Martin Ježek

(…) Two decilitres of lousy vodka… along the way… in the forest, without witnesses, in two sips (…) Immense brightness and joy… everything is clear, glorious and I don’t care, it takes half an hour, after which the wide angle of the cinemascopic 35mm shutter starts to narrow to 16mm film, still in colour, but all of us ABSENT know what and how it ends. It ends at 8 millimeters, 12 frames per second at most, the picture fades, then a well…

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A meta-film (about the film Arved, directed by Vojtěch Mašek) that should never have been made, because no one can parasitize the ever-blooming flower of the film industry with impunity. Nevertheless, Ježek has signed a pact with the devil, thought he was some kind of Faust, played with the devil and black magic, and made the project happen. And this is unforgivable in today's profit- and success-oriented world. He'll face eternal damnation and the fires of hell. And it serves him right. At least he won't continue to harm those who demand nothing but peace of mind from the world.

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A poetic story of a proletarian couple’s relationship during the years of economic crisis and unemployment – of all the films directed by E. F. Burian, the film Chceme žít (We Want to Live, 1949) is probably his worst. The intention to create a powerful work of cinema that would combine modern means of expression with the ideological canons of socialist realism failed completely. Ježek and Tarnovski discovered these „shambles“ and tried to rebuild a structure out of the hopelessness and futility of life. Ježek has photochemically “transcribed” selected passages with the greatest possible degree of humility towards the work of the great avant-gardist, Tarnovski similarly makes the soundtrack visible. The improvised encounter of sound and image in dialogic mode can lead to various misunderstandings resulting in ambiguous compromise.

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This collective film, a cinematographic performance, in a way a tribute to the poet and priest Jakub Deml, presents the experiences of individual creators upon encountering his texts from the ensemble "My Purgatory". It wavers between spontaneous, even raw film, and conceptual performance. A "heretical mass" of four interpenetrating parts in color (Closure, Pilgrimage, Home, Cemetery), which define typically Deml motifs. The fifth part, in high contrast black and white, is a reaction to the illusion of a colorful world, a voice from the graveyard that frames the eternally absurd human quest for immortality.

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Hansel and Gretel went into the woods with their dad, but he hid from them so he could film them with a hidden camera. In the meantime, the entire adult population in the whole world (including their father) died from an unknown illness. The only thing that remained of him was several reels of exposed film. The children were left alone in the world. With no future, no faith, no hope... A self-therapeutic film from a beautiful era when most people disappeared behind the walls of their homes and were afraid to come out.

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One of the most important thinkers of 20th century, the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, goes on a tour of Auschwitz 40 years after his death. He takes 2,500 photographs during his visit. On his way back he visits Prague and his attention is caught by the tail of a marathon under way, which conspicuously reminds him of a funeral. The following winter, his Jewish lover and one of the most important thinkers of 20th century, Hannah Arendt, rises from the grave as well. With a 16mm camera in her hand, she aimlessly wanders in the area surrounding Heidegger’s chalet in Todtnauberg. She has visions of certain motifs from the great philosopher’s key work, Being and Time. All is arranged in a strictly structural shape. Static in movement, kinetic in stillness.

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Mr. Roman was born, grew up, and then became lonely inside a panel apartment. Roughly between 1955–1981. This period was recorded by his father in the manner "I only film what I see in front of the camera". And Roman? He just grimaced.

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Sad love story about Martin, who is sent to a psychiatric hospital for observation after displays of hooliganism, and Markéta who is recovering from post-traumatic shock after her mother's suicide.

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(…) Two decilitres of lousy vodka… along the way… in the forest, without witnesses, in two sips (…) Immense brightness and joy… everything is clear, glorious and I don’t care, it takes half an hour, after which the wide angle of the cinemascopic 35mm shutter starts to narrow to 16mm film, still in colour, but all of us ABSENT know what and how it ends. It ends at 8 millimeters, 12 frames per second at most, the picture fades, then a well…

Open details →

A meta-film (about the film Arved, directed by Vojtěch Mašek) that should never have been made, because no one can parasitize the ever-blooming flower of the film industry with impunity. Nevertheless, Ježek has signed a pact with the devil, thought he was some kind of Faust, played with the devil and black magic, and made the project happen. And this is unforgivable in today's profit- and success-oriented world. He'll face eternal damnation and the fires of hell. And it serves him right. At least he won't continue to harm those who demand nothing but peace of mind from the world.

Open details →