The Avalon Theatre will screen the film 8 Heads of Madness, which follows the life of the talented Russian poet Anna Barkova (1906-1976), on August 8, 2018, at 8 pm. Set in Soviet Russia in 1921, Barkova has just published her first collection of poems and is on the brink of becoming one of the greatest Russian poets. However, a few years later she finds herself in the Gulags, where she ends up spending 22 years of her life. She survived thanks to her poetry, hope for better days, and passionate love for a woman named Valentina.The film won the Czech Film Critics' Award for Best Artistic Achievement. ​

The film was created by young Czech director Marta Nováková who gives a fresh perspective on this monumental poet. Overall, the film is divided into 8 chapters, each having a different visual style – inspired by Soviet avant-garde and propaganda posters, Russian Art Nouveau and folklore, and the Soviet montage movement of the silent film era.