Pre-dating Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park by nearly 40 years, Karel Zeman’s first feature to synthesise live action with animation is equal parts delightful boys’ own adventure and gently didactic educational film á la Walking with Dinosaurs.

Four boys sail upstream along the river of time, encountering all manner of extinct wildlife in tableaux inspired by the glorious paleo-art of Zdeněk Burian.

CaSFFA is delighted to be presenting a digital restoration of Journey to the Beginning of Time in partnership with the Karel Zeman Museum and the Melbourne Cinémathèque. It will be preceded by Zeman’s début, A Christmas Dream (dir: Karel Zeman, Bořivoj Zeman & Hermína Týrlová, 1945, 11 mins), a delightful yuletide toy story. 35mm print courtesy of the National Film Archive in Prague.