Otakar Vávra

  • Frantisek Pilát & Otakar Vávra – Svetlo proniká tmou AKA The Light Penetrates the Dark (1931)

    1931-1940Czech RepublicExperimentalFrantisek PilátOtakar VávraShort Film

    Quote:
    Zdenek Pešánek created the first public kinetic sculpture, for the power station in Prague. This short experimental film focuses on a kinetic sculpture by Zdenek Pešánek. For a period of eight years it issued beams of light from the outside wall of a transformer station at Prague’s power utility before its destruction in 1939. Though genuine, these shots seem abstract to us. They are a rhythmically assembled ode to the light-creating devices and phenomena of electricity. Light arcs, coils, bulbs and various luminous elements support the alternation of positive and negative film images, creating an impressive universe of light and shade. In the 1920s, Pešánek had obtained financial support for his work with electric kinetic light art. In the 1930s, he was the first sculptor to use neon lights. He built several kinetic light pianos, and published a book titled “Kinetismus” in 1941.Read More »

  • Otakar Vávra – Kladivo na carodejnice AKA Witches’ Hammer (1970)

    1961-1970ArthouseCzech RepublicDramaOtakar Vávra

    Quote:
    The time is the seventeenth century. The beggar Maryna Schuchová hides the Host in her scarf at the Communion. She admits to the parish priest Schmidt that she intended to give it to the midwife Groerová to heal her ailing cow. The young priest declares her a witch and convinces the Sumperk countess De Galle to summon the inquisitor Boblig from Edelstadt. This failed student of law sees the offer as a great opportunity. He uses torture and threats to force the women from the to testify to their meetings with the devil and learn by heart the lies he has made up for the inquisition tribunal. Boblig accuses the wealthy burghers of witchcraft as well, and so wants to seize their possessions.Read More »

  • Otakar Vávra – Oldrich a Božena (1985)

    Drama1981-1990ArthouseCzech RepublicOtakar Vávra

    “At the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries Boleslav’s kingdom fell apart in the fratricidal war between the Přemyslovci and the other clans the main profiteer of this being the German emperor. At that time it seemed as if the Czech state and the lineage of its princes was awaiting its end…” It is with these words that the tale of this film begins, whose narrative is based upon the the play by František Hrubín of the same name.Read More »

Back to top button