Special Guest: Peter Hames Guest Co-Hosts: Jim Vendiola, Samm Deighan
Czechtember 2025 wraps with Jan Švankmajer's Conspirators of Pleasure (1996), a delirious, dialogue-free plunge into fetish and surrealism. Mike teams up with filmmaker Jim Vendiola and critic Samm Deighan to unravel the tangled lives of six Prague eccentrics whose private obsessions—ranging from papier-mâché contraptions to elaborate role-play—collide in hilariously unsettling ways. The result is a darkly comic meditation on desire, ritual, and the pleasures of the bizarre, filtered through Švankmajer’s singular stop-motion, tactile textures, and Surrealist imagination.
Czechtember charges ahead as Mike, Spencer Parsons, and Emily Barney dive into Otakar Vávra’s Romance for Bugle (1967). Vávra adapts František Hrubín’s celebrated poem into a lyrical love story set in the Czech countryside. Terina (Zuzana Cigánová), a young Roma woman, ignites passion in Vojta (Jaromír Hanzlík) and Viktor (Štefan Kvietik), pulling the two men into a tense triangle of longing and rivalry. The film also reflects back through the eyes of Vojta as an older man (Július Vašek), who recalls his youthful heartbreak. Cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera saturates the screen with striking imagery, while Vávra shapes the material into a cinematic elegy that fuses poetry, politics, and loss.
Czechtember gallops forward with Oldřich Lipský's madcap musical parody Lemonade Joe (1964). Adapted from Jiří Brdečka’s novel and play, the film stars Karel Fiala as the squeaky-clean pitchman of Kolalok Cola who rides into town to clean up the Wild West. Standing in his way is Miloš Kopecký as the dastardly Horác Badman—better known as Hogofogo. With tinted black-and-white visuals, slapstick invention, and a send-up of both Hollywood westerns and consumer culture, this is pure Lipský—irreverent, dazzling, and completely unforgettable.
Mike is joined by Jonathan Owen and Alistair Pitts to unpack this fizzy Czech classic.
Music:
"Limonádový Joe - Úvodní titulky k americké verzi" - American Dub Version
"Limonádový Joe - Prolog a výstup Horáce" - Zdenìk Dítì, Zdenìk Stránský, Skupina Vìtrník
"Limonádový Joe" - Žlutý pes
"To jsem ja, ten kovboj (Rhinestone Cowboy)" - Waldemar Matuska
Czechtember 2025 kicks off with Cosy Dens (AKA Pelíšky), Jan Hřebejk’s bittersweet 1999 coming-of-age dramedy adapted from Petr Šabach’s novel Hovno Hoří (Shit on Fire). Written by Petr Jarchovský, the film unfolds between Christmas 1967 and the Prague Spring of 1968, chronicling the warmth, absurdity, and heartbreak of two neighboring families caught between tradition, rebellion, and history itself.
Rob St. Mary and Philip Marinello join Mike to unpack this Czech classic’s mix of humor and melancholy, its cultural specificity, and its universal resonance.
We conclude Czechtember 2024 with a film from František Vláčil, Adelheid (1969). Based on the book by Vladimír Körner, the film stars Petr Čepek as Viktor, a former Czech soldier turned caretaker of a confiscated German estate where he encounters the titular Adelheid (Emma Černá), who is being held as a prisoner. Their evolving relationship forms the core of the film, set against a backdrop of post-war displacement and political tension.
Cerise Howard and Jonthan Owen join Mike to discuss this underseen Vláčil film.
Czechtember* continues with one from Slovakian filmmaker Dušan Hanák, 322. Based on a short story by Ján Johanides, the film stars Václav Lohniský as Lauko, a man diagnosed with cancer. His ex-wife, Marta (Lucyna Winnicka), is fooling around with the young Peter (Josef Abrhám), while Lauko connects with the long-haired Vladko (Vladimír Weiser). Released in 1969, the film was banned immediately after its premiere.
Angela Mac and Jonathan Owen join Mike to discuss this fascinating avant-garde film.
*Czetchtember includes both Czech and Slovakian films.
We’re kicking off #Czechtember2024 with a classic of the Czech New Wave, Jan Nemec's Diamonds of the Night. Released in 1964, the film was a groundbreaking piece of cinema. Based on Arnost Lustig's semi-autobiographical novel Darkness Casts No Shadow, the film is about the escape of two boys from a train carrying them to a death camp.
Heather Drain and Rob St. Mary join Mike to discuss this harrowing film.
Spencer Parsons and Rahne Alexander join Mike to discuss Václav Vorlícek's How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer (1975). Co-written by Projection Booth favorite Milos Macourek, the film stars Jaromír Hanzlík as the titular Dr. Mracek, a lawyer who is unwittingly trying to displace a group of water sprites from their homes.
