Directed by Věra Chytilová

Directed by Věra Chytilová

10 Episodes

No director pushed the boundaries of the Czechoslovak New Wave further than Věra Chytilová, an uncompromising individualist whose fiercely antiauthoritarian attitude courses through every frame of her work. Though she remains best known for her feminist touchstone DAISIES—a patriarchy-exploding Molotov cocktail that still stuns with its exuberantly experimental visuals and anarchic energy—Chytilová left her mark on a wide variety of genres, defying Soviet censorship as well as conventional cinematic forms over the course of a radically inventive career.

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Directed by Věra Chytilová

10 Episodes

  • A Bagful of Fleas
    45:20
    A Bagful of Fleas
    Episode 1

    A Bagful of Fleas

    Episode 1

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1962 • Czechoslovakia

    The themes of anarchy and individualism that run through Věra Chytilová’s work begin here, in an almost docu-realist look at women finding freedom and joy amid the rigid conformity of life in a communal factory dormitory.

  • Ceiling
    43:08
    Ceiling
    Episode 2

    Ceiling

    Episode 2

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1962 • Czechoslovakia
    Starring Marta Kanovská, Julián Chytil, Josef Abrhám

    Informed by the director’s experiences working as a fashion model, Věra Chytilová’s remarkably assured graduation film—which she was able to make only by duping state censors with a phony scri...

  • Something Different
    1:24:36
    Something Different
    Episode 3

    Something Different

    Episode 3

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1963 • Czechoslovakia

    The debut feature from Věra Chytilová interweaves two stories simultaneously: one a narrative about a frustrated mother (Vera Uzelacová) discontented with the drudgery of housework, the other a quasi documentary about a gymnast (real-life Olympi...

  • Daisies
    1:16:58
    Daisies
    Episode 4

    Daisies

    Episode 4

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1966 • Czechoslovakia
    Starring Ivana Karbanová, Jitka Cerhová, Marie Češková

    If the entire world is bad, why shouldn’t we be? Adopting this insolent attitude as their guiding philosophy, a pair of hedonistic young women (Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová), both named...

  • Pearls of the Deep
    1:47:26
    Pearls of the Deep
    Episode 5

    Pearls of the Deep

    Episode 5

    Directed by Jiří Menzel, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, Jan Němec, and Evald Schorm • 1966 • Czechoslovakia

    A manifesto of sorts for the Czech New Wave, this five-part anthology shows off the breadth of expression offered by the movement's versatile directors.

  • Fruit of Paradise
    1:39:27
    Fruit of Paradise
    Episode 6

    Fruit of Paradise

    Episode 6

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1970 • Czechoslovakia
    Starring Jitka Nováková, Karel Novak, Jan Schmid

    Opening with a senses-ravishing, psychedelic vision of Eden, this tantalizing political allegory sets the story of Adam and Eve in a European health spa where a vacationing couple (Jitka Nováková ...

  • Prefab Story
    1:40:25
    Prefab Story
    Episode 7

    Prefab Story

    Episode 7

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1979 • Czechoslovakia
    Starring Lukás Bech, Antonín Vanha, Eva Kacírková

    One of the unsung masterpieces of Věra Chytilová’s still largely obscure post-sixties career, this stingingly satiric yet deeply human tragicomedy surveys the everyday absurdity of existence in a...

  • Calamity
    1:40:52
    Calamity
    Episode 8

    Calamity

    Episode 8

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1982 • Czechoslovakia
    Starring Bolek Polívka, Dagmar Bláhová, Jana Synková

    In Věra Chytilová’s biting sex satire, a young college dropout (Bolek Polívka in his first of multiple collaborations with the director) navigates both a new job as a train driver and the amor...

  • Wolf’s Hole
    1:35:06
    Wolf’s Hole
    Episode 9

    Wolf’s Hole

    Episode 9

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1987 • Czechoslovakia
    Starring Miroslav Machácek, Tomás Palatý, Stepánka Cervenková

    Věra Chytilová’s subversive take on the 1980s teen-horror movie assembles a gaggle of bratty adolescents for a mysterious skiing retreat at a snowbound cabin where they find themselve...

  • TGM the Liberator
    1:03:39
    TGM the Liberator
    Episode 10

    TGM the Liberator

    Episode 10

    Directed by Věra Chytilová • 1990 • Czechoslovakia

    Věra Chytilová employs a mix of photographs, archival footage, and reenactment to tell the story of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the Czechoslovak politician, sociologist, and philosopher who served as the first elected president of Czechoslovakia fol...

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