online catalogueSpecial Screenings | Classics Rebooted

New Game

Aleš Brunclík | Czech Republic | 2017 | 63 min

According to a 2015 survey by ESA, there are about 1.8 billion gamers in the world. That means that the gaming industry is massive. The Czech Republic is an important producer of video games – as proven by famous titles such as Samorost 3 by Amanita Design characterized by its unique artistic style; and Space Engineers by Keen Software House. These two games are the focus of a time-lapse documentary by Aleš Brunclík who observed the developers very closely and captured their progress and some behind-the-scenes looks. The documentary follows four projects in total and uses them to demonstrate the aforementioned development of the games and their significance. It does not leave out new trends in computer technologies and so it includes a company called Dreadlocks, which is developing a new VR computer game – its characters will be played by real live actors and its locations will be modelled according to real places.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

Karel Zeman | Czechoslovakia | 1961 | 83 min

Modern astronaut Toník lands on the Moon where he encounters a very peculiar bunch. He meets Cyrano de Bergerac, the characters from Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon and also the bragging Baron Munchhausen. In Zeman’s playful parable, the fanciful adventures of Baron Munchhausen mingle with the romantic story of the brave dreamer Toník who becomes the Baron’s rival in love when they manage to free the beautiful princess Bianca from the vicious Turkish sultan.
For this unique adaptation of the famous book by Gottfried August Bürger, Zeman took inspiration from the engravings in its original edition made by one of 19^th century’s most important illustrators, Gustav Doré. The director brightened the black and white images with colour-tinting and used various colours as indicators of changing moods and surprising plot twists. This fanciful adventure – variegated by unique tricks and humorous gags – won many international awards, among others also at the festivals in Cannes and Locarno.
This film was digitally restored thanks to the Čistíme svět fantazie (Cleaning the World of Fantasy) project, the partners of the České bijáky (Czech Pics) Foundation, the Karel Zeman Museum and Czech Television in cooperation with Universal Production Partners (UPP).

Revengeance

Bill Plympton | United States | 2016 | 71 min

Revengeance is the eighth feature film by the legendary independent animator Bill Plympton. It is also the first film that he made with another graphic artist. It took the famous director a long time before he watched a DVD with Jim Lujan’s films, which he personally received from him. But when he played them on one rainy afternoon, Lujan’s talent mesmerized him so much that he wanted to work with him. In the end, underground artist Lujan took care of the script and the graphic design, while animation and direction remained with Plympton.
Revengeance tells the story of a low-rent bounty hunter (named Rod Rosse, the One Man Posse) who gets entangled in a web of seedy danger when he takes on a job from an ex-biker/ex-wrestler turned U.S. senator named “Deathface.” Rod has to find what was stolen from the senator and find the girl who stole it. Soon, Rosse finds there’s more to this dirty job than meets the eye. Between the ruthless biker gangs, the blood thirsty cults, and the crooked cops – Rod Rosse is a marked man. If the bullets don’t kill him – the California sun just might!

Fantastic Planet + soundtrack live (Aid Kid, T. Havlen, J. Libánský a T. Kovalová)

René Laloux | Czechoslovakia, France | 1973 | 72 min

Live soundtrack: Aid Kid, Tomáš Havlen, Jiří Libánský & Terezie Kovalová