Films by directors such as Terrence Malick or Bernardo Bertolucci, a neo-noir classic with Alain Delon, a masterpiece of Japanese animation or the first attempt at a Czech social film. Tonight, the KVIFF Classics show begins in Prague cinemas, which will last until Saturday and will present nine gems of world cinema.
The show will be opened by Juraj Herz’s legendary film Petrol Lamps, which will be ceremonially introduced by actress Iva Janžurová directly in the Světozor cinema hall.
Karel Och, program director of the festival in Karlovy Vary, reveals more about KVIFF Classics.
Do you remind us of the movie Kerosene Lamps? The history of its creation and what reactions it evoked at the time it was created, and what does it say today?
The film Kerosene lamps was shot in 1971, when screenwriter Václav Šašek approached Juraj Herz with the idea of adapting Jaroslav Havlíček’s psychological novel of the same name. The director, who had become famous a few years earlier with the grotesque horror The Incinerator, accepted the idea as his own, because it met his request to work on a topic that is not primarily political. The film was and is considered one of the most successful domestic film adaptations of a literary work in general. In the late spring of 1972, he represented Czechoslovakia in the main competition of the Cannes festival, where he received very positive reactions.
Why is it good to remember movie classics? What is your favorite thing to come back to?
Even though film is a much younger artistic discipline than, for example, literature or visual arts, the premise also applies here that knowledge of cinematography’s past facilitates understanding of its current form. Throwbacks to history are always exciting for the discerning consumer of art, and with movies, they allow you to indulge in wonderfully nostalgic moods, especially now before Christmas. Personally, I adore film classics in any form and take every opportunity to immerse myself in them.
Every year, Karlovy Vary presents a lot of new Czech films – often these are strong artistic statements, which then do not get the audience attention they deserve in cinemas. Do you think that contemporary Czech film can also produce “future classics”?
This is an extremely interesting and at the same time very difficult question. I am convinced that contemporary Czech film produces works that will undoubtedly be an interesting testimony of the time in which they were created. From an aesthetic, social and political point of view. I will be happy if, in 2073, someone reads Jáchym Topol’s wonderful book The Sensitive Man and then watches Tomáš Klein’s film adaptation of it. He will be rewarded with the discovery that decades ago brave kumsters wrote and filmed.
Which films can you see as part of KVIFF Classics?
Kerosene lamps (dir. Juraj Herz, Czechoslovakia, 1971)
Bio Paradise (dir. Giuseppe Tornatore / Italy, France 1988)
Samurai (dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, Italy, 1967)
Days of Heaven (dir. Terrence Malick, USA, 1978)
Grave of the Fireflies (dir. Isao Takahata, Japan, 1988)
Byt (r. Billy Wilder, USA, 1960)
Lawrence of Arabia (dir. David Lean, UK, 1962)
XX. century (dir. Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy, France, Germany, 1976)
Shaft of Buried Ideas (dir. Rudolf Myzet, Antonín Ludvík Havel, Czechoslovakia, 1921)
How did you choose the films for the KVIFF Classics screening?
We closely follow the development of restoration activities all over the world, including the Czech Republic – brand new digitally restored copies of Kerosene Lamps, Samurai and Heavenly Days are proof of this. Another impulse comes with anniversaries – for example, ten years since the death of Peter O’Toole, we present the legendary Lawrence of Arabia. Well, the breathtaking Japanese animated film Tomb of the Fireflies found its way into the program with its theme and very moving processing. It takes place at the end of the Second World War, the horrors of which were felt in the most tragic way by the least guilty – children. Unfortunately, just like on several current battlefields to the east of our homeland.
Which of those movies can’t you forget yourself?
I will be specific with regard to the KVIFF Classics program – as a lover of Billy Wilder films, I must mention his legendary pre-Christmas breezy romantic comedy The Apartment, which I am extremely happy to return to at every opportunity.
KVIFF Classics
14-16 12. 2023, cinema Světozor and Ponrepo, Prague
2023-12-14 19:16:14
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