October 2001

IRISH CZECH & SLOVAK SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

Slovak Film Festival

19th to 25th October 2001
Irish Film Center, Eustace St., Dublin 2

 

The festival, organized by the Slovak Film Institute and Slovak Embassy will run form 19th to 25th October, at the Irish Film Center.

Slovak Film Days in Dublin will see the presentation of the best of Slovak film in Ireland for the first time.
A total of nine of the key films in Slovak cinema from the last 30 years will be screened, including works by Martin Sulik, Juraj Jakubisko and Dusan Hanak.

An Independent Slovak Cinema can arguably be dated from 1947, When the Koliba Studios were established in Bratislava. I early Sixties, Stefan Uher's "new form" film Sunshine in a Net (Slnko v Sieti, 1962) initiated the aesthetic climate that gave birth to the Czech and Slovak New Waves while, in the late sixties, the work of Juraj Jakubisko, Elo Havetta, and Dusan Hanak established a recognizably Slovak "school".
The use of folk culture and carnival as living tradition, an approach later associated with directors like Emil Kusturica, was already being pioneered by Jakubisko and Havetta. Their common mood was, said Havetta, "folklore, a mood, a mentality". Unfortunately, their first and arguably best films coincided with the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, leading to an extended ban an curtailing of international recognition. But Jakubisko an Hanak continued to produce visionary and challenging films until the present day. This selection from their work is complemented by three films by the most significant post Communist Slovak director, Martin Sulik. Titles such as Landscape, shown at this year's Berlin Festival, and The Garden, winner of many European awards, reveal a continuity with these earlier traditions combined with his own quiet sensitivity, and poetic conviction. - by Peter Hames, published by Irish Film Center.

The festival will be opened by the Slovak Minister of Culture (and famous actor) Mr. Milan Knazko, and be attended by a number of the film directors themselves.


 

Program

19 October Friday - Opening Ceremony
The Landscape
 8.30 pm
Martin Sulik 2001 - 110 min
A century of life in the provincial landscape of an all but forgotten Eastern European Country ... from the innocence of days too long past to horrors of World War II and the bittersweet promises of a new regime: tales of charm, adventure, irony, eccentricity, love and death, joy and sadness, set against the unchanging beauty of the landscape.
 
20 October Saturday
Paper Heads
 4.30 pm
Dusan Hanak 1995
A Documentary film about relations between citizens and authorities and different forms of violations of human rights in Czechoslovakia in the years 1945 - 1989
 
 
Tinted Dreams
 6.30 pm
Dusan Hanak 1976
A poetic picture of a subtle love of a village postman and a young Gypsy girl Jolanka. In the end they lose each other, but in fact this is a beginning ...
 
21 October Sunday
Pictures of The Old World
 4.30 pm
Dusan Hanak 1972
Suggestive portraits of old people from Liptov and Orava regions who are able to enjoy their freedom even in the times of society chaos and insecurity.
 
 
The Garden
 6.30 pm
Martin Sulik 1995
Jakub a teacher in his thirties, feels unhappy about his present life: he runs away from the city and moves into his grandfather's abandoned and time worn house. The house is surrounded by a large garden and Jakub is slowly enchanted by the magic and personified charm of the place.
 
22 October Monday
Wild Lilies
 6.30 pm
Elo Havetta 1992
Abandoned pilgrims after the Great War in an atmosphere of unfulfilled desires and passionate love ...
 
23 October Tuesday
Everything I Like
 6.30 pm
Martin Sulik 1992
The history of 38 year old Tomas, who decides to make a major change in his life. He accepts the offer of a young English woman to "rush him to the world".
 
24 October Wednesday
Little Birds Orphans and Fools
 6.30 pm
Juraj Jakubisko 1969
A story of three friends, orphans in the twentieth century - Yorick, Andrej and their common love Marta - in a world deprived of illusions and ideals, full of violence, cynicism and cruelty. It is a non conventional story of explosive pictures, fictitious and cruel vision of the world, where there is only one way to happiness - through foolishness.
 
25 October Thursday
An Ambitious Report About The End of The World
 6.30 pm
Juraj Jakubisko 1997
A story about love and hate, loyalty and vengeance, happiness and envy. It is a film about our times, a condensed parable about a changing world impelled by dark passion to its inevitable end. Passions stronger than  love have been dormant within us for centuries, and little is needed for them to fully awaken and acquire the same form as that known to our ancestors.

 

Jan Hus Lecture by Josef Stuchly

On Saturday 15th September the Irish Czech Slovak Society was honored with a lecture by Josef Stuchly at Milltown Park on Why Pope John Paul II expressed his regret for the execution of Jan Hus. It was Hus's philosophical work in Church reformation and subsequent martyrdom that has given him such a long lived reputation, and place in Czech society.

Josef succeeded in clarifying a rather complicated and involved historical theological event and with his obvious love and passion of the subject made the political intrigue and Machiavellian machinations of the time both interesting and involving. It is a great pity that he has now left these shores but hopefully others will take up the gauntlet he has thrown down!! More lectures of this caliber and insight would be a welcome addition to the events calendar of the society.

Many thanks to Tomas, Jindrich and Jana for preparing the room, food and drinks; and of course to Josef Stuchly for the excellent lecture.

by Miriam Delahunt

Mark Griffin, Secretary

Published by: web@ic-ss.org