The Phantom of Ester Krumbachová

When one is trying to describe the particular madcap, anything-goes spirit of the Czechoslovak New Wave that crested in the 1960s, no small part of what one is describing is the creative personality of Ester Krumbachová who, both in her lone directorial effort, 1970’s Murdering the Devil, and in her collaborations with other filmmakers—as costume and set designer and screenwriter—contributed inestimably to the artistic effulgence and radical irreverence of the movement. Accompanying Metrograph’s run of Murdering the Devil, this series screens Krumbachová’s collaborations with directors Věra Chytilová (Daisies, Fruit of Paradise), Jan Němec (Diamonds of the Night, Party and the Guests), Otakar Vávra (Witchhammer) and Vojtěch Jasný (All My Good Countrymen), paying tribute to a volcanic multi-hyphenate talent who, though blacklisted by her homeland’s government after the release of her directorial debut, gave more to cinema in her short years of feverish activity than most do in a lifetime.

With the support of the Czech Center New York and special thanks to the Národní filmový archiv / National Film Archive and Ester Krumbachová Archive.