LES ANNEES DU CHRIST

By : Juraj Jakubisko

With : Jiri Sykora (Juraj), Jana Stehnova (Jana), Vlado Muller (Andrej), Miriam Kantorkova (Marta), Maria Sykorova (Granny)
Slovaquie, 1967, PAL, 4/3 - 95 min
zone 2, N&B,
8.00 €


English title: CRUCIAL YEARS
Original title: KRISTOVE ROKY

Directed by : Juraj Jakubisko

With : Jir� S�kora (Juraj), Jana Stehnov� (Jana), Vlado M�ller (Andrej), Miriam Kantorkov� (Marta), M�ria S�korov� (Granny)
Slovaquia, 1967, PAL, 4/3 - 95 min
zone 2, Black and white

Restored masters, new subtitles, booklet with reviews included.
Original Slovakian version with French subtitles

In this tragic-comic testimony, the main character, an emotional artist, keeps thinking about himself and the purpose of his life. Hiding his helplessness, he thinks his life doesn't have any goals nor responsibilities. Later on, he realizes that the quality of life and experience depends on unwritten rules and higher principles.
At the age of 28, Jakubisko directs his first feature film CRUCIAL YEARS dealing with illusions of youth lost in adulthood. Besides other awards, the film won FIPRESCI at Mannheim, Germany. The film has been followed by DESERTERS AND PILGRIMS in which Jakubisko gave his artistic vision as director and cinematographer. The short-story triptych received the medal for young artists (Little Lion) at the Venice International Film Festival.

In his movies J. Jakubisko managed to catch the most beautiful colors of life, to unhinge the poetry of the daily-life and to be a visionay without loosing his Slovakian roots.

The promising career of this young director was heavily crippled by the communist regime. He managed to complete only 3 films before he was sidetracked in the difficult period following the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion which crushed the Prague Spring reform period in Czechoslovakia. During that period, he made a few documentaries. Fortunately the situation got gradually better so that he could direct THREE SACKS OF CEMENT AND A LIVE ROOSTER (1976) although it was not released until 1978.
He returned to feature film-making with BUILD A HOUSE, PLANT A TREE (1980). Jakubisko earned international acclaim with the epic A THOUSAND-YEAR OLD BEE (1983). This movie was a real event for the country. People of all ages went to see it in mass and the tickets were sold out for many weeks after its release. Since then he won further international awards and earned great respect worldwide. Another popular film still played in TV is Perinbaba.
Jakubisko is often also credited as a screenplay writer as he usually co-writes or writes the scripts of his movies.


Watch a video excerpt :
Les Annees du Christ
envoy� par malavidafilms. - Court m�trage, documentaire et bande annonce.