*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