Fri April 11, 2014
A Report on the Party and Guests, Jan Nemec (Czechoslovakia, 1966)
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
(see times)
Archival Print!
(O slavnosti a hostech). Notoriously “banned forever” by an incensed Czech government, A Report on the Party and Guests is political parable at its most cutting, dryly presenting a society where conformity is the norm and where power is contained not through brute force, but a gentle hand in the back. The revelries of some Sunday afternoon countryside loungers (including such New Wave luminaries as Ester Krumbachova, writer of Daisies, and Ewald Schorm, director of End of a Priest) are suddenly interrupted by sinister thugs, who blithely plop down a desk in a field and start taking reports. The group soon find themselves invited to “a party” by a seemingly gentle man, of which their attendance is strangely mandatory, or else. With cues from Kafka, Ionesco, and life itself, A Report is one of the most devastating satires ever made, revealing the structures of power that exist in all states and society.
—Jason Sanders
• Written by Nemec, Ester Krumbachov., based on her novella. Photographed by Jarom.r Sofr. With Ivan Vyskocil, Jan Klusak, Evald Schorm, Zdena Skvorecka. (70 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, Permission Janus Films)
Preceded by Mother and Son (Moeder en zoon) (Netherlands/Germany/Czechoslovakia, 1967). A tale of a doting mother and her lovable son, who’s also a brutal torturer. (10 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 80 mins
show less
(O slavnosti a hostech). Notoriously “banned forever” by an incensed Czech government, A Report on the Party and Guests is political parable at its most cutting, dryly presenting a society where conformity is the norm and where power is contained not through brute force, but a gentle hand in the back. The revelries of some Sunday afternoon countryside loungers (including such New Wave luminaries as Ester Krumbachova, writer of Daisies, and Ewald Schorm, director of End of a Priest) are suddenly interrupted by sinister thugs, who blithely plop down a desk in a field and start taking reports. The group soon find themselves invited to “a party” by a seemingly gentle man, of which their attendance is strangely mandatory, or else. With cues from Kafka, Ionesco, and life itself, A Report is one of the most devastating satires ever made, revealing the structures of power that exist in all states and society.
—Jason Sanders
• Written by Nemec, Ester Krumbachov., based on her novella. Photographed by Jarom.r Sofr. With Ivan Vyskocil, Jan Klusak, Evald Schorm, Zdena Skvorecka. (70 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, Permission Janus Films)
Preceded by Mother and Son (Moeder en zoon) (Netherlands/Germany/Czechoslovakia, 1967). A tale of a doting mother and her lovable son, who’s also a brutal torturer. (10 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 80 mins
Archival Print!
(O slavnosti a hostech). Notoriously “banned forever” by an incensed Czech government, A Report on the Party and Guests is political parable at its most cutting, dryly presenting a society where conformity is the norm and where power is contained not through brute force, but a gentle hand in the back. The revelries of some Sunday afternoon countryside loungers (including such New Wave luminaries as Ester Krumbachova, writer of Daisies, and Ewald Schorm, director of End of a Priest) are suddenly interrupted by sinister thugs, who blithely plop down a desk in a field and start taking reports. The group soon find themselves invited to “a party” by a seemingly gentle man, of which their attendance is strangely mandatory, or else. With cues from Kafka, Ionesco, and life itself, A Report is one of the most devastating satires ever made, revealing the structures of power that exist in all states and society.
—Jason Sanders
• Written by Nemec, Ester Krumbachov., based on her novella. Photographed by Jarom.r Sofr. With Ivan Vyskocil, Jan Klusak, Evald Schorm, Zdena Skvorecka. (70 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, Permission Janus Films)
Preceded by Mother and Son (Moeder en zoon) (Netherlands/Germany/Czechoslovakia, 1967). A tale of a doting mother and her lovable son, who’s also a brutal torturer. (10 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 80 mins
read more
(O slavnosti a hostech). Notoriously “banned forever” by an incensed Czech government, A Report on the Party and Guests is political parable at its most cutting, dryly presenting a society where conformity is the norm and where power is contained not through brute force, but a gentle hand in the back. The revelries of some Sunday afternoon countryside loungers (including such New Wave luminaries as Ester Krumbachova, writer of Daisies, and Ewald Schorm, director of End of a Priest) are suddenly interrupted by sinister thugs, who blithely plop down a desk in a field and start taking reports. The group soon find themselves invited to “a party” by a seemingly gentle man, of which their attendance is strangely mandatory, or else. With cues from Kafka, Ionesco, and life itself, A Report is one of the most devastating satires ever made, revealing the structures of power that exist in all states and society.
—Jason Sanders
• Written by Nemec, Ester Krumbachov., based on her novella. Photographed by Jarom.r Sofr. With Ivan Vyskocil, Jan Klusak, Evald Schorm, Zdena Skvorecka. (70 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, Permission Janus Films)
Preceded by Mother and Son (Moeder en zoon) (Netherlands/Germany/Czechoslovakia, 1967). A tale of a doting mother and her lovable son, who’s also a brutal torturer. (10 mins, In Czech with English subtitles, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 80 mins
show less
Date/Times:
Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
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