Josef Kemr

Witchhammer is a 1970 Czechoslovak drama film directed by Otakar Vávra and starring Elo Romančík. Based on the novel by Václav Kaplický, Witchhammer relates the story of the Northern Moravia, focusing on the priest Kryštof Lautner, played by Romančík, who falls victim to the witchhunt after opposing the trials. The film contains possible allegory about Communism in Czechoslovakia.

A mime discovers the true horrors of a "model" concentration camp when the Nazis force him to put on a performance to dispel observers' concerns.

In its native land, František Vláčil’s Marketa Lazarová has been hailed as the greatest Czech film ever made; for many U.S. viewers, it will be a revelation. Based on a novel by Vladislav Vančura, this stirring and poetic depiction of a feud between two rival medieval clans is a fierce, epic, and meticulously designed evocation of the clashes between Christianity and paganism, humankind and nature, love and violence. Vláčil’s approach was to re-create the textures and mentalities of a long-ago way of life, rather than to make a conventional historical drama, and the result is dazzling. With its inventive widescreen cinematography, editing, and sound design, Marketa Lazarová is an experimental action film.