Czech New Wave
The funny, absurd and often defiant films a generation of young Czechoslovak directors made in the 1960s, until the tanks of 1968 ended it.
In the thaw before the Prague Spring, young directors, many trained at FAMU in Prague, used the state studios at Barrandov to make films about restless, ordinary lives. Miloš Forman made Black Peter (1963) and The Firemen's Ball (1967), Jan Němec A Report on the Party and the Guests (1966), and Jiří Menzel Closely Watched Trains (1966), which won the Oscar for best foreign language film. Věra Chytilová's Daisies (1966) pushed furthest, trading plot for colour, collage and slapstick.
The Soviet-led invasion of August 1968 brought it to an end. Forman and Ivan Passer left for the West, and Menzel's Larks on a String, finished in 1969, was shelved until 1990, when it won the Golden Bear in Berlin. Jaromil Jireš finished The Joke (1969) and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), but The Joke was withdrawn soon after its release.
Films to start with
In the order they were made. Runtimes are approximate.
Still from Something Different to come. Something Different
Two stories alternate: the Olympic gold medallist Eva Bosáková, playing herself, trains for a competition, and a housewife played by Věra Uzelacová, worn down by chores and a neglectful husband, drifts into an affair. It won the main prize at the 1963 Mannheim Film Festival.
Daisies
Two young women, both called Marie, cadge dinners from older men, play pranks and finally smash up a banquet laid out for someone else, until a chandelier comes down on them. Jaroslav Kučera's camera switches between colour, black and white and tinted footage, and the leads, Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová, were not professional actresses.
Still from Fruit of Paradise to come. Fruit of Paradise
Adam and Eve retold: Eva, on holiday with her husband Josef, falls for a stranger, Robert, who turns out to be a killer. Ester Krumbachová co-wrote it and designed the costumes and decor, and it was entered at Cannes in 1970.
Nearby
Movements, forms and techniques that share filmmakers or methods with this one.