2018 Noir Film Festival Comes Back to Křivoklát Castle, August 23-26

Now in its sixth year, the Noir Film Festival at Křivoklát Castle is one of the most unique cinematic events on the Czech calendar, bringing classic and modern film noir movies to the halls of the historic 12th-century Czech castle not normally open to the pubic. 

It’s an experience quite unlike any other film festival in the Czech Republic, and well worth seeking out. Especially if you’re a fan of film noir or need an excuse to visit the historic Křivoklát Castle (read more about previous editions of the Noir Film Festival here).

This year’s Noir Film Festival runs from Thursday, August 23, to Sunday, August 26. A full lineup has yet to be revealed, but organizers have already announced the main screening sections and some of movies that will be shown therein courtesy of programmers Jana Bébarová and Milan Hain.

Among those is a special section dedicated to Nordic Film Noir, which will present little-seen movies from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland made during the 1940s and 50s that parallel their iconic Hollywood counterparts of the time. 

Another section will showcase Prison Noir, and feature some of the heavyweights of the genre such as Jules Dassin’s Brute Force, starring Burt Lancaster, and Robert Wise’s I Want to Live! The work of iconic filmmaker Samuel Fuller will also be represented at this year festival with screenings of the films Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor, and The Naked Kiss (a personal favorite). 

Also spotlighted at this year’s Noir Film Festival will be the modern femme fatale: Body Heat, starring Kathleen Turner, The Last Seduction with Linda Fiorentino, and the Wachowski’s Bound, starring Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon, will all be screened during the festival. 

Besides the classic Hollywood film noir flicks, one of the best aspects of the Noir Film Festival is the attention it brings to little-known Czechoslovak productions. At last year’s fest, I had the chance to catch Jindřich Polák’s excellent Game Without Rules along with the fascinating Czech-British co-production Ninety Degrees in the Shade

This year, the festival will be showcasing the 1968 Czechoslovak drama Pasťák (The Borstal), which was shot in 1968 but halted by Soviet censors during the editing process and not completed and screened until 1990. 

Director Hynek Bočan, who turned 80 earlier this year as has attended past editions of the Noir Film Festival, will be on hand to introduce the film on the 50th anniversary of its production. 

Individual tickets will be available for reservation later next month (June 25), but a special Noir Pass – which includes admission to all films along with other goodies, and helps support the 2018 festival and future editions – is now available to purchase for 2,018 CZK. Purchase instructions for tickets can be found at the Noir Film Festival website.

For more information about this year’s Noir Film Festival, visit the official festival website and be sure to follow the fest on Facebook and Twitter.

Pictured at top: Křivoklát Castle via Wikimedia / Onufry Porechnyj; Kathleen Turner in Body Heat

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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