A group of friends enjoying a bucolic day in the country are accosted by mysterious figures who compel them to join an unexplained lavish banquet in the woods. A barbed satire of authoritarianism and conformity unfolds, as each new guest finds their place amongst the revellers, succumbing to the will of their menacing hosts.
Jan N?mec’s surreal and sinister fable was considered one of the most politically dangerous films of its era. Made during the short flowering of the Czechoslovak New Wave in the 1960s, it was subsequently ‘banned forever’ by the authorities.
Our edition of The Party and the Guests also contains Ji?í Trnka's renowned animated short film The Hand (1965), another surreal and savage indictment of totalitarianism (again banned by Czech authorities), making its world premiere on Blu-ray.