Shadows of a Hot Summer

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1977

Production year

1977

Premiere

15 September 1978

Runtime

104 min

Category

film

Genre

drama, thriller

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Stíny horkého léta

Czech title

Stíny horkého léta

English title

Shadows of a Hot Summer

Working title

Horké léto / Baran / Samota

Summary

Screenwriter Jiří Křižan and director František Vláčil twice joined forces to work on dramatic tales relating to the troubled post-war years. Stíny horkého léta (Shadows of a Hot Summer, 1977) takes place in 1947 in the Beskid Mountains. The pair’s latter adaptation of the Ladislav Fuchs’ novel Pasáček z doliny (The Little Herdsman from the Valley, 1983) is also set in this location. In both cases, locals’ lives are disturbed by Ukrainian nationalist paramilitaries wandering through the woods and desperately looking for an opportunity to escape west across the border. In this film, shepherd Ondřej Baran (Juraj Kukura), living at a remote sheep farm in the mountains, is forced into a deadly game of trying to protect his family while avoiding being sucked into a malevolent world. Baran’s delicate wife is played by Marta Vančurová. Jiří Bartoška plays a blond-haired pro-Stepan Bandera militant in this intense and dramatic feature film.

Synopsis

In the summer of 1947, remainders of Stepan Bandera's Ukrainian Rebel Army roam Czechoslovakia, trying to get west. A group of them break into the isolated mountain farmhouse of Ondřej Baran. One of them, probably a high ranking officer, is badly wounded. Fearing for the lives of his family - his delicate wife Tereza, twelve-year-old son Lukáš and baby daughter, the quiet and circumspect Ondřej accepts the conditions of the armed-to-the-hilt men. He goes down to the town in the valley, secretly brings a physician out of his flat and, helped by one of the troopers, takes him up to his farm. The physician is forced to attend to the wounded officer, who hopefully will rally in a week or so. Ondřej must also go and buy tobacco and food for the five men. Lukáš does not understand his father's "cowardice." Ondřej starts working hard to acquaint Lukáš with the duties of a farmer - milking sheep, mowing with a scythe and repairing the shingle roof. A young, but already white-haired ravisher attempts to rape Tereza in the shed. Ondřej gives him what he deserves, but he is aware that his family could even be in danger if somebody accidentally stops by. In town, he learns from the police chief that there will be a roundup in order to catch Bandera's troops. Ondřej decides to put up an active resistance. At night, he kills the patrolling trooper with his knife and shoots another two with the gun he has taken from the watch. The fourth man flees. The physician is dressing the gunshot wound on Ondřej's shoulder when the wounded commander, who is still lying there, shoots the farmer dead with a pistol he has hidden away. Devastated Tereza, carrying her baby daughter in her arms, the physician and the young Lukáš, leading a horse pulling a cart with the coffin, walk to the town.

Film online

Cast

Juraj Kukura

sedlák Ondřej Baran

Marta Vančurová

Tereza, Baranova žena

Gustáv Valach

lékař MUDr. Pavel Valchar

Robert Lischke

Voice by Vaculík
Lukáš, syn Baranových

Karel Chromík

banderovský poručík

Zdeněk Kutil

banderovec Starý

Jiří Bartoška

banderovec Bělovlasý

Augustin Kubán

banderovec Lysý

Gustav Opočenský

raněný banderovec

Ilja Prachař

poručík Grygar, velitel SNB

Ľudovít Kroner

Voice by Václav Babka
hostinský Jožin

Milan Šulc

obchodník

Andrea Kratochvílová

Voice by Sedláčková
Lucinka, Lukášova kamarádka

Jana Hliňáková

Voice by Marcela Martínková
Anežka, lékařova hospodyně

Steva Maršálek

Voice by Oldřich Velen
obchodník s rounem

Oldřich Mach

uniformovaný muž

Dagmar Hachová

žena v městečku

Jana Postlerová

žena v městečku

Peter Kršák

muž v civilu

Jana Dočkalová

Petruška, mladší dcera Baranových

Dubbing

Vladimír Jedenáctík

hlas opilce v hospodě

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Aleš Dospiva

Screenstory

Jiří Křižan

Screenplay

Jiří Křižan

Shooting Script

František Vláčil

Dramaturg

Josef Bouček

Director of Photography

Ivan Šlapeta

Second Unit Photography

Richard Valenta

Camera Operator

Jiří Maxa

Production Designer

Oldřich Okáč

Assistent Production Designer

Václav Hlávka

Set Designer

Karel Kočí (vedoucí výpravy), Karel Krejčí, Stanislav Krejča

Costume Designer

Theodor Pištěk ml.

Make-Up Artist

František Příhoda

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Helena Lehovcová

Sound Designer

František Fabián

Production Manager

Jan Balzer

Unit Production Manager

Zdeňka Černá, Oldřich Mach

Unit Production Manager

Marie Ryšlinková

Cooperation

Irena Gregorová (klapka), Miloslav Mirvald (fotograf), George Pokrovskij (práce se zvířaty)

Music

Music Composed by

Zdeněk Liška

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Production info

Original Title

Stíny horkého léta

Czech Title

Stíny horkého léta

English Title

Shadows of a Hot Summer

Working Title

Horké léto / Baran / Samota

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, thriller

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1977

Production Year

1977

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 9 October 1975
start of filming 4 April 1977
technical Screenplay approved 13 June 1977
end of filming 20 December 1977
projection approval 23 December 1977
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1992

Premiere

gala premiere 14 September 1978 (kino Lucerna, Praha)
premiere 15 September 1978 /suitable for youths/
renewed premiere 1 August 2024 /suitable for all ages without limit/

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1978), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2024)

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Vladimíra Kaliny, Vladimír Kalina (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

104 min

Original length in metres

2 835 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm, DCP 2-D, MP4, BRD

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Event: 8. ročník ankety čtenářů časopisu Květy o nejpopulárnějšího herce a herečku socialistických zemí

1979
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Marta Vančurová

Vítěz

Event: Státní ceny Klementa Gottwalda

1979
Praha / Czechoslovakia
František Vláčil

Vítěz

Festival: 16. filmový festival mladých Banská Bystrica

1978
Banská Bystrica / Czechoslovakia
Juraj Kukura

Vítěz

Festival: 29. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´78

1978
61 měst / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Festival: 21. mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary

1978
Karlovy Vary / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Festival: 16. filmový festival mladých Banská Bystrica

1978
Banská Bystrica / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Festival: 16. festival českých a slovenských filmů České Budějovice

1978
České Budějovice / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Festival: 29. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´78

1978
61 měst / Czechoslovakia
Marta Vančurová

Vítěz

Festival: 29. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´78

1978
61 měst / Czechoslovakia