The Uninvited Guest
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1969Production year
1969Premiere
5 September 1991Runtime
22 minDirector
Vlastimil VenclíkCategory
filmGenre
satireTypology
featuretheatrical distributionstudent filmshortOriginal title
Nezvaný hostCzech title
Nezvaný hostEnglish title
The Uninvited GuestSynopsis
A young married couple is disturbed in their lovemaking by a unpatient banging on their door. When the husband opens the door, a hulking great fellow in a flat hat and quilted coat with a large suitcase breaks into the bedroom and immediately begins make himself at home in the flat. The scared husband seeks help from his neighbours, finding out to his horror that the other tenants, too, have similar uninvited guests. The guest falls asleep and the husband decides to murder him. But just before he makes the decisive stab with a kitchen knife, the guest wakes up. After a while, however, the couple gets used to the unknown man, especially when they find out that the guests of the other tenants are much more cruel that theirs. The husband begins to call the intruder a friend, the wife sits on his lap and strokes his hair, while he plays mouth organ.
Note
The film was shot in the spring of 1969 as Vlastimil Venclík's year-project at the Department of Direction at the Prague Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts. The script was written by Venclík two years earlier. The film was denounced as an open attack against the regime of that time and in August 1970 the negative, cutting/work print and film copy confiscated by the Secret Police directly from the Barrandov film laboratories. Vlastimil Venclík was subsequently expelled from the Faculty in April 1971. He did not formally graduate until June 1990. The film materials were released from the archives of the Ministry of the Interior on the basis of the instructions of the Minister of the Interior in March 1990. The film was released for distribution in September 1991 with the film AEIOU (1979; directed by Dušan Kukal, Martin Bezouška).
Photos
Cast
Iva Šašková
manželka
Jiří Hálek
manžel
Pavel Landovský
host
Václav Kotva
soused
Bohumil Koška
jiný host
Karel Kvítek
jiný host
Crew and creators
Director
Screenstory
Screenplay
Director of Photography
Film Editor
Production Manager
Pedagogical management
Karel Kachyňa (režie), Vladislav Delong (režie), Jan Kališ (kamera), Josef Dobřichovský (střih)
Cooperation
Filmové studio Barrandov (příprava do distribuce 1990)
Production info
Original Title
Nezvaný host
Czech Title
Nezvaný host
English Title
The Uninvited Guest
Category
film
Typology
featuretheatrical distributionstudent film
Genre
satire
Student film
3. ročníkDepartment of Film Directinga studio exercise
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1969
Production Year
1969
Production specifications
end of filming 04/1969
start of filming 04/1969
withdrawal from distribution 31 July 1993
Premiere
premiere 5 September 1991 /recommended for 12 and over/
Production
Copyright Holders
Studio
Laboratories
Distribution
Technical info
Duration typology
short film
Duration in minutes
22 min
Original length in metres
627 meters
Distribution carrier
35mm
Animation technique
combined (technique)
Aspect ratio
1:1,37
Colour
black & white
Sound
sound
Sound system/format
mono
Versions
Czech
Dialogue languages
Czech
Subtitles languages
without subtitles
Opening/End credits languages
Czech
Awards
Vítěz
Festival: Mezinárodní filmový festival Uppsala
1991
Uppsala / Sweden
Vítěz
Festival: Mezinárodní filmový festival Uppsala
1991
Uppsala / Sweden
Vítěz
Exhibition: 37. mezinárodní dny krátkého filmu Oberhausen
1991
Oberhausen / Federal Republic of Germany
