{"id":13238,"date":"2019-04-20T21:34:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-21T01:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=13238"},"modified":"2021-12-26T09:34:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-26T14:34:34","slug":"film-society-of-lincoln-center-ester-krumbachova-greggwmorris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/film-society-of-lincoln-center-ester-krumbachova-greggwmorris\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Society of Lincoln Center Tribute to Ester Krumbachov\u00e1, Master of the Czechoslovak New Wave"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Ester Krumbachov\u00e1.*<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Presented in collaboration with the Czech Center New York<\/a>.<\/strong> A 10-film series tribute, <\/strong>May 24 to May 29, <\/strong>to the multitalented, artist and her cinematic impact. She was virtually ignored throughout her career.
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cDaisies would not be what it is without Ester Krumbachov\u00e1.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2013 The New York Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Though Ester Krumbachov\u00e1 was considered by director V\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1<\/a> to be the boldest personality of the Czechoslovak New Wave<\/a>, her contributions to the movement have been outrageously ignored.<\/p>\n

The costume and set designer, scriptwriter, and director, the multi-hyphenate artist shared her puckishly surreal and trenchant radical vision with such trailblazing New Wave directors as Chytilov\u00e1, Karel Kachy\u0148a, Jaromil Jire\u0161, and Jan N\u011bmec, who married Krumbachov\u00e1 and considered her a muse.<\/p>\n

But shortly after making her directorial debut with the hilarious yet criminally under-seen fantasy, The Murder of Mr. Devil,<\/a> she was blacklisted by the Czechoslovak Communist government<\/a>. This series looks back on Krumbachov\u00e1\u2019s singular imprint on the Czechoslovak New Wave, recognizing her essential contributions and reexamining some of the movement\u2019s most beloved, important works in a new light.<\/p>\n

The retrospective will recognize Krumbachov\u00e1\u2019s work with New Wave icon Chytilov\u00e1, whose landmark feminist films, Daisies and Fruit of Paradise, were co-written and featured costumes designed by Krumbachov\u00e1.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Scene from Daisies*<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other highlights of the series include:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 N\u011bmec\u2019s feature debut Diamonds of the Night, for which Krumbachov\u00e1 received her first screen credit as costume designer;<\/p>\n

\u2013the dark, lushly stylized Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, with Krumbachov\u00e1 serving as production designer and co-writing the screenplay with director Jire\u0161;<\/p>\n

\u2013 Vojt\u011bch Jasn\u00fd\u2019s All My Compatriots, featuring costume design from Krumbachov\u00e1;<\/p>\n

\u2013 a 35mm archival print of Zbyn\u011bk Brynych\u2019s gripping \u2026 and the Fifth Horseman Is Fear, which credits Krumbachov\u00e1 for costume design yet overlooks her script contributions;<\/p>\n

\u2013 and her single directorial effort, the rarely screened surrealist anti-rom-com The Murder of Mr. Devil.<\/p>\n

The series also showcases three of her collaborations with Karel Kachyna, including the atmospheric thriller Coach to Vienna and the psychological epic Long Live the Republic, both featuring costume design by Krumbachov\u00e1, as well as the paranoia soused The Ear, Krumbachov\u00e1\u2019s first foray into set design.<\/p>\n

Organized by Florence Almozini and Tyler Wilson.<\/p>\n

Tickets on sale May 3, and are $15; $12 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $10 for Film Society members. See more and save with the 3+ film discount package. Learn more at filmlinc.org.<\/p>\n

Acknowledgments \u2013 <\/strong>Czech Center New York,<\/a> Marie Dvorakova; Czech National Film Archive, Kate\u0159ina Fojtov\u00e1 & Eva Urbanov\u00e1.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Films and Descriptions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Costume Design<\/span>
\nAll My Compatriots \/ Vsichni dob\u0159\u00ed rod\u00e1ci
\nVojt\u011bch Jasn\u00fd, Czechoslovakia, 1969, 120m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nCommunism brings change\u2014and disillusionment\u2014to a small Czech village in this subversive micro-epic. Set between 1945 and 1958, All My Compatriots follows varied residents of a Moravian farming community as they are coerced into collectivization, a process that pits neighbor against neighbor, those who join the party against those who resist. Krumbachov\u00e1\u2019s attractive costume design offers an ironic visual counterpoint to the narrative.<\/p>\n

Between the sun-dappled imagery and a feeling for small-town social rituals\u2014from church services to boozy bacchanals\u2014Vojt\u011bch Jasn\u00fd (who won Best Director at Cannes for this film) casts a jaundiced eye on the corrupt, anti-democratic soul of the Communist takeover.
\nSaturday, May 25, 2:30pm
\nWednesday, May 29, 8:45pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Screenplay, Costume Design<\/span>
\n\u2026and the Fifth Horseman Is Fear \/ …a p\u00e1t\u00fd jezdec je Strach
\nZbyn\u011bk Brynych, Czechoslovakia, 1965, 35mm, 100m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nThough credited only as costume designer, Krumbachov\u00e1 also contributed to the script of this gripping parable of persecution and paranoia in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Cannily setting its tale of authoritarian repression in World War II\u2013era Prague in order to draw parallels to life under Soviet rule, \u2026and the Fifth Horseman Is Fear follows the Jewish Dr. Braun (Miroslav Mach\u00e1\u010dek), who, forbidden from practicing medicine, risks his life to treat a wounded resistance fighter.<\/p>\n

