The Cassandra Cat

Director: Vojtech Jasný

1963 / 104min / DCP

A traveling troupe of performers, a bespectacled cat mascot among their number, turn life in a Czech village upside down in Jasný’s charmingly idiosyncratic, proto-psychedelic allegorical fable, winner of the Special Jury prize at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. When the cat’s glasses come off, as it turns out, the feline’s naked eye has the power to change people into different colors reflecting their virtues and vices, unveiling hypocrisy and generally stirring up all manner of trouble. “My film may be viewed as a fairy tale, a comedy, a ballet or even an opera. But most of all, it is a kind of philosophical, topical narrative.” —Vojtech Jasný

Restored in 4K in 2021 by Národní filmový archiv with funding provided by Milada Kučerová, Eduard Kučera and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, from elements provided by Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny and Nemzeti Filmintézet Magyarország.