We continue our Czechtember month of murder and mayhem with Oldrich Lipsky's 1971 film Four Murders are Enough, Darling. The film stars Oldrich’s brother, Lubomir, as George Camel, a teacher who is mistaken for a murderer by two rival gangs who are fighting for a million dollar check.
The movie is the second filmed adaptation of the book by Ninad Brixy, Entry Forbidden to the Dead.
We continue our Czechtember coverage with Ester Krumbachová’s sole credited role as director, Killing Mr. Devil AKA Murder of Mr. Devil AKA Vrazda ing. Certa. Released in 1970, the film stars Jirina Bohdalová as a woman who is plagued by the self-centered Dr. Bohous Devil (Vladimír Mensík). He’s an apparent bachelor who wants nothing more than to eat her out of house and home in a series of vignettes where she feeds his mouth as well as his ego.
Kat Ellinger and Jonathan Owen join Mike to discuss this two-hander about domesticity, witchcraft, and more.
We kick off another Czechtember with a month filled with murder. Up first is Jirí Weiss's 1967 film Murder Czech Style / Vražda po česku. The film stars our old favorite Rudolf Hrusínský as Frantiscek Pokorny. The film opens with him trying to commit suicide. As he lays in a tub, waiting for the inevitable, he recalls the events which put him there.
Jonathan Owen and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss this delightfully dark film which bridges the way between 90 Degrees in the Shade and The Cremator.
Guest Co-Hosts: Spencer Parsons, Matthew Asprey Gear
Czechtember 2022 continues with a look at Intimate Lighting (1965). The first feature film from director Ivan Passer, it’s the story of Peter (Zdenek Bezusek), a cello player, who -- along with his girlfriend, Stepa (Vera Kresadlová), returns home to his village to stay with his friend Bambas and his family.
We conclude Czechtember 2022 with the 1965 film from Jirí Weiss, 90 Degrees in the Shade. The film was a Czech and British co-production meaning that there is both Czech and English version of the film. It’s the story of Alena (Anne Heywood), a woman who has been involved with a married man who is also her boss which will lead to a lot of intrigue when Mr. Kurka (Rudolf Hrusínský) audits the shop in which they work.
We kick off Czechtember 2022 with a look at Vojtech Jansy’s The Cassandra Cat (1963). Also known as “When the Cat Comes,” the film is a fairy tale about a little city which lives under the protective eye of Oliva (Jan Bierch). When he was young he almost ran away with the circus which featured an unusual act of a cat which could show people their true colors... literally.
We’re wrapping up Czechtember 2021 with a look at Jiri Menzel’s Capricious Summer. Released in 1968, it’s based on a book by Vladislav Vancura and tells the story of three men on holiday who spend most of their time philosophizing and avoiding one woman while trying to woo another and getting nowhere.
Kat Ellinger and Jonathan Owen join Mike to discuss the film.
Kat Ellinger and Jonathan Owen join Mike to discuss Juraj Herz's Oil Lamps (1971), a tragic fin de siecle melodrama about the Stepa Kilianova (Iva Janzurová) and her husband Pavel (Petr Cepak), a former solider who suffers from syphilis.
We continue Czechtember 2021 with our second Václav Vorlícek film this month, How About Some Spinach? (AKA Coz takhle dát si spenát). It’s the story of two nogoodniks Jaroslav Zemánek (Vladimír Mensík) and Frantisek Liska (Jirí Sovák). They’re arrested for trying to steal some alcohol only to get out and get involved in some corporate espionage around a wondrous machine that can make creatures younger or older and can shrink them as well. However, it has a bug that causes unexpected results when the creature has recently ingested spinach.
Czechtember continues with a look at Otakar Vavra’s (1970). Based on the 1963 book by Václav Kaplický, the film looks at the paranoia of a witch hunt in Moravia during medieval times. And, being released in 1970, the film also looks at the persecution of women as well as show trials in the Communist system.
Special Guests: Hermína Franková, Hanna Frank Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, Gil Kenan
#Czechtember2021 continues with a look at Václav Vorlícek's Girl on a Broomstick (1972), the story of a young witch (Petra Cernocká) who would rather escape to the world of human beings than be stuck in detention for 300 years(!).
Gil Kenan and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss the film while author Hermína Franková (and her granddaughter, Hana Frank) discuss the writing of the original story and the 2019 musical version.
We conclude Czechtember 2020 with a look at Vera Chytilova's Fruit of Paradise (1969). This may be the most experimental and unusual movies we’ve covered as part of Czechtember. It’s a re-telling of the Adam and Eve story directed by Chytilova and co-written by her and Ester Krumbachova.
Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan join Mike to discuss this experimental narrative and squeeze oranges.
Special Guest: Peter Hames
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