A thief awakens Valerie, just 13, taking earrings left to her by her mother. By morning, the earrings have been returned, Valerie's first period has begun, and a troupe and a missionary have arrived in her 19th century town. The thief is Orick; he reports to a cloaked constable who may also be the missionary. Attention to sexuality is everywhere: Valerie's grandmother's puritanical nature, the missionary's sermon to the town's virgins, the parish priest's attempt to seduce Valerie, and lusty adults at play. Valerie's nascent sexuality puts her in great danger. Can she navigate the passage from innocence to experience, a route teaming with vampires, a murderer, and an obscure family tree?

Valery’s Week of Wonders directed by Jaromil Jireš, one of the leaders of the Czech New Wave, begins as if turning the pages of a surreal picture book. However, the lovely, dreamy images captured on the pristine screen quickly transform into\ an eerie atmosphere, as elements such as carnivals, vampires, and incestuous undertones overlap. It is almost a nightmare disguised as a fairytale. This film is adapted from the novel by Vítězslav Nezval, a master of Czech surrealism and modernist literature, and is both a coming-of-age drama for 13-year-old, Valery, who is just waking sexually, and a unique example of Eastern European folk horror, which skillfully blends pastoral imagery, religious symbolism, and gothic horror traditions. The bizarre and surrealistic imagination, captured within the beautifully overwhelming frames, offers an experience rarely encountered in present-day films. (Jin PARK)