Shades of Fern (Stín kapradiny) 38 years old

Shades of Fern

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.

Credits

Shades of Fern Cast

Name Character
František Peterka He was 63, 94 years old when he died as Father Aksamit
Josef Patočka He was 71, 83 years old when he died as Elsner
Oldřich Velen He was 64, 91 years old when he died as Tutelary
Vítězslav Jandák He was 38, now 76 years old as Policeman
Miroslav Macháček He was 63, 68 years old when he died as Keeper / vagabond / beggar
Marek Probosz He was 26, now 65 years old as Ruda Aksamit

Shades of Fern Crew

Name Department
Miroslav Hájek as Editor. He was 66 (71) years old when He died Editing
František Vláčil as Director. He was 61 (74) years old when He died Directing
Theodor Pištěk as Costume Design. He was 90 (65) years old when He died Costume & Make-Up
Zbyněk Hloch as Art Direction. Art
Shades of Fern poster
Shades of Fern (38 years)

  • Release day: Wednesday, January 01, 1986
  • Runtime: 90 minutes