Catalogue of Czech Television Programmes
In 1958 Czechoslovakia won general acclaim with the show that was presented at EXPO 58 in Brussels. An original production consisting of a combination of stage action with film and music. Called Laterna Magica, it literally astounded both film experts and laymen alike. Georges Sadoul: A combination of theatre and film, naively attempted since 1896 by several pioneer artists, proved at last in the Laterna Magica the immense possibilities hidden in it. The creators of the “theatre of miracles” as the Laterna Magica soon came to be called, was the first-rate film director Alfred Radok, whose close collaborators became personalities who achieved world renown later – Alfred’s brother Emil Radok, architect Josef Svoboda and film director and script-writer Milos Forman. But further developments were not idyllic for Laterna Magica. The communist leaders meant to use the Laterna Magica primarily for propaganda on the prosperity of the regime, and so some of the founders were soon made to leave the project. A long period began when film director and composer Vaclav Kaslik created noteworthy productions. And they alternated with mediocre programs stuck together from the most attractive acts in the show. Despite the difficult relationships within the ensemble of artists, Laterna Magica remained in the foreground of general interest; this fact was also borne out by the grand success it enjoyed at EXPO 67 in Montreal. When stage designer Josef Svoboda became director of the company, such personalities starting joining the Laterna Magica as film director Ewald Schorm, who further developed the poetic vein in this modern “compound piece”. They enjoyed real success in New York with the show called Magic Circus. In the late 1980’s, three experimental drama companies were established on Laterna Magica ground and that period came to a head with the excellent staging of Homer’s drama Odysseus. No wonder that the famous playwright Friedrich Durrenmatt gave this theatre another piece at the turn of the 80s and 90s, in which he developed the antique theme of Minotaurus. The theatre is forever searching for a new form, which would combine stage action, film and music. How generations of artistic personalities created their stories with great imagination on the borderline between dream and reality, we are told in an artistic documentary by these creators themselves (Miloš Forman, Jan Švankmajer, O.F. Korte, Josef Svoboda, Jan Kačer, Juraj Jakubisko, Michael Kocáb, Michal Pavlíček, Táňa Fischerová, Milena Honzíková and many other. The program shows us that special poetry of the Laterna Magica shows, including the important function of music, and brings several unique reconstructions of programs that have been buried by time. Their fragments were sought and found by the filmmakers in the film and photograph archive of Laterna Magica.
SD | 57´ | © 2001
director(s): Petr Kaňka
producer(s): Czech Television, Laterna Magika
scriptwriter(s): Petr Kaňka
director of photography: Martin Benc
original language: Czech
subtitles available: English