Screening No. 9
WHEN :: Tuesday 10th October, 7.30pm
WHERE :: Sassoon Gallery, (Behind Bar Story, under Peckham Rye train station arches // (FIND US HERE: http://www.
PRICE :: FREE
WHAT ::Jan Němec's, The Dinner Party and the Guests (1966 Czechoslovakia)
Hello everyone,
A reminder for tomorrow's film screening; Jan Němec's, The Dinner Party and the Guests (1966 Czechoslovakia). This film was "banned forever" by the Czech government due to its apparent attack on the communist regime. There is no doubt that Němec presents a satire of totalitarianism, critiquing it's superficial alluring appeal and it's eventual pitfalls. However, rather interestingly, Němec denied (and still to this day denies) that the film is critical of the communist regime, rather it is about the 'kind of mafia' (Hames) that exist in every society. Yet it is impossible to deny the unequivocal analogies towards the authoritarianism Czechoslovakian society that he was existing and producing films under.
The film follows a group of bourgeoisie pic-nickers that are rounded up and interrogated by a group of smartly dressed men (reminiscent of the secret police) however, all is forgiven when the the party's host (reminiscent of Lenin) makes the bourgeoisie special guests at his party. The person that resists does so by not speaking, slipping out unnoticed from the party to the irritation of the host.
"It was one of four films that was listed as being banned forever... some were politically subversive, or seen to be critical of the system, others were simply banned because they were considered to be elitist or incomprehensible and yet others were banned simply because the film makers were not approved of. And in the case of the party and the guests it came under all three categories." (from the Party and The Guests special features section)
The imagery lives up to the usual standard of the Czech New Wave. Set entirely outside in the Czech countryside Němec based the romantic imagery on Renoir's paintings. Also you may spot a familiar face, Jan Klusák seen in previous film screenings Daisies, as the obsessive lover, and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, as the slightly repulsive priest.
The Party and the Guests, is a hugely critically important film which has earned it itself a place firm both in the canon and within cult cinema, and really is not one to be missed.
We will be showing a short alongside the main screening, as a reminder of the East German peoples rebellion against the government that had split a city in two, which lead to the collapse of the Berlin wall twenty years ago. This is largely inspired by the recent film series Generation Berlin Wall, that screened underground anti-establishment films from East and West Germany before the collapse of the wall. Follow us here (http://www.
Hope to see you there.
Rachel and Lydia
Please forward as you see fit, cheers!
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