Slovaks to overcome the growing cultural and language barriers. She said the response from Czech teachers was not encouraging. ''They told me: 'Why should we care? It's a foreign country now,' '' she said. ''The Czech curriculum doesn't deal with Slovak history anymore. But we have shared so much of it, it seems to me the Czechs are mutilating their own history by excluding ours.'' As for the language, Mrs. Vokusova thinks part of the problem is sheer indifference: the Czechs simply do not believe that their children cannot understand Slovak. ''They don't take it seriously,'' she said. ''But soon it will be too late.'' She described how a Slovak colleague of hers asked a 5-year-old Czech girl what her name was. The child frowned and put her thumb in her mouth, then answered in English, the only foreign language she knew.
Vladimir Skalsky, the vice editor of Dotyky, or Contacts, a Slovak-language magazine published in Prague, said he did not see much hope for restoring the lively cultural exchange of the Czechoslovak era. ''It was a gift, a great bonus, that whole generations of Czechs and Slovaks were basically bilingual,'' he said. ''But the young generation of Czechs is losing that gift now. For them, Slovak is no longer free.''
- Excerpt from a follow-up report published on 5 September, 1999, The New York Times
'Koloseum' - Marika Gombitová
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Jan Svěrák (Born: February 6, 1965 in Zatec, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Jan Svěrák
'The Elementary School' (1991, Obecná škola - Jan Sverak)
Changes to schooling affect a small village community living on the outskirts of Prague following the 2nd World War. Filmmaker Jan Sverak is a keen sentimentalist with a deep sense of nostalgia. He would later cast Libuse Safrankova in his Oscar-winning drama 'Kolya' (1996) as a symbol of Czechoslovakian identity, asking her to play opposite his father, actor Zdenek Sverak.
Libuše Šafránková
'Three Hazelnuts For Cinderalla - In The Footsteps Of Cinderella' (2013) with contributions from Libuše Šafránková & Václav Vorlíček
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Milan Šteindler (Born: April 12, 1957 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Milan Šteindler
'Thanks For Every New Morning' (1994, Díky za každé nové ráno - Milan Steindler)
A family portrait charting east-west relations and the strain of uprooting.
Ivana Chýlková
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Post by petrolino on Apr 13, 2019 0:52:56 GMT
Jaroslav Soukup (Born: November 19, 1946 in Plzen, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Jaroslav Soukup made short films and documentaries in the 1970s and feature-length dramas in the 1980s. With the establishment of Czech independence, Soukup was called upon to deliver comedies with box-office potential that carried a rich American flavour. He proved to be a reliable pair of hands in this regard, inaugurating the 'There Once Was A Cop' series, Czech Republic's answer to the blockbuster 'Police Academy' franchise.
Petra Martincová & Jaroslav Soukup
'The Vampire Wedding' (1993, Svatba upírů - Jaroslav Soukup)
An assemblage of nobles fear there may be vampires in their midst. Jaroslav Soukup's charming horror comedy 'The Vampire Wedding' would make a nice double-bill with Roman Polanski's gothic horror parody 'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967).
Rudolf Hrušínský III & Iveta Bartošová
'There Once Was a Cop' (1995, Byl jednou jeden polda - Jaroslav Soukup) / 'There Once Was A Cop 2 : Major Maisner Strikes Again!' (1997, Byl jednou jeden polda II - Major Maisner opět zasahuje! - Jaroslav Soukup) /
'There Once Was A Cop 3 : Major Maisner And A Dancing Dragon' (1999, Byl jednou jeden polda III - Major Maisner a tančící drak - Jaroslav Soukup)
Trainee police officers are recruited to get citizens out on patrol to keep communities safe but not all of these cadets can be trusted.
Petra Martincová
'How To Steal Dagmar' (2001, Jak ukrást Dagmaru - Jaroslav Soukup)
The adventures of a Czech superagent.
Petra Martincová & Jaroslav Sypal
'Na Kloboučku' - Věra Bílá, Bára Hrzánová & Zuzana Navarová
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Zdeněk Troška (Born: May 18, 1953 in Strakonice, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Zdenek Troska is a comedy titan in Czech Republic who often situates stories in southern Bohemia. Sadly, I've not seen any films from two of Troska's most popular franchises, the 'Sunshine' comedies he launched in the 1980s and the long-running 'Kamenak' series he began in the 1990s, but I hope to one day. His films I have seen confirm his popular status as undisputed King of the Czech Comedy Franchise.
