Screening: Forgotten Light

How does the church defeat the state that has the power to terminate them instantly? Does the action take a holy action when the church begins to engage in acts of deception and give in to lust to help the parish? Experience a story of punishment in the greatest sense as a priest pushes the limits of a communist society to help villagers who attend his church.

Vladimir Michalek’s Forgotten Light chronicles the inner tensions of a priest who works to keep his church alive as the Communist state ends funding. The 1996 film is based on Jakub Deml’s 1934 book, which is considered to be a masterpiece of Czech literature. Father Holy, the village priest, battles against the state to fund a new roof for the parish. In the name of the protected religious sanctuary for his villagers he illegally replicates the statue to sell the original, endangering himself and his church even more. The woman he secretly loves is battling cancer and seeks refuge in the comfort of the church, furthering the importance of his mission. In his fight against the threat of communism versus the church, he finds himself in almost comical situations.

Director: Vladimír Michálek, 1996, 105 min, Czechoslovakia.

A Q&A with screenwriter Milena Jelinek.

Free and open to the public. Seats are limited, on first come, first served basis.