How was the Czech cinema formed? / The impact of the Velvet Revolution on the cinema of this country
Charso Press: According to the public relations of the Iranian House of Artists, after the screening of the film, a review meeting was held with the presence of Hossein Eidizadeh (cinema critic and translator) in the hall of Ostad Naseri of the House of Artists. The implementation of this program was carried out by Saman Bayat.
Hossein Eidizadeh said in this program: In order to talk about these two films, I must first explain about the history of the Czech Republic. As you saw in the movie, Czechoslovakia was born in 1918. Various things have happened to this country. Due to its geographical location, it has been attacked by many people, but the people there were not violent and bloodthirsty and managed to survive with their sense of humor.
He added: Nazi Germany occupied there during the war. This will continue until 1945, when the Russians entered the Czech Republic and were well received by the people. From this date, the country becomes independent, but the Communist Party gains power there. In this way, the conditions there are not favorable; Because in the allied countries of the Soviet Union, they wanted to do all the things that Stalin intended to do (in Russia). For this reason, freedom in that sense did not exist.
This film critic continued his speech and said: Stalin dies in 1953 and conditions change a little and freedoms are created in the Czech Republic. Therefore, in 1968, important events took place in the Czech Republic. At that time, an attempt was made to humanize communists and socialists, and people found better living conditions, but the Soviets could not tolerate this, and as you saw in the second movie, they attacked the city with tanks, and that freedom was lost again. .
Eidizadeh continued his speech and said: This situation lasted for 21, 22 years until the Velvet Revolution started in 1988 and happened with demonstrations, people rejected the left party and elected Vaclav Havel as their president during elections. After a few years, the Czech and Slovak people realize that they do not understand each other and they separate. The name of this separation is also called velvet divorce.
He continued: “Unfortunately, for several years now, the governments in the Czech Republic have been closer to the Soviet Union.” Of course, in the recent elections there, the more liberal and free government has taken power.
In another part of his talk about the history of Czech cinema, this film critic said: Filmmaking has existed in the Czech Republic almost since the advent of cinema. The filmmakers of this country made their first films at the end of the 19th century and had a small cinema during the First World War. When we come to the introduction of sound in the cinema, people in many places were not happy about this and went to see American movies, but in the Czech Republic, something important happened and people were happy that they could see movies in their own language. That’s why the cinema is a bit booming at that time. Of course, since that time, due to the power that the church had in this country, there has been a discussion of censorship in Czech cinema. For this reason, it should be said that the church has always been influential in cinema as an influential institution.
He continued his speech and said: In the mid-thirties, Vaclav Havel, who was also a playwright, established a film production company, and filmmaking continued there for years. The interesting thing is that in 1938, which coincides with our year 1317, there were 1,800 cinema halls active in the Czech Republic, which had a capacity of 600,000 people. If the check is a city like Qom in terms of size. At that time, they invested in cinema and produced a lot of movies. In animation productions, they also produce special films and have important filmmakers in this genre.
Eidizadeh continued: This situation will continue until the Second World War and after that the situation is not good. In fact, a positive cinematic event happened there in the 60s. Because talented people started making films at that time and produced critical and good works. Of course, all these people were involved with censorship and produced their works under special conditions. In the 70s, when they saw that people did not come to watch the works, they invited the famous filmmakers of that time who were facing censorship to make films again, and in this way the conditions for filmmaking improved a little, but the conditions were not favorable until the Velvet Revolution.
This movie translator continued his speech and said: The effect of the suffocation of this era on the filmmakers is not sweet. There were filmmakers in this era who were unable to work and only decided not to leave their country and despite being very capable, they were deprived of making the works they wanted. For example, a tragic event happened to Yan Nemets, the filmmaker of the documentary “A piece for Prague”, which was the second documentary of this program, and it was destroyed. He lives in complete misery for 12 years; First, he goes to Austria, Belgium, and then to America, where he becomes a wedding videographer. This situation continues until the 90s. After that, he returned to the Czech Republic and made several films. Finally, it must be said that everyone is affected in some way at that time and their life changes.
In another part of his speech, in response to the question, how despite the new wave of Czech cinema, which according to you happened in the 60s, people like Nusrat Karimi, who went to Czech before this date, made animation by being influenced by the cinema there. and they produce good works in the Ministry of Culture of Iran, he said: The new wave of Czech cinema is not like France, where a few people start in a certain year. They (prominent filmmakers of Czech cinema) were making films; Later, they were told that your films are among the works of the new wave of Czech cinema. The interesting thing is that their works are very different from each other.
Eidizadeh added: A large part of the style of Czech films is related to their brilliant history in painting and drawing. They were very much influenced by their past traditions. For this reason, many of the rules established in American cinema have not been observed there. In fact, it has been more important for them to convey their own message than any other issue.
This film critic emphasized: The filmmakers of Czech cinema were very important to express their purpose in their works. For this reason, they were willing to abandon the rules in this regard. They were very avant-garde and they did not care about classic cinema and what was mentioned in the past. For this reason, their films are very expressive; In other words, the works are in your face and want to direct the audience in a certain direction.
He also explained the reason for choosing these films for this program: The reason for choosing these two documentaries is related to my personal interest in these two filmmakers. For example, Varakhitilova has not seen any great filmmakers; Of course, some of his works were mentioned in the film magazine in the 60s, but he was making films until 2000 and many of his works are still unknown. If his films are finished, he has a strange effect on his audience.
In the continuation of this program, the meeting was left to the audience to raise their criticisms, opinions and questions.