Good Films in Good Quality

The Slovak Film Institute is making a catalogue of digitally restored films available on DCP with English subtitles. This currently contains more than twenty full-length Slovak films.

The collection contains films made between the 1950s and the early 1990s over which the SFI exerts producer rights. Naturally, the 1960s are particularly well represented – they are regarded as the golden era of Slovak cinema. Thus, The Sun in a Net (Slnko v sieti, 1962) could not be omitted from the selection, as this film heralded the advent of the Czechoslovak New Wave. It was made by director Štefan Uher and a further three films by the director are available on DCP: The Organ (Organ, 1964), The Wonder-Maid (Panna zázračnica, 1966) and Three Daughters (Tri dcéry, 1967). Another remarkable director, Peter Solan, is represented not just with his full-length début The Devil Never Sleeps (Čert nespí, 1956, co-directed by F. Žáček), but also with his pivotal film The Boxer and Death (Boxer a smrť, 1962) where he depicts a drama based on the unusual relations between a German officer and a prisoner in a concentration camp. Solan’s next film, Before Tonight Is Over (Kým sa skončí táto noc, 1965), is a horse of a diff erent colour; it consists of a mosaic of situations occurring among guests at a stylish night club.

As for the productions of the 1960s, the film transcription of Dobroslav Chrobák’s novella The Dragon’s Return (Drak sa vracia, 1967) is here. This was directed by Eduard Grečner and is an example of great work with image and music. In turn, A Song about the Grey Pigeon (Pieseň o sivom holubovi, 1961) is remarkable in the way the director Stanislav Barabáš reflects on the war through the eyes of children.

When speaking of the New Wave, Juraj Jakubisko, Elo Havetta and Dušan Hanák were its most distinct representatives. Elo Havetta’s début Celebration in the Botanical Garden (Slávnosť v botanickej záhrade, 1969) is saturated with ideas and playfulness, with an atmosphere of the celebration of vitality and emotionality. Thus, a peculiar world is created where, unlike the monotonous everyday reality, everything has a distinct taste, scent and colour, nor can miracles be excluded. Hanák is an equally remarkable personality but of a different nature. His début 322 is substantially more moderate in its expression. In this case, the director’s resourcefulness is displayed not by staging an extravagant action but in his ability to see beyond what is obvious, into the intimate sphere of a man and his existence which might be veiled by silence; however, it is full of motion. Another film by Hanák is also available – the much awarded documentary Pictures of the Old World (Obrazy starého sveta, 1972).

Through DCP, cinema audiences may also become familiar with the various “faces” of the director, Juraj Jakubisko, whose work is characterised by powerful images. From his early period, Birdies, Orphans, and Fools (Vtáčkovia, siroty a blázni, 1969) is quite typical. In the film the dreamy “game of foolery” is mixed with cruelty and it grows into tragedy. In the 1980s Jakubisko made the epic family saga The Millennial Bee (Tisícročná včela, 1984); it was an extremely difficult project to make and it also captures historical changes. His fairy tale Lady Winter (Perinbaba, 1985) was hugely popular with audiences.

A marked dramatic conflict based on the confrontation of characters in a complicated situation contingent on the period context – that is what the director Miloslav Luther is usually interested in; this holds true for his film A Path Across the Danube (Chodník cez Dunaj, 1989) situated in 1939-1940. Tenderness (Neha, 1991) is the “youngest” film in the DCP collection. Martin Šulík made it as his full-length début as director.

Daniel Bernát