Loves of a Blonde-1965

Is the first film that brought Miloš Forman international fame and he followed it with such classics as One flew over a cuckoo’s nest(1975) and Amadeus(1984). Forman’s early movies are still very popular among Czechs. Many of the situations and phrases are in common usage: for example, the Czech term zhasnout (to switch lights off) [...]

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Intimate Lighting-1965

Intimate Lighting (Intimni osvetleni to the Czech) is quintessentially a Czech New Wave film. It follows the visit of musician Petr (Bezusek) and his betrothed to old friends in a small country town. A moving tribute by Ivan Passer (who was Milos Forman’s co-writer ‘If There Were No Music’ or Kdyby ty muziky nebyly, 1963) [...]

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The Shop On The Main Street-1965

The Shop…(Obch o Na Korze) is a personal testament of Ján Kádar, and in the best traditions of story tellers it is couched in the form of a story, as much as the Ugly Duckling is a personal testament of the Danish master storyteller. Director Ján Kádar spent World War II in a Nazi labor [...]

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Closely Watched Trains-1966

Czech director Jiri Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains (Ostre sledovane vlaky) was the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1967.  Based on Bohumil Hrabal’s novel of the same name, it tells the end of innocence for a railroad worker who is not very bright and has not much of a career [...]

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