Archive of films This Year in September / Letos v září
Czechoslovakia
1963, 85 min
Section:
Out of the Past
Year: 2016
Sixteen-year-old Hanka and a slightly older student named Pavel are experiencing first love. It’s not always exclusively a time of enchantment and joy: their burgeoning relationship is marked by their timidity and a string of mutual misunderstandings brought on by the merest trifles. And the atmosphere of late summer in the Eastern-Bohemian town of Hradec Králové, where the film unfolds, serves as more than just a backdrop. The screening is accompanied by a reminiscence panel in connection with Frank Daniel Day.
Synopsis
Summer is drawing to a close, and the relationship between young Hanka and student Pavel is just beginning. He is diffident and awkward, and the girl is only now learning to deal with her emotions. They have plenty of opportunity to get to know one another, but something always happens to put the damper on their efforts, making them increasingly distrustful of one another as their minds fill with doubt and jealousy. Like when Hanka misinterprets the innocent kiss Pavel receives from Olina, who sings in the jazz band where Pavel plays the piano. Fifty years on, the misunderstandings the couple experienced back then will seem amusing and possibly naïve yet, in its day, this film was one of the few titles where interest in real life issues took precedence over socialist realist schemes. The intimacy of the story, the jazz music, the unofficial exhibition of paintings by young artists in the basement – these were all bold innovations for the time, as was the endeavour to evoke an authentic atmosphere via a location shoot using a hidden camera and microphone. The screening is accompanied by a reminiscence panel in connection with A Frank Daniel Day.
Zdena Škapová
About the director
Frank Daniel (b. 1926, Kolín, Czechoslovakia – 1996, Palm Springs, California) had a significant impact on the history of modern Czech cinema through his work on almost 40 films as storywriter, screenwriter, director, producer, and head of one of Barrandov Studios’ most progressive creative groups. His most successful project was the Academy Award-winning picture The Shop on Main Street (1965). He taught at Prague's Film Academy (FAMU), where his most gifted students included Pavel Juráček and Miloš Forman. He emigrated to the USA in 1969, becoming a respected lecturer at important film schools and colleges (AFI, UCLA, Columbia University, and Carleton College in Minnesota). He was artistic director of the Sundance Institute after its founding in 1981; he was also a member of the American Film Academy and special consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation.
Contacts
Národní filmový archiv
Malešická 12, 130 00, Praha 3
Czech Republic
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.nfa.cz
About the film
Black & white, 35 mm
Section: | Out of the Past |
---|---|
Director: | František Daniel |
Screenplay: | Zdeněk Dufek, František Daniel |
Dir. of Photography: | František Valert |
Music: | Ivan Řezáč |
Editor: | Jaromír Janáček |
Art Director: | Karel Lier |
Producer: | Jiří Krejčí |
Production: | Filmové studio Barrandov |
Cast: | Zuzana Martínková, Ivan Touška, Vlasta Chramostová, Lubor Tokoš, Marta Kučírková |
Sales: | Národní filmový archiv |
Guests
Tomáš Žůrek
Sales Agent