Věra Chytilová

Věra Chytilová was an avantgarde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema At the age of 28 she was accepted into the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague FAMU While attending FAMU she studied underneath renowned film director Otakar Vavra graduating in 1962 Chytilová is best known for her once highly controversial film Sedmikrásky Daisies 1966 Daisies is known for its unsympathetic characters lack of a continuous narrative and abrupt visual style Chytilová states that she structured Daisies to restrict the spectators feeling of involvement and lead him to an understanding of the underlying idea or philosophy The film was banned within Czechoslovakia upon its initial release in 1966 until 1967 but in 1966 the film won the Grand Prix at the Bergamo Film Festival in Italy After Daisies the government made it very difficult for Chytilová to find work within Czechoslovakia even though she was never officially classified as a blacklisted director After the Soviet Union invasion in 1968 it was virtually impossible for her to find work and she resorted to directing commercials under her husbands name Jaroslav Kučera In 1976 due to the low cinema attendance she was approached by the government to begin directing films through a staterun production company At the same time the United States was assembling a Year of Women Film Festival and contacted Chytilová to gain permission to screen Daisies as their opening film She informed the festival that the only noncensored prints of the film could be found in Paris and Brussels and that her government would not allow her to attend the festival nor were they allowing her to direct films The festival then began to apply international pressure upon the Czechoslovakian government by petitioning on Chytilovás behalf In accordance with this international pressure Chytilová wrote a letter directly to President Gustáv Husák Due to the success of the international pressure and Chytilovás personal appeal to President Husak Chytilová began production of Hra o jablko The Apple Game 1976 The Apple Game was completed and then was screened at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and won the Silver Hugo and the Chicago International Film Festival Chytilová described herself as a control freak and was known as being actively critical of the Soviet Union stating that My critique is in the context of the moral principles you preach isnt it A critical reflection is necessary She would routinely cause havoc to make films that were loyal to her vision regardless of the heavy censorship that was routinely imposed Věra Chytilovás last film was released in 2006 and she has taught directing at FAMU Chytilová embodied a unique cinematographic language and style that does not rely on any literary or verbal conventions but rather utilizes various forms of visual manipulations to create meaning within her films Chytilová used observations of everyday life in accordance with allegories and surreal contexts to create a personalized film style that is greatly influenced by the French New Wave and Italian neorealism