Diamonds of the Night

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1964

Production year

1963

Premiere

25 September 1964

Runtime

67 min

Director

Jan Němec

Category

film

Genre

drama, psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Démanty noci

Czech title

Démanty noci

English title

Diamonds of the Night

Summary

In winning the Grand Prix at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (IFFMH) in 1964, Jan Němec’s drama Démanty noci (Diamonds of the Night) became the first Czechoslovak New Wave film to receive an internationally recognised award. The motion picture, based on a short story from an eponymous book by Arnošt Lustig, started the brilliant career of one of the most original Czech filmmakers of the 1960s (Němec had adapted one other Lustig short story, Sousto (Mouthful), as a short film while graduating at Prague film school FAMU). Diamonds of the Night offers an unusual, intensely attitudinal insight into the topic of war. It tells the story of two young Jewish men who escape from a train taking them to their death. The film amounts to a naturalistic study of endangerment, repudiation and uprootedness. The experiences of the desperate refugees in the Sudetenland forest merge with the memories, dreams and visions of one of the men. Thus the anatomy of a tortured human soul is projected into the sphere of existential drama.

Synopsis

Second World War. Two young boys jump from a moving deportation train carrying Jews. The German guards shoot at them but the boys manage to reach the forest. They are exhausted, hungry, freezing cold and want to go home. In a fever, they are haunted by memories of their recent horrific past, images of events that never did and never will occur in reality, visions of returning home, which they never reach in their dreams. From their hiding place deep in the forest, they see a woman carrying food to her husband in the field. After she returns to the cottage, one of the fugitives goes to ask her for food. He wants to kill her to prevent her informing on them. The boy is given bread but cannot bring himself to harm the woman. The famished boys cannot swallow the food. The woman puts a scarf on her head and considers whether to inform on them or not. Armed old men from the village organize a manhunt and catch up with the exhausted boys. They celebrate their victory while the boys wait to see what will happen to them. Finally, the euphoric Germans let them go and the two young boys run off hoping they will reach their home after all.

Cast

Ilse Bischofová

venkovanka

August Bischof

venkovan

Ivan Asič

mladý člen SS

Jan Říha

mladý člen SS

Josef Koblížek

pronásledovatel

Josef Koggel

pronásledovatel

Josef Kubát

pronásledovatel

Rudolf Lukášek

pronásledovatel

Oskar Miller

pronásledovatel

Bohumil Moudrý

pronásledovatel

Karel Navrátil

pronásledovatel

Evžen Pichl

pronásledovatel

František Procházka (2)

pronásledovatel

Anton Schich

pronásledovatel

Rudolf Stolle

pronásledovatel

František Vrána

pronásledovatel

Crew and creators

Director

Jan Němec

Second Unit Director

Hynek Bočan

Based on

Arnošt Lustig (Tma nemá stín – povídka ze sbírky Démanty noci)

Shooting Script

Jan Němec

Director of Photography

Jaroslav Kučera

Second Unit Photography

Miroslav Ondříček

Camera Operator

Petr Čech, Ivan Vojnár

Production Designer

Oldřich Bosák

Assistent Production Designer

Bohumil Nový

Set Designer

Miloslav Dvořák, Jan David (2), Libor Speychal

Costume Designer

Ester Krumbachová

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Jitka Šulcová

Sound Designer

František Černý, Bohumír Brunclík (zvukové efekty)

Assistant Sound Designer

Lubomír Zajíc

Production Manager

Miloš Bergl

Unit Production Manager

Zdeňka Černá, Josef Mára

Unit Production Manager

Ladislav Dražan, Vladimíra Kopecká, Lubomír Novotný

Cooperation

František Vláčil (režijní supervize), Jiřina Znamenáčková (klapka), Bohumil Ženíšek (vrchní osvětlovač), Jiří Stach (fotograf)

Production info

Original Title

Démanty noci

Czech Title

Démanty noci

English Title

Diamonds of the Night

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, psychological

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1964

Production Year

1963

Production specifications

projection approval 16 March 1964

Premiere

premiere 25 September 1964 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 13 November 1964 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Praha /1 týden/, Praha)
renewed premiere 1 December 1989 /unsuitable for youths/
renewed premiere 30 August 2018 /suitable for all ages without limit/

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1964 a obnovená 1989), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2018)

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Švabík – Procházka, Jan Procházka (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Erich Švabík (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

67 min

Original length in metres

1 809 meters

Distribution carrier

35mm, DCP 2-D, BRD

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech, German

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 33. mezinárodní festival archivních a restaurovaných filmů Il Cinema Ritrovato Boloňa

2019
Boloňa / Italy
Second Run

Vítěz

Event: Anketa Českého rozhlasu – Kánon100 (nejoblíbenější umělecká díla posledních 100 let)

2018
Praha / Czech Republic

Vítěz

Festival: Devět bran 2002 – Festival česko-německo-židovské kultury Praha

2002
Praha / Czech Republic
Jan Němec

Vítěz

Festival: Devět bran 2002 – Festival česko-německo-židovské kultury Praha

2002
Praha / Czech Republic
Arnošt Lustig

Vítěz

Event: Anketa filmových kritiků o nejlepší česko-slovenský hraný film století

1998
Praha / Czech Republic

Vítěz

Event: 7. mezinárodní kongres Mezinárodní unie filmových technických sdružení Praha

1966
Praha / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Event: Anketa britského periodika Films and Filming

1966
Londýn / Great Britain
Miroslav Hájek

Vítěz

Event: Umělecká soutěž k 20. výročí osvobození Československa

1965
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Jan Němec

Vítěz

Exhibition: 1. mezinárodní přehlídka nového filmu Pesaro

1965
Pesaro / Italy

Vítěz

Festival: 13. mezinárodní filmový týden Mannheim

1964
Mannheim / Federal Republic of Germany