Journey to the Beginning of Time - Cesta do pravěku (1955)

The Painted Cinema of Karel Zeman Screening

Sunday, October 8, 2023 - 2:00pm

 

Cesta do pravěku (Journey to the Beginning of Time)

Czechoslovakia, 1955, colour, 86 min. Digitally restored.

Directed by Karel Zeman, Written by Karel Zeman, J. A. Novotný, Scientific Supervisor – Doc. Dr. Josef Augusta, Camera by Václav Pazderník, Antonín Horák

In Czech language with English subtitles.

 

Sunday October 8, 2023 

Doors open 1:30pm, Film Starts 2:00pm

Czech Garden Celebration 3:30pm-6:00pm

Tickets $14 / VPES Members $12

This film from 1955 tells the story of four boys who set sail on a wooden boat up the river of time on a fantastic journey to the prehistoric Earth. One by one they explore the Quaternary, the Tertiary, the Mesozoic and the Paleozoic Eras up to the Silurian sea. Rated one of the best children‘s adventure films of all time, it is also a pioneering work of world cinema.

A visually stunning work that doubles as a rumination on the beauty of natural landscape, the film was made in the Kudlov Studios in Zlín and in studios in Hostivař, Czech Republic. Exteriors were shot on the Slovak river Vah, on the Souš at Tanvald, in Strmilov, in Jindřichov Hradec, and at the Zlín dam. The final scene was filmed on the sea coast on the island of Rügen in Germany.

 

 

The Painted Cinema of Karel Zeman

Live action, special effects, painted backdrops, puppets and animation are all ingeniously combined in the fantastic films of Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman. 50 years after the earliest days of cinema, Karel Zeman returned to the magical techniques of Georges Mélies to create films of unmatched beauty.

In collaboration with the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles, the Velaslavasay Panorama hosts three screenings of Zeman’s films exploring a deep sea voyage, the perils of prehistoric life, and the airborne adventures of Jules Vernes.

 

Karel Zeman on the set of A Journey To The Beginning Of Time

 

Other Screenings in the series The Painted Cinema of Karel Zeman include:

Thursday October 5, 2023 - Vynález zkázy (Invention for Destruction)

Thursday October 12, 2023 - Ukradená vzducholod' (The Stolen Airship)

 

 

 Sponsored by Velaslavasay Panorama Enthusiast Society, Czech Consulate LA, Artinii, R Jelinek Distillery and Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences – Los Angeles Chapter