On the Sunny Side

On the Sunny Side

1933. Czechoslovakia. Directed by Vladislav Vancura. Vančura’s follow-up to Před maturitou was this highly experimental film from a script composed by some of the leading Czech avant-garde figures of the period, including the Surrealist novelist Vítězslav Nezval and the linguist Roman Jakobson. Vančura draws on a wide range of styles, from the Surrealist-inflected stylization of René Clair to the frenzied montage of Dziga Vertov, for this story of two children tossed between their indifferent parents and a progressive boarding school. 35mm. In Czech; English subtitles. 72 min.