Zdeněk Troška & Helena Růžičková
'The Watermill Princess' (1994, Princezna ze mlejna - Zdenek Troska) / 'The Watermill Princess 2' (2000, Princezna ze mlejna 2 - Zdenek Troska)
A young man hopes to release a trapped water princess from a pond but an angry water sprite and liquid devil have other plans for her.
Radek Valenta & Andrea Černá
'Babovresky' (2013, Babovřesky - Zdenek Troska) / 'Babovresky 2' (2014, Babovřesky 2 - Zdenek Troska) / 'Babovresky 3' (2015, Babovřesky 3 - Zdenek Troska)
An acute study of life in the small, peaceful Bohemian village of Babovresky.
Lucie Vondráčková & Jan Dolánský
'Nech Mě Jít' - Lucie Vondráčková
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Lloyd A. Simandl (Born: 1948 in Central Europe)
Very little is known about filmmaker Lloyd Simandl. Some biographies state he was born in Poland, some claim he was born in Czech Republic, others in Slovakia. He made films in Canada and became famous for the 'Empire Of Ash' action series. He then started making Czech-Canadian co-productions with mixed east European / north American casts and these films were tagged "Czechsploitation" by the film press. His production company he called North American Pictures but he largely filmed in Czech Republic. Some great genre movie stars came on board, perhaps enticed by Simandl's capable handling of the second film in the classic W.I.P. series, 'Chained Heat'. Keen to put his own stamp on proceedings, Simandl continued making 'Chained Heat' template entries and introduced his own offshoot, 'Bound Heat' pictures, which allowed him to place greater emphasis on the observation of women in bondage. It seems he retired from directing about 10 years ago but he was formidable at his peak.
In a rare film festival interview, Lloyd Simandl revealed his greatest inspiration as being American filmmaker Roger Corman.
'Strach' - Lucie Vondráčková
'Escape Velocity' (1999 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Lethal Target' (1999 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Fatal Conflict' (2000 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Last Stand' (2000 - Lloyd Simandl)
A heady quartet of action-packed, science-fiction mindbenders.
Kari Wuhrer
'Dangerous Prey' (1995 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Dark Confessions' (1998 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Chained Heat 2001 : Slave Lovers' (2001 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Dakota Bound' (2001 - Lloyd Simandl) /
'Forbidden Rage : White Slave Secrets' (2002 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Bound Cargo' (2003 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Chained Fury : Lesbian Slave Desires' (2003 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Chained Sinners : Medieval Fleshpots' (2003 - Lloyd Simandl) /
'The Final Victim' (2003 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Girl Camp 2004 : Lesbian Fleshpots' (2003 - Lloyd Simandl) / 'Medieval Fleshpots 2 : Hot Wenches' (2003 - Lloyd Simandl)
A European elite funds an underground white slave trade in this dark series of films depicting the horrors of illegal girl trafficking. Includes two time travel entries showing the savage incarceration of women that occurred regularly during medieval times.
Lucie Vondráčková
'Deadly Engagement' (2002 - Lloyd Simandl)
Balls-to-the-wall action with martial arts superstar and kickboxing champion Olivier Gruner.
Olivier Gruner : The Virus Of Paris
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gw
Junior Member
@gw
Posts: 1,515
Likes: 556
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Post by gw on Apr 13, 2019 3:09:51 GMT
I have seen a fair number of animated works from Czech filmmakers. Of feature films, my favorite is probably Krabat The Sorceror's Apprentice. It's very atmospheric and it sort of sucked me in with its dark view of magic. Krysar is very good too, very dark and it has some very interesting woodcut sets and character designs. One film that I've only seen without subtitles not knowing the language was The Devil and Kate. It has an interesting sort of stylized hand drawn animation, probably based on folk art. I can't tell what the characters are saying, but the dialogue along with the boisterous acting makes it interesting to watch. I am not as big of a fan of Jiri Trnka's films as many are. I've seen The Emperor's Nightingale and A Midsummer Night's Dream and both felt a bit too boring since there wasn't much character expression and the sets were beautiful but bland. As far as short films go, I still like some of Trnka's shorts. The hand was pretty good and I really liked his Merry Circus cutout short. Jan Svankmajer is, in my opinion, one of the best short animators around. I especially like his short film Lunch. That film is a hilarious surreal situation and it's the most memorable of his shorts for me. I wish that Bretislav Pojar's Two Bears cartoons were subtitled in English. They have both interesting situations and some of the most creative stylized animation that I've ever seen. Jiri Barta has made some interesting shorts too. I really like his candy animated short.
