AFI Showcase: Daisies (Sedmikrásky)

September 24, 2012, 8:10 PM

 The AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center will feature Daisies (Sedmikrásky) by director Věra Chytilová, the Czech New Wave’s sole female director, on September 24 at 8:10 pm. The film follows two young bored women who have anarchic fun in a series of loosely connected episodes. The visually stunning film challenges gender-identity politics. Following the political upheaval in 1968, Chytilová was banned from making films until 1975. (DIR. Věra Chytilová, 1966, 74 min., Czech with English subtitles)

About the Director:
Věra Chytilová is a Czech film director, best known for her 1966 film Sedmikrásky (Daisies).  She studied at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) and was the only female of the Czech New Wave directors. Her film Daisies was banned by the communist government and she herself had a very hard time finding work after its release. The film, nevertheless, earned her international recognition and won the Grand Prix at the Bergamo Film Festival in Italy. Chytilová began making films again after courageously appealing in a letter to Czechoslovak President Gustav Husak. Her latest films include The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday and Flights and Falls.She was bestowed an award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the World at the 35th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2000 and the Czech Lions Artistic Achievement Award in 2001.

Event Details:
Location: AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center
8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Tickets can be purchased at AFI’s box office or online at
www.afi.com/silver.

Photo courtesy of Janus Films