A book launch and conversation with Vojtěch Mašek followed by the screening of Vojtěch Mašek’s multi-award winning film, Arvéd.
TUE 28 NOV 2023 18:45
Czech Centre at the Czech Embassy Cinema, London
Vojtěch Mašek, acclaimed Czech comic book author, screenwriter and film director discusses with Peter Kesser, The Sisters Dietl, the best Czech graphic novel of 2018. Described as a mix of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and Jaroslav Dietl’s The Hospital at the Edge of the Town series, this horror detective story follows two sisters after one is subjected to what appears to be a brutal attack. Using varied cultural references as his inspiration and drawing on memories of childhood fears, and the desire for a safe hiding place, Mašek explores identity change, doppelgängers, hallucination and altered states of mind to build up a multi-layered story complemented by a unique multi-layered art style.
Vojtěch Mašek, The Sisters Dietl, transl. Julia and Peter Sherwood, Centrala Books 2021
Followed by the screening of Vojtěch Mašek’s award winning film, Arvéd.
Arvéd
Vojtěch Mašek,Czech Republic, Slovakia 2022, 120´
Cast: Michal Kern, Saša Rašilov, Vojtěch Vodochodský, Jaroslav Plesl
A fascinating insight into the life and mind of Jiří Arvéd Smíchovský (1898–1951), a charismatic hermeticist and occultist, who in his quest for knowledge) became first a Nazi collaborator, than informer and witness in communist showtrials. He makes a Faustian pact with Plaček, a secret police investigator whose life he saved during the war. Plaček ensures that Arvéd gets life imprisonment instead of a death sentence and offers a deal: a rare occult book for each soul delivered. Arvéd (a superb Michal Kern) plays his role in the trials even when the political tide turns. Highly stylised, this a remarkable thriller that delves into the maze of the deteriorating mind of a man who sells his soul.
