Seventy years after its premiere, Karel Zeman‘s Journey to the Beginning of Time (Cesta do pravěku) remains one of the most celebrated achievements in Czech cinema. First screened on Aug. 5, 1955, the adventure film combined live action with intricate special effects to bring prehistoric worlds to life, influencing filmmakers worldwide, including Steven Spielberg.
To mark the anniversary, the Karel Zeman Museum in Prague has launched a special program showcasing the groundbreaking techniques used by the director. Visitors can explore original production methods, participate in themed activities, and revisit a film that has left an enduring legacy in both Czech and international filmmaking.
The museum’s program, open to all ages throughout the summer, underscores the continued relevance of Zeman’s work. “Karel Zeman created a monumental work with limited resources. His revolutionary combination of puppet animation, matte paintings, and dissolves with live actors pushed the boundaries of filmmaking,” said Ondřej Beránek, one of the museum’s founders.
A landmark in Czech—and world—cinema
Journey to the Beginning of Time was Zeman’s first feature-length film and the first to blend live actors with stop-motion animation and model work. Inspired by the paleo-art of Zdeněk Burian and guided by paleontologist Josef Augusta, Zeman crafted a story of four boys traveling upstream along a “river of time” into progressively earlier prehistoric eras.
In the film, the boys—Petr, Toník, Jenda, and Jirka—seek a living trilobite. Their journey takes them from the Ice Age back to the Paleozoic, encountering more than 30 species of prehistoric animals along the way. Zeman’s approach differed from many contemporaneous productions: rather than using dinosaurs as monsters in contrived plots, he depicted them in naturalistic behavior, as though filmed for a scientific documentary.
The result was a film that appealed to both young audiences and specialists. Its educational value, combined with its imaginative visuals, earned awards at the Venice and Mannheim film festivals and led to distribution in 72 countries. In Argentina, then-president Juan Perón reportedly declared it mandatory viewing for citizens.
A U.S. version was released in 1966, dubbed into English and slightly re-edited, introducing Zeman’s work to new audiences. The film’s influence can be traced through later projects such as Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, which features a notably similar scene of characters tending to a triceratops. In 2019, a restored version was screened in Czech cinemas; the restored version of the movie was released on blu-ray in the U.S. as part of the Criterion Collection.
Celebrating Zeman’s craft at Prague museum
The anniversary program at the Karel Zeman Museum offers visitors a closer look at the innovative techniques behind Journey to the Beginning of Time. Interactive exhibits allow guests to try out the practical effects that Zeman pioneered—merging model work, animation, and live-action footage without the use of digital technology.
For children, the museum has created a special Journey to the Beginning of Time game, a trail of tasks introducing them to the prehistoric creatures and settings featured in the film, with small rewards at the end. Older visitors can test their knowledge in the Filmosaur quiz, exploring details of the production and paleontological accuracy.
The museum’s permanent exhibition also covers Zeman’s other major works, including Invention for Destruction (Vynález zkázy, 1958) and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Baron Prášil, 1962). Since opening, it has become a prominent cultural institution in Prague, dedicated to preserving Zeman’s legacy and offering a hands-on experience of his artistry.
“Today I wonder where I found the courage to embark on such an unusual project with almost nothing in hand,” Zeman once reflected on the making of Journey to the Beginning of Time. “As a director, I had to restrain the drama of the story to leave enough room for scientific explanation; as an artist, I had to adhere to a realistic approach, again in the interest of science.”
“But at the time, I wasn’t thinking about that—I mainly wanted to show the fantastic world that nature created many millions of years ago. I used all the imaginative possibilities of film, which is why I combined live action, drawings, and puppetry into a single whole.”
Lead photo: Behind the scenes of Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955) courtesy Karel Zeman Museum Prague
