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The Party and the Guests

Deli povezavo

Description: A Kafkaesque absurdist satire on power relations and the most controversial film ever produced by Czechoslovak cinematography. A group of men and women enjoying an idyllic picnic in the woods are accosted and interrogated by several thuggish strangers. In Němec's surreal fable, the picnic is rudely transformed into a lesson in political hierarchy. This allegory about oppression and conformity, based on a script written by Němec and Ester Krumbachová, a screenwriter, 1960s Czech New Wave muse and grey eminence, was banned in its home country but became an international success after it premiered at the New York Film Festival. "I do not believe in direct influence, that someone reads a book which tells him how to make a film. But I think there are indirect influences that affect you even when you're not aware of it. The mysterious and abstract characters in the film A Report on the Party and the Guests arose because of our fight against censorship. We would have had no chance of making the film if it had been more concrete. We used 'over-stylisation' to confuse the Communist censors so they would not immediately realise that it was aimed against them." (Jan Němec)

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