For his first feature Jan Němec collaborated with the classic Czech writer Arnošt Lustig, adapting his autobiographical story Darkness Casts No Shadow. Two Jewish teenagers escape the train that is taking them to a concentration camp – only to be persecuted and hunted by a group of old Germans, whose bloody job is just a mechanical routine defined by Hannah Arendt as “the banality of evil”.
The film’s austerity and expressionism recall Bresson’s A Man Escaped that indeed partly inspired Němec. However, Diamonds of the Night is a distinct masterpiece in its own right. It’s also one of the most fascinating film debuts ever. Its subjective and at the same time observational camera, elliptic editing, minimalist sound as well as both narrative and non-narrative compositions free the film from the canons of realism and turn it into a visceral sensory experience. Pure visionary cinema that never distinguishes between dreams and shadows.
Screened in combination with A Loaf of Bread and Arnošt Lustig Through the Eyes of Jan Němec.
Film details
- Country of production
- Czechoslovakia
- Year
- 1964
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2017
- Length
- 63"
- Medium/Format
- 35mm
You may also like this
-
Ester Krumbachová Through the Eyes of Jan Němec
The muse and co-creator of the best works from the Czechoslovak New Wave, credited for giving the Wave its distinct look, is portrayed here by her
-
Flames of Royal Love
The marriage between an eccentric prince and a diabolical cleaning lady leads to debauch in the royal family. This adaptation of Ladislav Kl&#
-
The Ferrari Dino Girl
While documenting the Prague Spring of 1968, Němec and his crew watched and filmed in horror the Soviet tanks invading his country. The result