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Bathory (film)
''Bathory'' (also released as ''Bathory: Countess of Blood'') is a 2008 historical drama written and directed by Juraj Jakubisko. Filming began in December 2005, and the film was released in July 2008. It was Jakubisko's first English-language film and an international co-production between the cinemas of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the United Kingdom. Plot The film is based on the story of Erzsébet Bathory, a Hungarian countess in the 16th and 17th centuries. Her story takes place in a part of the Kingdom of Hungary that is now Slovakia. In this retelling, the Countess is a healer who conducts medical experiments and rudimentary autopsies in a "hospital" beneath her castle. She forms a relationship with a reputed witch, Darvulia, who saves her from poisoning. The witch promises Erzsebet a son and eternal beauty. In return, Erzsebet must sacrifice both love and her reputation. Darvulia becomes Erzsebet's companion. Meanwhile, maidens in the area have been dying ...
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Juraj Jakubisko
Juraj Jakubisko (30 April 1938 – 24 February 2023) was a Slovak film director. He directed fifteen feature films, between 1967 and 2008. He often took on the dual role of cinematographer in his films, as well as writing or co-writing the scripts. In 2000 he was named the Best Slovak Director of the 20th century by film critics and journalists. His work is often described as magical realism. Career Before entering the film industry, Jakubisko taught still photography at a secondary school for applied arts in Bratislava, and worked for a television company in Košice. In 1960 he moved to Prague where he attended the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU), studying film direction under Václav Wasserman. He graduated in 1965 and began working with Alfréd Radok at the Laterna Magika theatre in Prague. He began winning international acclaim with his experimental short films before making his first feature '' Crucial Years'' () in 1967. This film won a FIPRESC ...
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Cinema Of Hungary
Hungary has had a notable cinema industry since the beginning of the 20th century, including Hungarians who affected the world of motion pictures both within and beyond the country's borders. The former could be characterized by directors István Szabó, Béla Tarr, or Miklós Jancsó; the latter by William Fox and Adolph Zukor, the founders of Fox Studios and Paramount Pictures respectively, or Alexander Korda, who played a leading role in the early period of British cinema. Examples of successful Hungarian films include ''Merry-go-round'', '' Mephisto'', '' Werckmeister Harmonies'' and ''Kontroll''. The early decades 1896–1901 Hungarian cinema began in 1896, when the first screening of the films of the Lumière Brothers was held on the 10th of May in the cafe of the Royal Hotel of Budapest. In June of the same year, Arnold and Zsigmond Sziklai opened the first Hungarian movie theatre on 41 Andrássy Street named the Okonograph, where they screened Lumière films using ...
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Lucie Vondráčková
Lucie Vondráčková (born 8 March 1980 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a prominent Czech actress and pop singer, renowned for her significant influence on popular culture and her widespread appeal. Acting career Film Thanks to her acting skills, Lucie has caught the attention of international productions, such as Last Holiday, Joan of Arc, Beyond Her Lens, My Wacko Parents and Hotel Limbo. She has been awarded at international film festivals for the lead female role. Her most recent appearance in the comedic role in the fairytale film Once Upon a Princess was showcased at the International Children’s Film Festival in Zlin, Universal Kids Film Festival and the San Diego International Kids’ Film Festival. Theatre Lucie Vondráčková began her acting career at the age of 9 at the National Theatre in the play The Satin Slipper. Since then, she has portrayed dozens of dramatic and comedic roles in many Prague theatres. Some of her most notable roles include Juliet, Desd ...
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Jiří Mádl
Jiří Mádl (born October 23, 1986) is a Czech film actor, director and screenwriter. Biography He was born in České Budějovice. Among his most prominent roles are a part in the 2008 film ''Night Owls (2008 film), Night Owls'', for which received the Best Actor award at the 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2008 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. For his performance in ''Droneman'' (2020), he received the Czech Lion Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 2020 Czech Lion Awards. Mádl made his directorial debut with the movie ''To See the Sea''. His second movie On the Roof (2019 film), ''On the Roof'' was released in 2019. His third film, historical drama Waves (2024 film), ''Waves'', depicting struggle of a Czech Radio, Czechoslovak Radio crew against Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Soviet occupation in 1968, premiered at the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 2024 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and was List of Czech sub ...
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Bolek Polívka
Boleslav Polívka (born 31 July 1949, in Vizovice) is a Czech film and theatre actor, mime, playwright, and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 40 films. Career Polívka first started appearing in films in the 1960s. He graduated from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno in 1971, in the play ''Podivné odpoledne dr. Zvonka Burkeho'' ("The Strange Afternoon of Dr. Zvonek Burke") by Ladislav Smoček.Fikejz (2007), pp. 458-460 In 1969 he co-founded ''Divadlo Husa na provázku'' (Goose on a String Theatre) in Brno, and founded his own theatre in the same city, ''Divadlo Bolka Polívky'' (Bolek Polívka Theatre), in 1993. He is one of the best-known exponents of Czech mime and frequently appears with foreign theatre ensembles. Polívka's work as writer, director and mime artist is inspired by clown comedy, Commedia dell'arte, and early comedy films, but he occasionally introduces voice and words into his performances, thereby crossing over into a form ...
