FAB Zlín

The River of Life and Death captures the slow time in the well-known Indian pilgrimage place of Benares, the act of purification by water, the burning funeral pyres, and the dandling snakeheads under the temple stairs.

Instead of working, young typists are busy showing off their purchases to each other. When they don't respond to the clerk's bell, a superior comes into their office. The girls scatter to their typewriters. Only the boldest of them explains that they are getting ready for a ball and have therefore bought new shoes. The clerk remembers that he used to dance when he was young, and the girl asks him to dance. However, the man soon runs out of breath. The film ends with a display of dance shoes by the Baťa company.

An experimental film from Jirí Lehovec, mixing the sound process with animated rhythms.