Program
Mar 9, 2009 12:00 AM - Mar 15, 2009 12:00 AM
Jan Šikl’s Private Century
March 9–15, Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, NYC
Jan Šikl’s Private Century
March 9–15
Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, NYC
The political and social upheavals of twentieth-century Czechoslovakia – war and occupation, the twin specters of Nazism and Communism, the Velvet Revolution – have never been more intimately rendered than in Jan Šikl’s landmark eight-part series Private Century. Composed entirely of family home movies, still photographs, letters, and diaries dating from the 1920s to the 1960s, Private Century explores, in Chekhovian fashion, how sweeping historical events transform the private lives of ordinary people, and how small domestic pleasures can crystallize into profound and enduring memories. Šikl deepens the work’s psychological complexity by having surviving members comment on their family histories, and through the use of image and sound in counterpoint – for example, a 1940s Czech rendition of “StormyWeather” accompanies scenes from an ill-fated wedding. The exhibition opens on March 9 with Šikl in a special Modern Mondays conversation and screening. All films are directed by Šikl, from the
Organized by Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film, MoMA.
This exhibition is supported by The
Soukromé Století (Private Century), Parts 1 and 2:
Tatíček a Lili „Marlén“ (Daddy and Lili “Marlene”), 2007
The daughter of a prosperous German farmer in Sudetenland, Lili Saisser set her sights on the glitter of
Thursday, March 12, 8:00
Mávnutí motýlích křídel (A Stroke of Butterfly Wings), 2007
Of all the families depicted in Private Century, perhaps none was more deeply or painfully riven by generational and ideological conflict than the Felixes. This episode traces the political awakening and gradual disillusionment of the prolific and noted Czech composer Václav Felix
from the 1930s until the 1980s. The film reveals the ways in which Václav’s unquestioning faith in Communism shaped both his music and his romantic life, even as it estranged him from his father, who was imprisoned by the Party. 52 min.
Monday, March 9, 7:00
Private Century, Parts 3 and 4:
Ruské obláčky kouře (Small Russian Clouds of Smoke), 2007
A fascinating look at a community of wealthy and cultured Russians who escaped the Bolshevik Revolution and settled in
idyllic summers at a Russian boarding house in southern
Nízký Let (Low-Level Flight), 2007
Tána Palejko (née Popov) reminisces about her marriage to an ace fighter pilot in the Czechoslovakian army, a charismatic, ambitious man whose heavy drinking, fits of jealousy, and infidelities would ultimately drive them apart. This episode features remarkable aerial shots taken clandestinely from a MIG fighter jet, as well as footage of a remote military training camp in the Soviet Union where drunken soldiers carouse with Russian girls to while away the lonely hours. 52 min.
Wednesday, March 11, 6:00
Saturday, March 14, 4:30
Private Century, Parts 5 and 6:
Král Velichovek (King of Velichovky), 2007
For as long as anyone could remember, Czechs and Germans in the border region of
Sousoší dědečka Vindy (Statuary of Grandd ad Vinda), 2007
Vincenc Havel, a sculptor who lived in the Opava region of northern
Realist sculpture of the reviled president Klement Gottwald. But
Friday, March 13, 8:30
Sunday, March 15, 5:00
Private Century, Parts 7 and 8:
Sejd eme se v Denveru (See You in
As a child living in prewar
obsessions by shooting his own movies, until he was banned from school and unjustly imprisoned. Swept up in the momentous events of 1968, he decided to emigrate to the country of his silver-screen dreams. 52 min.
Líbám Tě a Miluji (With Kisses from Your Love), 2007
Based on family films and impassioned letters from the 1940s and 1950s, this episode relates the story of high-school sweethearts Marie and Josef Sechtl, who married after the war and inherited the photography studio that had belonged to Josef’s family for several generations. After the 1948 Communist takeover, the Sechtls lived in constant fear of losing their studio and their family’s treasured, irreplaceable archive of photographs dating back to the late-nineteenth century. But nothing, not even show trials and prison, could extinguish their profound love.
52 min.
Saturday, March 14, 6:30
Sunday, March 15, 2:30
Info about tickets: www.moma.org
Discount for members of the
Venue:
321 East 73rd Street
NY 10021
New York
United States
Date
From: Mar 9, 2009 12:00 AM
To:
Mar 15, 2009 12:00 AM
Organizer:
MoMA, České centrum