Josef Kilián

Josef Kilián

Synopsis

The surrealist Josef Kilián is a dark and absurdly humorous, biting allegory of life under a totalitarian regime. Inspired by the grotesque nightmares of Franz Kafka and another icon of Czech literature, the anti-militarist, anti-authoritarian Jaroslav Hasek, the film was suppressed by the authorities after the Soviet invasion of 1968.

Having made only four films, and despite being the author of the screenplays for Jindřich Polák's Ikarie XB 1, Věra Chytilová's Daisies and Karel Zeman's A Jester’s Tale, Juráček remains one of the Czechoslovak New Wave’s most neglected artists.

Special Features

Essay by film programmer Peter Hames