Záviš, the Prince of Pornofolk Under the Influence of Griffith’s Intolerance and Tati’s Mr. Hulot’s Holiday ...

FULL ENGLISH TITLE: Závis, the Prince of Pornofolk Under the Influence of Griffith's Intolerance and Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday or the Establition and Doom of Czechoslovakia 1918-1992

A dog’s funeral, a ketchup fight, a reconstruction of the Battle of Austerlitz and a motorbike show are all part of an absurd chain of "pseudo-events" that underscore the Czech Republic’s newly privatized, corporatized, globalized economy and its attendant corruption scandals and environmental disasters. Meanwhile, a truly independent undertaking, the annual CzechTek techno festival, is brutally suppressed by riot police. "Most world events are pseudo-events and most human activity is pseudo-activity. We engage in things that do not provide us with sustenance, do not lead to the preservation of the human species or the multiplication of knowledge. We engage in pseudo-activity and afterwards want to have fun or forget. We use energy, obtained from God-knows where, use it for pseudo-activity and, thus, break the branch we sit on. That is what my film is about" (Karel Vachek). "Záviš is Vachek’s most personal film to date, and might be thought of as a process of private stock-taking, a notebook for the director’s philosophies. It’s difficult not to read this film, which is shot through with direct and indirect references to mortality, as an attempt to reflect on, and set down, his philosophy for posterity" (Alice Lovejoy). Colour, 35mm, in Czech with English subtitles. 147 mins.