The Landscape of Childhood in the Films of František Vláčil

František Vláčil (1924–1999), whose anniversary of his 100th birthday we will commemorate this year, is primarily associated with his pinnacle films from the 1960s and 1970s – The White Dove, Marketa Lazarová, The Valley of the Bees, Adelheid, Smoke on the Potato Fields, and Shadows of a Hot Summer. Childhood was also a significant theme in a large part of his work, whether in films aimed primarily at younger audiences – such as Clouds of Glass, and The Legend of the Silver Fir, which we have included in our festival program – or in those intended for adults, where child protagonists face the world in all its diversity, beauty, and cruelty. The lecture by film historian Petr Gajdošík, author of the comprehensive monograph František Vláčil. Life and Work (2018), will focus precisely on these motifs in Vláčil's films, exploring them through spoken word and illustrative screenings of visual excerpts.

Language: Czech