MY SWEET LITTLE VILLAGE 1985 Directed by Jiří Menzel
Every Thursday there’s a Vegan Dinner accompanying an exhibition opening/closing, a live performance, live music, movie screening or … Come meet other people interested in art and activism, good food and great prices. Bring your favourite game and your friends. Or meet new people at the bar.
18:00 Bar open 19:00 Vegan Dinner 20:30 SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXICINEMA
MY SWEET LITTLE VILLAGE 1985 (Vesnicko má stredisková) Directed by Jiří Menzel 98 minutes In Czech with English subtitles
Some of the most crucial things missing from modern cinema are: atmosphere, magic and a deep sense of humanity. Most movies today replace these qualities with cheap sentimentality, sensationalism, cgi effects, big budgets, histrionics, crazy stories, sequels and worn-out genre formulas. When a director really follows their instincts they will never end up with a formula, the uniqueness of the experience will undermine such stereotypes and always wander into uncharted territory.
Directed by the great Jiří Menzel (Closely Watched Trains) this comedy is about a small Czechoslovakian town… in particular a guy named Pavel who is taking care of Otik, the local “village idiot”. Pavel feeds him and gives him a job as an assistant on his dump truck. But times are changing. The modern world is invading and smashing the old ties of the village, and Otik is now seen as a dysfunctional pain-in-the-ass. This bittersweet film captures that crucial turning point, hinting at the oncoming loss of community and solidarity as Czechoslovakia starts shifting towards a ‘western’ consumer culture, which will be actualised four years later with the so-called Velvet Revolution. In other words, this flick would insightfully predict the country’s future. It weaves us through village life, and has that wonderful Czech summer vibe… flirting, romances, and a natural sense of poetry. Seen today it feels like a fresh breeze from an unknown world.
This is a beloved movie in its homeland, but practically unknown anywhere else. It transports you to another time and place, a simpler era before the onslaught of globalization and corporatization. Believe it or not, in communist Czechoslovakia people didn’t suffer from a plague of widespread hyper-anxiety, adhd, burn-outs, depression, addiction and stress—as so many do today… you would think the opposite when you hear so many scary stories about the former East Bloc and so many wonderful ones about our own Stepford Wife consumer utopia. This movie taps into the lyricism of Czech culture and its razor-sharp sense of black humor… and documents a simpler and more open existence when people still cared for each other no matter how difficult and time-consuming that might be.
presented by Jeffrey Babcock A series of socially engaged movies, screened once a month on Thursdays. Touching on such hot topics as immigration, homelessness, racism, education, radical gender propositions, the pandemic and gentrification, these films not only explore visionary politics, but are also chosen to stir our imagination and creativity. The essence of cinema is the collective experience, and these screenings are aimed at creating intimate communities again in an increasingly hectic and fragmented world.
