CURRENT

CURRENT
CURRENT
THE PUPPET MASTER:
THE COMPLETE JIŘÍ TRNKA
TOURING RETROSPECTIVE
Starting April 20, 2018

A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM (1959) courtesy of

C z e c h N a t i o n a l F i l m A rc h i v e

THE PUPPET MASTER: THE COMPLETE JIŘÍ TRNKA is a retrospective of the entire "[Tr nka's puppets] without raising an eyebrow
directorial body of work of Czech animation master Jiří Tr nka (1912-1969) which or moving their lips,
premieres at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York before setting on its North they convey multitudes"
American tour. —Michael Sragow,
Deep Focus, FILM COMMENT
Revered as the pioneer of a remarkable new genre of animation that utilized puppets,
Tr nka conveyed the drama and psychology of his characters through his figures’ body
language, expressive lighting, and camera movement. The director’s approach to THE CLOSE-UP: podcast
puppet film as a serious art form was bor ne out of the lively Czech puppet theater with Michael Koresky, Florence Almozini, and
tradition, which helped preserve the language over centuries of Hapsburg rule when Irena Kovarova
there were no Czech schools, theater, or books published in the language. Already a
prolific artist, author, and beloved book illustrator in his country, Tr nka made films that
had enormous impact on the development of Czech animation, and he inspired the "Not a single screening
careers of generations of filmmakers and animators around the globe. should be missed."
—Patrick Dahl, SCREEN SLATE
Tr nka’s body of work as a director—18 short and six feature-length animated films in
total—was rivaled only by Walt Disney Studios in output and brought him inter national
acclaim, from Cannes to Venice and beyond. W ith his puppet animation studio, founded A Midsummer Night’s Dream
in 1946, he helped lay the groundwork for Czech animation predominance alongside Q&A with Tereza Brdečková
stop-motion animation masters Karel Zeman, Hermína Týrlová, Jan Švankmajer, and Jiří Film Society of Lincoln Center
Barta.

This essential series presents all 24 of the artist’s films, including 11 newly translated
works and the U.S. premieres of two new digital restorations: Tr nka’s Venice Film
Festival prize-winning first feature The Czech Year and Old Czech Legends, a
breathtaking collection of Bohemian myths. The lineup also features Tr nka’s
Shakespeare adaptation A Midsummer Night’s Dream; his subversive, absurdist, anti-
authoritarian trilogy The Good Soldier Švejk; and shorts programs featuring the
filmmaker’s unique early work in hand-drawn cartoons (including Cannes Film Festival
prize-winning The Animals and the Brigands), his magical family-friendly works, and his
later, more formally and politically defiant films (featuring his final masterpiece, The
Hand, about the plight of artists toiling under the restrictions of a totalitarian
gover nment). The New York premiere also includes a two-program sidebar dedicated to
Jiří Brdečka, a screenwriter and animation director whose close friendship with Tr nka
occasioned a number of short- and feature-film collaborations.

All films directed by Jiří Tr nka, unless noted otherwise. Film notes by Andy Lauer
(courtesy of Film Society of Lincoln Center).

The touring retrospective is produced by Comeback Company. Curated by Irena

Kovarova. Originated at the Film Society of Lincoln Center with Tyler W ilson and
Florence Almozini. Films provided by the Czech National Film Archive.

Acknowledgments:
Alex Zucker; Martina Raclavská; Markéta Šantrochová, Czech Film Center; Michal
Bregant, Kateřina Fojtová, Tomáš Žůrek, Michaela Mertová, Czech National Film
Archive.