Soldier’s Story

Čeněk Zahradníček, Vladimír Šmejkal / Czechoslovakia / 1935 / The film already had its Czech Premiere / 8 min.

synopsis

The film Soldier’s Story depicts fears of mobilisation whilst the echoes of the traumas of the First World War still linger. Thanks to skilful editing, the images of gunfire, air raids and screaming people also evoke a sense of sound, even though the film was shot as a silent film.

biography

Vladimír Šmejkal (1902–1957) initially worked as an amateur playwright. Together with his brother, he founded the Surrealist Theatre, where he staged his own plays. It was his attempt to adapt one of them (Atom of Eternity) for the screen that led him to collaborate with the amateur film director Čeněk Zahradníček. Together, they went on to make the films Hands on Tuesday and Soldier’s Story. Influenced by Burian’s Voice-band and the poetics of the Liberated Theatre, he worked as a playwright and director at the Říše Loutek theatre.

Čeněk Zahradníček (1900–1989), a trained photographer and film lab technician, was one of the founding members of the Czechoslovak Pathé Club of Amateur Filmmakers. He collaborated with Vladimír Šmejkal, a member of the Říše Loutek theatre, director and screenwriter, with whom he made several award-winning amateur avant-garde films. In 1936, he began working with E. F. Burian at Theatre D on stage films. From 1937 onwards, he worked as a cameraman and reporter for the Czechoslovak film weekly Aktualita.