Do you watch any of the new Czech animated movies? I was thinking about trying to see Tomas Lunak's comic book animation 'Alois Nebel' (2011), it looks interesting.
The most recent I've seen was In the Attic Or Who Has a Birthday Today?. I have also seen parts of Fimfarum 2. I'd avoided that movie due to its low rating but it's available for free through a service I'm subscribed to so I'll check it out soon.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 13, 2019 3:13:09 GMT
Do you watch any of the new Czech animated movies? I was thinking about trying to see Tomas Lunak's comic book animation 'Alois Nebel' (2011), it looks interesting.
The most recent I've seen was In the Attic Or Who Has a Birthday Today?. I have also seen parts of Fimfarum 2. I'd avoided that movie due to its low rating but it's available for free through a service I'm subscribed to so I'll check it out soon.
Out of curiosity, why do you think you're drawn to animation? Are you an animator yourself, gw?
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gw
Junior Member
@gw
Posts: 1,515
Likes: 556
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Post by gw on Apr 13, 2019 3:45:54 GMT
I don't know the exact reason. I have Asperger's syndrome which explains some of it. Before animation I had a variety of different interests like outer space and roller coasters. I used to be interested in cinema in general before animation but I watched all the great movies first and animation sort of stuck as my main interest. My best answer is that animation is a lot like dreams. It's inherently unreal and yet creates a reality of its own. Books can do this too, but they're generally more based on 'real' people and comic books are more detailed but they only show glimpses in time. For a long time I wanted to direct animated films but my imagination is not vivid enough to do it, most of the time. I'm focusing on two things that I'm slightly better at, music and animation theory. I don't know who else knows this but there's another form of cinema possible that isn't frame by frame. I could make a simple drawing of it and show you. It's not a big deal when there's cameras that can capture trillions of frames per second but it's an interesting thing to know.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 13, 2019 15:40:21 GMT
I don't know the exact reason. I have Asperger's syndrome which explains some of it. Before animation I had a variety of different interests like outer space and roller coasters. I used to be interested in cinema in general before animation but I watched all the great movies first and animation sort of stuck as my main interest. My best answer is that animation is a lot like dreams. It's inherently unreal and yet creates a reality of its own. Books can do this too, but they're generally more based on 'real' people and comic books are more detailed but they only show glimpses in time. For a long time I wanted to direct animated films but my imagination is not vivid enough to do it, most of the time. I'm focusing on two things that I'm slightly better at, music and animation theory. I don't know who else knows this but there's another form of cinema possible that isn't frame by frame. I could make a simple drawing of it and show you. It's not a big deal when there's cameras that can capture trillions of frames per second but it's an interesting thing to know.
I'm not sure I know about a different kind of cinema. I always think of it as frame-by-frame, that's interesting. It's cool your into animation theory. I really like the combination of animation and live-action in cinema, something I think the Czechs have a talent for, inspired by their passion for dolls and puppetry.
I like things to do with outer space, though I did fail science at school. I like the fantastical side of space exploration and the range of possiblities it conjures the more humans learn. My favourite thing is the mindbending qualities of black holes and supernovas, and looking at pictures of unusual features on moons and planets.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 13, 2019 23:15:43 GMT
Milan Cieslar (Born: April 26, 1960 in Ceský Tésín, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Film director Milan Cieslar didn't immediately join the ranks of the newly liberated Czech cinema's comedy titans, though to be fair, Jaroslav Soukup and Zdenek Troska had both been active throughout the 1980s. Cieslar is known as the young gun who always goes for it and his nickname is Mr. Diversity for a reason. There's no genre Cieslar won't try and he's now firmly established as the man of the moment thanks to his work within the Czech film industry's fast-growing, romantic comedy section.
Milan Cieslar
'Ballad in E Minor, 'Manfred', Op. 2' - Vítězslav Novák
'Margaret Menagerie' (1998, Markétin zvěřinec - Milan Cieslar)
An 11-year old girl with an overactive imagination finds all her mother's suitors are like animals. The endearing family film 'Margaret Menagerie' is based on a novel by Ivan Klima.
Anna Křivancová
'Spring Of Life' (2000, Der Lebensborn - Pramen života - Milan Cieslar)
Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler oversees the Lebensborn program designed to filter out biological impurities in humans and create a white master race. This powerful drama set during World War 2 is based on a novel by Vladimir Korner.
Monika Hilmerová
'Shadows Of The Deceased' (2005, Krev zmizelého - Milan Cieslar)
Charting the relationship between a mother and her daughter during decades of conflict and political turbulence. 'Shadows Of The Deceased' is based on a novel by Vladimir Korner.
