The audience in Karlovy Vary was the first to see the restored version of the critically acclaimed film Diamonds of the Night, directed by Jan Němec in 1964. The film was presented by a large delegation at the Great Hall today. The restorer Tereza Frodlová of the National Film Archive explained the reasons why the NFA had chosen Diamonds of the Night for renovation so that it could be preserved for future generations. They were attracted not only by the film’s powerful plot, but in particular by the composition of long shots, which the restorers tried to maintain as close as possible to the original.
“Diamonds of the Night is an experimental cinematic work, especially given the contrasting soundtrack where music is replaced with large swathes of silence, the use of expired film material, and cut-and-try laboratory editing which was intended to increase the picture’s intense expression." At the time, the film received some negative reviews due to the innovative and provocative techniques used in its making. "The experts often regarded such filmmaking methods as a mistake, rather than intention, and only when they re-appeared in several other films by cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, it became clear that this was indeed no mistake," said Frodlová.
The NFA General Director Michal Bregant then expressed his gratitude to all who helped in the film’s restoration, welcomed relatives of Jan Němec and Arnošt Lustig, and, in conclusion, narrated a story that had happened in Paris in 1967. At that time, a Czech journalist interviewed the artist Toyen, who had lived in the French capital for some twenty years. “Toyen told the journalist that she had seen all Czech films screened in Paris and that Diamonds of the Night left a lasting memory as it searched for the same thing as she had been striving to find all her life: the secrets hidden in human unconsciousness.”