So begins a harrowing, hallucinatory descent into the city\u2019s underground as the doctor desperately attempts to procure morphine, a journey rendered by director Zbyn\u011bk Brynych as an expressionist nightmare that telegraphs the day-to-day dread of life in an occupied state.
\nSunday, May 26, 6:30pm
\nWednesday, May 29, 6:30pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Costume Design<\/span>
\nCoach to Vienna \/ Ko\u010d\u00e1r do V\u00eddn\u011b
\nKarel Kachyna, Czechoslovakia, 1966, 78m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nNear the end of World War II, a pair of Austrian soldiers fleeing the Russian front force a steely Czech woman (Iva Janzurov\u00e1) to accompany them through a mist-shrouded forest back to Vienna. Little do they know that the woman they are holding at gunpoint is the grieving widow of a husband killed by Nazis just that week and is hell-bent on vengeance, packing an ax hidden beneath her horse cart.<\/p>\n

Such is the setup for this atmospheric thriller\u2014featuring costumes by Krumbachov\u00e1\u2014which begins as a tense revenge tale and gradually morphs into a harrowing human drama about the extremes to which war drives ordinary people.
\nSunday, May 26, 2:00pm
\nWednesday, May 29, 4:30pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Screenplay, Costume Design<\/span>
\nDaisies \/ Sedmikr\u00e1sky
\nV\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1, Czechoslovakia, 1966, 35mm, 74m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\n\u201cWhen everything is being spoiled \u2026 we\u2019ll be spoiled too!\u201d So proclaim two pixieish hell-raisers named Marie I and Marie II, whose radical nihilism leads them on a giddy, giggly, anything-goes pursuit of hedonistic pleasure, gustatory excess, and patriarchy-smashing destruction.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Scene from Daisies.<\/p><\/div>\n

Writ in a Dadaist flurry of psychedelic colors, mismatched film stocks, cutout collages, and cartoon sound effects, this experimental call to rebellion unfolds like a Laurel and Hardy romp filtered through co-writers Krumbachov\u00e1 (who also designed the costumes) and V\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1\u2019s feminist and formalist sensibility of the \u201960s avant-garde. Dedicated to \u201cthose who get upset only over a stomped-upon bed of lettuce,\u201d the film was banned by authorities for, among other offenses, its unconscionable depiction of food wastage.
\nFriday, May 24, 9:00pm
\nMonday, May 27, 6:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Costume Design<\/span>
\nDiamonds of the Night \/ D\u00e9manty noci
\nJan N\u011bmec, Czechoslovakia, 1964, 66m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nKrumbachov\u00e1 received her first screen credit for her work as costume designer on the senses-shattering feature debut of fellow Czechoslovak New Wave iconoclast Jan N\u011bmec. Told in a visceral rush of handheld tracking shots and hallucinations, Diamonds of the Night harrowingly portrays two teenage boys\u2019 desperate fight for survival as they flee Nazi forces after escaping a train delivering them to a concentration camp.<\/p>\n

A miniature tour de force of overwhelming expressionistic power, this foundational work of the Czechoslovak New Wave evokes with terrifying vividness what it feels like to be powerless in the face of inhuman cruelty.
\nSaturday, May 25, 5:00pm
\nTuesday, May 28, 6:30pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Set Design<\/span>
\nThe Ear \/ Ucho
\nKarel Kachy\u0148a, Czechoslovakia, 1970, 94m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nAlready on edge in the wake of an ongoing communist purge, a government official, Ludvik (Radoslav Brzobohat\u00fd), and his soused wife, Anna (Ji\u0159ina Bohdalov\u00e1), return home from a political soiree to discover that their keys are missing, their electricity has been cut, and The Ear\u2014the state surveillance system\u2014may be listening in on their every word.<\/p>\n

So begins a long night\u2019s journey into dread as the two of them bicker, booze, and crawl the walls with fear: could Ludvik be the next party member to disappear? Something like Cassavetes\u2019 Faces meets The Conversation, The Ear viscerally evokes the tension and all-pervasive paranoia of life under a totalitarian regime, and features Krumbachov\u00e1\u2019s foray into set design.
\nFriday, May 24, 5:00pm
\nSunday, May 26, 8:45pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Screenplay, Costume Design<\/span>
\nFruit of Paradise \/ Ovoce stromu rajsk\u00fdch j\u00edme
\nV\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1, Czechoslovakia, 1970, 99m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nV\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1\u2019s follow-up to her avant-garde landmark Daisies is less heralded but may be even more audaciously abstract. Chytilov\u00e1 and Krumbachov\u00e1\u2019s script resets the story of Adam and Eve in a crumbling health spa where a married woman is menaced and fascinated by a mysterious stranger: a devilish charmer in a red velvet suit who may be a serial killer.<\/p>\n