Vilma Cibulková & Ester Geislerová
'The Rain Fairy' (2010, Dešťová víla - Milan Cieslar)
Elemental sprite the Rain Fairy spends time with poor people as they seek to reconnect with traditional family values. The fantasy feature 'The Rain Fairy' is inspired by a fairy tale by elemental poet Theodor Storm.
Lenka Vlasáková & Vica Kerekes
'Unfaithfully Yours' (2018, Věčně tvá nevěrná - Milan Cieslar)
A middle-aged aerobiciser slowly cottons on to the fact that her husband's eye has started wandering towards younger women. This smash hit rom-com is based on a play by Jan Mika.
Dominika Myslivcová
Making A Musical
I read that Milan Cieslar had some involvement with the staging of German director Mirjam Muller Landa's moody musical 'Yeast' (2007, Kvaska). Landa disappeared after making two films and doesn't seem to have been heard from since. The film's available today in a deluxe 2-disc blu-ray edition so there might be more information about this among the various extras, or it might be a rumour that's simply not true. Either way, it'd be great to see the film's star Lucie Vondrackova team with Cieslar to make a new rom-com as they're both currently active within this lucrative movie market.
Lucie Vondráčková headlines 'Kvaska'
'Zásah' - Lucie Vondráčková
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gw
Junior Member
@gw
Posts: 1,515
Likes: 556
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Post by gw on Apr 16, 2019 21:14:18 GMT
I don't know the exact reason. I have Asperger's syndrome which explains some of it. Before animation I had a variety of different interests like outer space and roller coasters. I used to be interested in cinema in general before animation but I watched all the great movies first and animation sort of stuck as my main interest. My best answer is that animation is a lot like dreams. It's inherently unreal and yet creates a reality of its own. Books can do this too, but they're generally more based on 'real' people and comic books are more detailed but they only show glimpses in time. For a long time I wanted to direct animated films but my imagination is not vivid enough to do it, most of the time. I'm focusing on two things that I'm slightly better at, music and animation theory. I don't know who else knows this but there's another form of cinema possible that isn't frame by frame. I could make a simple drawing of it and show you. It's not a big deal when there's cameras that can capture trillions of frames per second but it's an interesting thing to know.
I'm not sure I know about a different kind of cinema. I always think of it as frame-by-frame, that's interesting. It's cool your into animation theory. I really like the combination of animation and live-action in cinema, something I think the Czechs have a talent for, inspired by their passion for dolls and puppetry.
I like things to do with outer space, though I did fail science at school. I like the fantastical side of space exploration and the range of possiblities it conjures the more humans learn. My favourite thing is the mindbending qualities of black holes and supernovas, and looking at pictures of unusual features on moons and planets.
The other kind of cinema is simple to explain. You can't have analog cinema without time subdivided in frames. However, we later swapped regular cinema for digital cinema. It turns out that you can take a digital image and subdivide it so that you can have digital resolution but continuous or analog time. It would be a large amount of strands that you would run through the projector.
I still have an interest in space. I found a YouTube channel where a guy models the solar system and other stars in a simulation program called Universe Sandbox 2. If you're interested, look up Anton Petrov on Youtube.
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Post by petrolino on Apr 18, 2019 20:16:50 GMT
I'm not sure I know about a different kind of cinema. I always think of it as frame-by-frame, that's interesting. It's cool your into animation theory. I really like the combination of animation and live-action in cinema, something I think the Czechs have a talent for, inspired by their passion for dolls and puppetry.
I like things to do with outer space, though I did fail science at school. I like the fantastical side of space exploration and the range of possiblities it conjures the more humans learn. My favourite thing is the mindbending qualities of black holes and supernovas, and looking at pictures of unusual features on moons and planets.
The other kind of cinema is simple to explain. You can't have analog cinema without time subdivided in frames. However, we later swapped regular cinema for digital cinema. It turns out that you can take a digital image and subdivide it so that you can have digital resolution but continuous or analog time. It would be a large amount of strands that you would run through the projector.
I still have an interest in space. I found a YouTube channel where a guy models the solar system and other stars in a simulation program called Universe Sandbox 2. If you're interested, look up Anton Petrov on Youtube.
Thanks for the recommendation. I watched a youtube video from Anton Petrov ('What Da Math'). He discusses Albert Einstein's theories and new research about black holes and possible connection to "hypothetical objects known as white holes and wormholes". I enjoyed it (and reading the comments section too).
