Shades of Fern (1986)

Drama

Based on the only extensive prose work by the surrealist painter Josef Capek, Shades of Fern most resembles the philosophical fairy tales and fables of Josef’s older brother, the legendary Czech novelist and playwright Karel Capek. Two young poachers, more boys than men, kill a gamekeeper when they are caught illegally hunting. Panicked, they retreat into a forest that grows steadily more forbidding and deadly as their fear for the future—and guilt over their action—mounts. Loosely based on hundreds of oral folk tales and legends that haunt the woods of Czechoslovakia, Vlácil’s contemporary updating artistically underscores the relationship between man and nature, crime and punishment, isolation and society, and guilt and memory.

Cast

Ruda Aksamit
Keeper's Wife
Marjánka
Keeper / Vagabond / Beggar
Father Aksamit
Čepelková
Police Officer

Crew

Original Music Composer
Director of Photography
Costume Design
Creative Producer
First Assistant Director
Assistant Director
Camera Operator
Assistant Director
Production Design
Assistant Production Design
Property Master
Set Decoration
Set Decoration
Lead Costumer
Makeup & Hair
Makeup & Hair
Assistant Editor
Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Assistant Production Manager
Clapper Loader
Still Photographer