Vojtěch Mašek: The Sisters Dietl + Arvéd

A book launch and conversation with Vojtěch Mašek followed by the screening of Vojtěch Mašek’s multi-award winning film, Arvéd.

A multi-layered story uncovering a kind of mysterious evil hovering above two ageing sisters. Its mood is reminiscent of Charles Burns’s Black Hole, but more in a…Czech way. Reflex

Vojtěch Mašek, acclaimed Czech comic book author, screenwriter and film director discusses with Peter Kesser, The Sisters Dietl, the best Czech graphic novel of 2018. Described as a mix of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and Jaroslav Dietl’s The Hospital at the Edge of the Townseries, this horror detective story follows two sisters after one is subjected to what appears to be a brutal attack. Using varied cultural references as his inspiration and drawing on memories of childhood fears, and the desire for a safe hiding place, Mašek explores identity change, doppelgängers, hallucination and altered states of mind to build up a multi-layered story complemented by a unique multi-layered art style.

Vojtěch Mašek, The Sisters Dietl, transl. Julia and Peter Sherwood, Centrala Books 2021

Followed by the screening of Vojtěch Mašek’s award winning film, Arvéd.

Arvéd
Vojtěch Mašek,Czech Republic, Slovakia 2022, 120´
Cast: Michal Kern, Saša Rašilov, Vojtěch Vodochodský, Jaroslav Plesl

A fascinating insight into the life and mind of Jiří Arvéd Smíchovský (1898–1951), a charismatic hermeticist and occultist, who in his quest for knowledge became first a Nazi collaborator, than informer and witness in communist showtrials. He makes a Faustian pact with Plaček, a secret police investigator whose life he saved during the war. Plaček ensures that Arvéd gets life imprisonment instead of a death sentence and offers a deal: a rare occult book for each soul delivered. Arvéd (a superb Michal Kern) plays his role in the trials even when the political tide turns. Highly stylised, this a remarkable thriller that delves into the maze of the deteriorating mind of a man who sells his soul.

Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor Awards at Czech Film Critics Awards 2022

About Vojtěch Mašek
Vojtěch Mašek (b. 1977) is a comic book author and artist, screenwriter and playwright. He co-wrote the screenplays for The Little Crusader (2017), which won best film award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and Occupation (2021), winner of three Czech Lion Awards, and wrote and directed the multi-award winning film Arvéd. His children’s book Puppet, Plum Pit, Plum, Plank and Back to Puppet (2018), with a story by Mašek and art by Chrudoš Valoušek, won the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award. His comic books have received eight Muriel Awards. Since 2002 he and Džian Baban have been developing the surreally farcical world of Monstrkabaret Freda Brunolda (Fred Brunold’s Monster Cabaret), which has appeared in five comic books, more than a dozen stage adaptations and in short films. They have also written two award-winning graphic novels with art by Jiří Grus. Mašek also worked with the writer Marek Šindelka on the contemporary graphic novel Svatá Barbora (Saint Barbara), art by Marek Pokorný, 2018. Mašek is the author of the internet hit Recykliteratura, which builds on the avant-garde tradition of associative montages using photographs and texts found in books and magazines.

Admission: £7 (+ Eventbrite fee)
BOOK NOW on Eventbrite website - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vojtech-masek-the-sisters-dietl-arved-tickets-730219595467?aff=oddtdtcreator

Part of the 27th Made In Prague Festival (3rd November - 10th December 2023) organized by the Czech Centre London. More info: https://bit.ly/27thMadeInPragueFestival