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Post by petrolino on Apr 19, 2019 23:22:47 GMT
ANCESTRY
Performer of Czech & Slovak Ancestry
Paul Newman
'Dža More' (Gypsy Ballade for Violin Solo) - Sylvie Bodorová
Performers of Czech Ancestry
Jane Novak & Eva Novak
Ann Dvorak
Cloris Leachman
Karen Black
Antonio Sabato
Sissy Spacek
Crispin Glover
January Jones
Alexandra Daddario
“Throwing Muses -- Kristen Hersh, my hero. She's a great guitar player, great writer, great singer. Everything about her is amazing. I saw the last show they played in L.A., at the Whisky. They just sat down on stage, they didn't have a set list, and they just asked people to name out their favorite songs. They played for like two and a half hours. I was at the very front of the stage at the Whiskey, right in front of her for two and a half hours. She's amazing. She is really like one of my heroes.”
- Exene Cervenka, Perfect Sound Forever
'White Girl' - X (with Exene Cervenka)
Performers of Slovak Ancestry
Jon Voight & Angelina Jolie
Robert Urich
Jesse 'The Body' Ventura
"Success is falling nine times and getting up ten."
- Jon Bon Jovi
'You Give Love A Bad Name' - Bon Jovi (with Jon Bon Jovi)
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Post by petrolino on Apr 22, 2019 2:35:28 GMT
Vojtěch Kotek (Born: January 8, 1988 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Vojtěch Kotek
'Chasing Fifty' (2015, Padesátka - Vojtech Kotek)
'Chasing Fifty' is the feature-length directorial debut for comedian Vojtech Kotek. It's a quirky, retro-styled, mid-life crisis comedy that simultaneously captures all the latest fads and trends.
Anna Linhartová, Tereza Voříšková & Eliška Křenková
Gabriela Gunčíková performs 'Welcome To The Jungle' at Ken Tamplin's Vocal Academy
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Post by petrolino on Apr 22, 2019 2:55:28 GMT
Andrea Sedláčková (Born: July 22, 1967 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Andrea Sedláčková
'Fair Play' (2014 - Andrea Sedlackova)
In the 1980s, a young athlete is encouraged to undertake an intensive course of anabolic steroids in order to qualify for the Olympics and represent her country. The sports drama 'Fair Play' presents a harrowing account of state-sponsored doping and the damaging effects it can have on families and the athletes involved. Director Andrea Sedlackova was one of the French film industry's leading editors in the 1990s, before returning home to Czech Republic. This controversial film is a co-production between Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany that probes a dark past now out in the open. Needless to say, the film was denounced and heavily criticised during a Russian disinformation campaign widely believed to have been waged by the Kremlin.
Anna Geislerová
Judit Bárdos
Eva Josefíková
'Zombie' - Lucie Vondráčková
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Post by petrolino on May 4, 2019 20:33:06 GMT
Karel Janák (Born: September 24, 1970 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic])
Romana Goscíková & Karel Janák
'10 Rules' (2014, 10 pravidel jak sbalit holku - Karel Janak)
A student of astrophysics uses scientific theory to enhance his chances of getting with his dream girl. '10 Rules' is a Czech variation on Cristiano Bortone's Italian romantic comedy '10 Rules For Falling In Love' (2012)'.
Kristína Svarinská & Matouš Ruml
'Give It To Me' - The Agony
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Post by wmcclain on May 25, 2019 1:09:41 GMT
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Post by wmcclain on May 25, 2019 1:10:49 GMT
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Post by petrolino on May 25, 2019 14:03:31 GMT
"Decades after the apocalypse, all the men are dead and we have a wandering band of young women, lead by an old woman who is the only one who remembers the world from before the war. The girls are tough and unruly, but they obey their leader, who still hopes to find other survivors. But it has been many years. The question here: the girls have never known civilization. Do they retain any degree of compassion or are they just savages? When they hear an old gramophone, is it music to them or just noise? The answer is a dark one. Not many happy stories at the end of the world."
- wmcclain
I'd love to see this movie. Think there's a strong chance I'd enjoy it based on the premise alone. Thanks so much for the appetite-whetting review (and image gallery), really enjoyed reading it.
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Post by mortsahlfan on Oct 11, 2019 21:59:52 GMT
Romeo, Julie a tma (1960) Carriage to Vienna (1966) The Sun in a Net (1962) Modlitba pro Katerinu Horovitzovou (1965 TV Movie) Diamonds of the Night (1964) Closely Watched Trains (1966)
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