In a Fever-stricken Brain: A Series of Three Short Adaptations of Literary Works by Jan Weiss
In programme
In a Fever-stricken Brain: A Series of Three Short Adaptations of Literary Works by Jan Weiss
Films only in Czech without subtitles
Last year marked several anniversaries of the writer Jan Weiss (1892-1972), who is often credited as one of the founders of Czech science fiction (the novel House of a Thousand Floors , 1st edition 1929).
Although his prose has occasionally been the basis for feature films (The Sweet Time of Kalimagdor) or television programmes (Bianka Braselli, A Touch of Evil, Furniture Carrier, and the banned film A Famous Dog), special attention should be paid to short films made outside the established institutional structures of Czech cinema.
Jarmila Müllerová, supported by the cinema circle of ZK I in Brno, was the first to reach for Weiss’s draft in 1976, when she made a remarkably candid film for girls.
8 years later, Alexej Guha and Petr Ryba reached for the same material (by the way – at the same time, the filmmakers were also making the cult underground documentary Music 85, thanks to which Alexej Guha sponsored the creation of one of the best films ever made in the production of Czech Television (Brno studio), Year of the Devil 2002).
Although the last film, Dream, was released in 2002, few had the opportunity to see it on screen. It was made as a promotional film to convince the public that Jan Weiss’s work had significant filmmaking potential and that it was worth investing in a feature film adaptation of House of a Thousand Floors , which has not happened even 20 years after its premiere.