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Mathias II Of Hungary
MatthiasMátyás II of Hungary and BohemiaMatija II of Croatia (24 February 1557 – 20 March 1619) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612 to 1619, Archduke of Austria from 1608 to 1619, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1608 to 1618 and King of Bohemia from 1611 to 1617. His personal motto was ''Concordia lumine maior'' ("Unity is stronger in the light"). Matthias played a significant role in the familial opposition of the Habsburgs against his brother Emperor Rudolf II. After gaining power, he showed little political initiative of his own. The course of his politics was determined by Cardinal Melchior Klesl until his fall in 1618. As a consequence of his failed religious and administrative policies, the Bohemian Revolt, the initial theatre of the Thirty Years' War, began during the final year of Matthias' reign. Biography Early life and family Matthias was born in the Austrian capital of Vienna as the fourth son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and of Maria of Spain. His brothers ...
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Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of his life, he moved between Kingdom of Naples, Naples, Hospitaller Malta, Malta, and Kingdom of Sicily, Sicily. His paintings have been characterized by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting. Caravaggio employed close physical observation with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro that came to be known as tenebrism. He made the technique a dominant stylistic element, transfixing subjects in bright shafts of light and darkening shadows. Caravaggio vividly expressed crucial moments and scenes, often featuring violent struggles, torture, and death. He worked rapidly with live models, preferrin ...
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European Witchcraft
European witchcraft can be traced back to classical antiquity, when magic and religion were closely entwined. During the Ancient Roman religion, pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic. After Christianization#Roman Empire to Early Middle Ages (1 to 800), Christianization, the History of the Catholic Church#Middle Ages, medieval Catholic Church began to see witchcraft (''maleficium'') as a blend of black magic and apostasy involving a pact with the Devil. During the early modern period, witch hunts became widespread in Europe, partly fueled by religious tensions, societal anxieties, and economic upheaval. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment. One text that shaped the witch-hunts was the ''Malleus Maleficarum'', a 1486 treatise that provided a framework for identifying, prosecuting, and punishing witches. During the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a witch trials in the early modern period, wave of wit ...
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Psilocybin Mushroom
Psilocybin mushrooms, or psilocybin-containing mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms or as shrooms, are a type of hallucinogenic mushroom and a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain the prodrug psilocybin, which turns into the psychedelic psilocin upon ingestion. The most potent species are members of genus ''Psilocybe'', such as '' P. azurescens'', '' P. semilanceata'', and '' P. cyanescens'', but psilocybin has also been isolated from approximately a dozen other genera, including '' Panaeolus'' (including '' Copelandia''), '' Inocybe'', '' Pluteus'', ''Gymnopilus'', and '' Pholiotina''. Amongst other cultural applications, psilocybin mushrooms are used as recreational drugs. They may be depicted in Stone Age rock art in Africa and Europe, but are more certainly represented in sculptures and glyphs seen throughout the Americas. Indoor cultivation '' Psilocybe cubensis'' grows naturally in tropical and subtropical conditions, often near ca ...
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György Thurzó
György Thurzó (, ; 2 September 1567 – 24 December 1616) was a prominent Hungarian nobleman and Palatine of Hungary between 1609 and 1616, a position equivalent to a prime minister or viceroy, serving under the rule of the Habsburgs in the early 17th century. He is historically significant for his connection to Elizabeth Báthory, one of the most infamous figures in Hungarian and Slovak history. Biography György Thurzó was born into the richest noble house in Upper Hungary, the Thurzó family from Szepes County. When György was 9 years old, his father, Ferenc, died and he was raised by his mother Katarina Zrinski (Kata Zrínyi), who was the daughter of Croatian Ban Nikola IV Zrinski (Miklós Zrínyi). In 1575, Katarina and her children moved to the Nagybiccse (now Bytča, Slovakia) estate. György's mother remarried to Imre Forgách who rather liked György and ensured him a very high standard of education with the highly regarded scientist from Saxony, Christoph ...
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Ferenc Nádasdy
Count Ferenc II Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld (6 October 1555 – 4 January 1604) was a Hungarian nobleman and a distinguished soldier. His family, the Nádasdy family, was one of the wealthiest and most influential of the era in Hungary. In 1571, when Ferenc was 16, his mother, Orsolya Nádasdy (; 1521–1571), using her association with many noble families in Hungary, organized a marriage to the young Elizabeth Báthory, daughter of the Count György Báthory of Ecsed and his wife and cousin, Baroness Anna Báthory of Somlyó (1539–1570). The Báthory family were as rich and illustrious as the Nádasdy family, though older and more influential, since they had several relatives who had the charge of Nádor (palatine) of Hungary. Among them, included a cardinal, a King of Poland-Lithuania, and a Prince of Transylvania. Early life At the age of 14, Ferenc became engaged to a ten-year-old Elizabeth Báthory. He invited her to move into the Nádasdy Castle, Castle S ...
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Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's mostly mountainous territory spans about , hosting a population exceeding 5.4 million. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, while the second largest city is Košice. The Slavs arrived in the territory of the present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries. From the late 6th century, parts of modern Slovakia were incorporated into the Pannonian Avars, Avar Khaghanate. In the 7th century, the Slavs played a significant role in the creation of Samo's Empire. When the Avar Khaghanate dissolved in the 9th century, the Slavs established the Principality of Nitra before it was annexed by the Great Moravia, Principality of Moravia, which later became Great Moravia. When Great Moravia fell in the 10th century, the territory was integrated i ...
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