[Daviscenter-list] 10/27 and 10/28 Film Screenings

*Karel Vachek: Poet Provacateur -- two film screenings with director in person.* *Film title:* /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]/ (2006) *Film format:* 35mm *Date:* Tuesday, October 27, 2009 *Time:* 7:00 to 10:00 PM. *Film title:* /Elective Affinities/ (1968) *Film format:* 35mm *Date:* Wednesday, October 28, 2009 *Time:* 1:00 to 4:00 PM. *Location:* Main Lecture Hall, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA *Admission:* Free and open to the public *Website:* http://www.filmstudycenter.org/events/vachek.html *Information:* fsc(a)fas.harvard.edu <mailto:fsc@fas.harvard.edu> *Details:* 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. Sponsored by the Film Study Center at Harvard University, the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Davis Center Literature and Culture Seminar, and Balagan Film Series. 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