The Cassandra Cat
Director: Vojtěch Jasný Run Time: 104 min. Format: DCP Release Year: 1963 Language: Czech with English subtitles
Starring: Emília Vášáryová, Jan Werich, Jiří Sovák, Vladimír Menšík, Vlastimil Brodský
Belated National Cat Day Double Feature! New Restoration!
In this modern-day fairy tale and rediscovered Czech New Wave cult classic, an ordinary Bohemian village is visited by a magician (Jan Werich), his beautiful assistant Diana (Emília Vásáryová), and a magic cat with the power to reveal people in colors that indicate their true natures: yellow for the unfaithful, purple for liars, red for lovers like Robert (Vlastimil Brodský), a bighearted school teacher whose independence of thought places him at odds with the town’s conservative authorities. When the cat reveals the villagers as they really are and the town descends into whimsical chaos, humorless school principal Karel (Jiří Sovák) vows to hunt down the feline and put an end to its anarchic reign. Ahead of its time in experimenting with stylized color and extended political metaphor, The Cassandra Cat is director Vojtěch Jasný’s triumphant excursion into fantasy as a mirror of real-life social divisions and hypocrisies. – Janus Films
Double Feature with HAUSU