October 15 - 8:00pm

The Joke

Jaromil Jires (1969) 80 mins

Combining political ideas with existential investigation, Jires’ film is an adaptation of Milan Kundera’s novel of the same name. Although the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia resulted in an artistic environment stifled by hard-line communism, Jires, just finding his wings artistically in ’68, chose to stay as his peers (Forman, Passer) began to escape to more tolerant lands. Filming had just finished when the tanks arrived & the film, deeply critical of the Stalinist era, remained largely unseen for almost 2 decades.

* Followed by Witches' Hammer at 9.30pm. Preced by a session ofŠvankmajer Shorts at 7.00pm.

* Screens as part of the Cinema '68 Season.

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