Unfolding in a kaleidoscopic swirl of hallucinatory, highly processed imagery\u2014including a stunning, primordial opening sequence of luscious, floral double exposures\u2014and set to a thunderous, wall-to-wall symphonic score by Zden\u011bk Li\u0161ka, Fruit of Paradise is a senses-scrambling odyssey rich in feminist and political symbolism.
\nSaturday, May 25, 8:30pm
\nMonday, May 27, 2:30pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Costume Design<\/span>
\nLong Live the Republic \/ At’ zije Republika
\nKarel Kachyna, Czechoslovakia, 1965, 134m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nThe injustices of war and the moral failings of humanity are seen through the eyes of a child in this visually splendorous CinemaScope rhapsody. A whirl of memories, fantasies, and impressions, Long Live the Republic takes place in the active imagination of 12-year-old Oldrich (Zdenek Lstiburek)\u2014the smallest boy in his Moravian village who must rely on wits to outsmart the bullies who relentlessly tease him\u2014as he witnesses the end of the German occupation and the beginning of the Soviet liberation.<\/p>\n

Featuring costumes by Krumbachov\u00e1, this breathless psychological epic is a by turns lyrical, caustic, and anti-heroic vision of life during wartime.
\nSunday, May 26, 3:45pm
\nTuesday, May 28, 8:00pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Direction, Screenplay, Costume Design<\/span>
\nThe Murder of Mr. Devil \/ Vrazda ing. Certa
\nEster Krumbachov\u00e1, Czechoslovakia, 1970, 87m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nKrumbachov\u00e1\u2019s sole directorial effort puts a surrealist, satanic spin on the battle-of-the-sexes farce as a hot-to-trot Miss Lonelyhearts (Jirina Bohdalov\u00e1) looking for a man gets more than she bargained for when she begins wooing the boorish Mr. Devil (Vladim\u00edr Mens\u00edk), an insatiable glutton who turns out to be (literally) the boyfriend from hell.<\/p>\n

A groovy m\u00e9lange of \u201960s lounge muzak, eye-popping art direction, and sumptuous Czech cuisine, The Murder of Mr. Devil is a subversive anti-rom-com that coolly cuts male chauvinism down to size and luxuriates in female pleasure, desire, and liberation.
\nFriday, May 24, 7:00pm
\nMonday, May 27, 4:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Screenplay, Production Design<\/span>
\nValerie and Her Week of Wonders \/ Valerie a t\u00fdden divu
\nJaromil Jire\u0161, Czechoslovakia, 1970, 77m
\nCzech with English subtitles
\nAdapted by Krumbachov\u00e1 and director Jaromil Jire\u0161 from a novel by surrealist writer V\u00edt\u011bzslav Nezval, this lushly stylized horror fantasia overflows with both dreamy bucolic beauty and macabre menace. In a gothic storybook universe, 13-year-old Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerov\u00e1) tumbles through the looking glass into a phantasmagoric realm of vampires, black magic, and pagan sexuality where fanged grandmothers feast on children and incestuous fathers transform into weasels.<\/p>\n

A dark fairy-tale evocation of adolescent anxiety, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders takes its place alongside the Krumbachov\u00e1-scripted Daisies as one of the major works of the Czechoslovak New Wave to center female subjectivity.
\nSaturday, May 25, 6:30pm
\nMonday, May 27, 8:30pm (Introduction by Irena Kovarova)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Pictures, courtesy of exoticandirrational.blogspot.com<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Film Society of Lincoln Center<\/strong>
\nThe Film Society of Lincoln Center is devoted to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film culture. The only branch of the world-renowned arts complex Lincoln Center to shine a light on the everlasting yet evolving importance of the moving image, this nonprofit organization was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international film. Via year-round programming and discussions; its annual New York Film Festival; and its publications, including Film Comment, the U.S.\u2019s premier magazine about films and film culture, the Film Society endeavors to make the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broader audience, as well as to ensure that it will remain an essential art form for years to come.<\/p>\n

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Shutterstock, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A costume and set designer, scriptwriter, and director, the multi-hyphenate artist shared her puckishly surreal and trenchant, radical vision with such trailblazing New Wave directors as Chytilov\u00e1, Karel Kachy\u0148a, Jaromil Jire\u0161, and Jan N\u011bmec, who married Krumbachov\u00e1 and considered her a muse.<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1151,1150,732],"class_list":["post-13238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","tag-czech-new-wave","tag-ester-krumbachova","tag-film-society-of-lincoln-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13238"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13299,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13238\/revisions\/13299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}