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Shades of Fern

19865.0 / 1090 min

Drama

Overview

Based on the only extensive prose work by the surrealist painter Josef Capek, Shades of Fern most resembles the philosophical fairy tales and fables of Josef’s older brother, the legendary Czech novelist and playwright Karel Capek. Two young poachers, more boys than men, kill a gamekeeper when they are caught illegally hunting. Panicked, they retreat into a forest that grows steadily more forbidding and deadly as their fear for the future—and guilt over their action—mounts. Loosely based on hundreds of oral folk tales and legends that haunt the woods of Czechoslovakia, Vlácil’s contemporary updating artistically underscores the relationship between man and nature, crime and punishment, isolation and society, and guilt and memory.

Cast

Marek Probosz

Ruda Aksamit

Zbigniew Suszyński

Vašek Kala

Miroslav Macháček

Keeper / Vagabond / Beggar

František Peterka

Father Aksamit

Vladimír Hlavatý

Čepelka

Milada Ježková

Čepelková

Josef Patočka

Elsner

Oldřich Velen

Police Officer

Jaroslav Tomsa

Policeman

Marta Vančurová

Rousová

Emma Černá

Keeper's Wife

Jana Švandová

Jiří Schmitzer

Zdeňka Sajfertová

Petr Skarke

Marjánka

Vítězslav Jandák

Policeman

Arnošt Böhm

Josef Pechanec

Frantisek Stupka

Jaroslav Špáňa

Karel Vávrovec

Jaroslav Vlk

Soňa Novotná

Karel Smrž

Dobroslav Čech

Bohumil Vávra

Zdeněk Podhůrský

Jitka Asterová

Martina Bezoušková

Vlastimil Drbal

Karel Bělohradský

Slávka Hamouzová

Vlastimila Vlková

Josef Blahož

Musician

Josef Čermák

Musician

Jan Forejt

Musician

Josef Fürst

Musician

Josef Kasl

Musician

Zdeněk Kesler

Musician

Jan Kopecký

Musician

Antonín Korb

Musician

Jaroslav Materna

Musician

Jiří Miloš

Musician

Vojtěch Říha

Musician

Jaroslav Šprunk

Musician

František Trnka

Musician

František Zikán

Musician

Ladislav Vacek

Musician

Crew

František Vláčil

Director

Jiří F. Svoboda

Original Music Composer

František Uldrich

Director of Photography

Miroslav Hájek

Editor

Theodor Pištěk

Costume Design

Jiří Blažek

Creative Producer

Aleš Dospiva

First Assistant Director

Ondřej Balík

Assistant Director

Eliška Vojtová

Script

Josef Čapek

Novel

Vladimír Körner

Screenplay

František Vláčil

Screenplay

Václav Nývlt

Dramaturgy

Jiří Ondráček

Camera Operator

Miroslav Čvorsjuk

Assistant Director

Jaromír Švarc

Production Design

Roman Květoň

Assistant Production Design

Miloslav Dvořák

Property Master

Vladimír Ježek

Set Decoration

Josef Večerek

Set Decoration

Zuzana Máchová

Lead Costumer

Věra Mírová

Costumer

František Havlíček

Makeup & Hair

Jan Valkoun

Makeup & Hair

Blanka Haltufová

Makeup & Hair

Magda Hájková

Assistant Editor

František Fabián

Sound

Vladimír Vojta

Production Manager

Bohumil Vlach

Unit Production Manager

Jarmila Benešová

Unit Production Manager

Eva Kulhánková

Assistant Production Manager

Barbora Bílková

Clapper Loader

Ivan Měšťan

Gaffer

Miroslav Jirsa

Still Photographer

Štěpán Koníček

Conductor