Ester Krumbachová

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This publication is dedicated to Ester Krumbachová (1923–1996), a significant costume designer, screenwriter, writer, director, and artist. She collaborated with theater figures such as Miroslav Macháček, Ladislav Smoček, and Ivan Vyskočil, as well as filmmakers like Otakar Vávra, Věra Chytilová, Jan Němec, Karel Kachyňa, and Petr Václav. The aim of this work is a critical examination of the previously unknown legacy of Ester Krumbachová, her oeuvre, and themes that resonate into the present. The book consists of multiple layers, featuring scholarly and essayistic texts by both Czech and international specialists from various fields, alongside archival materials organized into thematic, loosely connected clusters. This rhizomatic structure closely reflects Krumbachová's own working methods and reveals her thoughts on directing, scenography, costume design, screenwriting, as well as on detail, active objects, color concepts, the symbiosis of film professions, magic, folklore, exoticism, realism, subjectivity, hierarchy, gender polarity, queerness, feminism, love and sexuality, food, and companionship.