Czechoslovak New Wave
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- DirectorStefan UherStarsMarián BielikJana BelákováOlga SalagováOldrich "Fajolo" Fajták (Marián Bielik), a student who directs quasi-existentialist verbal abuse at his girlfriend Bela Blazejová (Jana Beláková), takes off to a formally volunteer summer work camp at a farm where he meets her grandfather.
- DirectorPavel JurácekJan SchmidtStarsKarel VasicekConsuela MorávkováIvan RuzickaA man borrows a cat and when he goes back to return it, the place where he got it is no longer there. He begins his search.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJan VostrcilVladimír PucholtFrantisek ZemanTwo closely related episodes. Youths make problems for two local orchestras about to compete nationally, and in a talent competition a young girl gets stage fright, while another lies to her boss to compete.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsEva BosákováVera UzelacováJosef LangmilerTwo stories are simultaneously told. One dutiful mother progressively becomes a frustrated woman who is the only one assuming the family responsibilities of working at home and looking after her only son, whereas her husband works all day, does not appreciate his wife's efforts and the only thing he does by the time he gets home is to read the newspaper and watch soccer matches. On the other hand, a female gymnast prepares for her last competition before her career retirement, but faces pressure from her trainer and a lack of motivation to keep going. The film depicts frustration on both sides, and parallels two worlds dominated by men, where women do not receive any recognition, and in case they do, it is momentary.
- DirectorJirí WeissStarsVít OlmerDaniela SmutnáKarla ChadimováCzech fairy tale about a shepherd who finds a golden fern with magical powers. He can ensure his continued happiness if he does the right thing, but will he?
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsEva LímanováJosef AbrhámEva BaborovskáTV mechanic Slávek (Josef Abrhám) takes his wife Ivana (Eva Límanová) to the maternity hospital. From the moment they say goodbye, the couple can't stop thinking about each other. Their common life up to now unfolds in fragments of memories: their first acquaintance at the railway bridge, the worries of living in a rented apartment, the wedding, furnishing the new flat. They also remember the small quarrels and the fact that they did not want a baby at first. Ivana is in the operating room, while Slávek keeps his appointments with customers and fixes broken TV sets. Anxious about waiting of the delivering a baby, he sensitively and newly becomes aware of the things, people and events around him.
- DirectorVojtech JasnýStarsJan WerichEmília VásáryováVlastimil BrodskýPeople arrive in a small village with a strange cat wearing glasses. When someone takes them off, he can color people, according to their nature and mood. Adults consider him dangerous; children love him.
- DirectorEvald SchormStarsJana BrejchováJan KacerJirina JiráskováA worker from a big machine-tool plant engaged himself in the political work and quickly climbed up. When Stalin's cult of personality was revealed and rejected, many things changed and he was unable to cope with such changes.
- DirectorIvan PasserStarsKamila TurkováLeopold SmolikJosef VanistaAn elderly man sits in a pub on a summer Sunday afternoon. At another table, four middle-aged ladies play cards and sing to themselves in a low voice. The publican is scandalized by a young man who keeps ordering one beer after another just by waving his hand, and chain-smokes without for a moment taking his eyes off a book entitled When Wolves Howl. A bunch of football fans comes to brace themselves with a drink and the elderly man refuse their offer to join them at the stadium because he fears for his weak heart.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsLadislav JakimPavla MartinkovaJan VostrcilReality movie of a few days in the life of a Czech teenager when he starts work.
- DirectorJan NemecStarsLadislav JánskyAntonín KumberaIlse BischofovaTwo Jewish boys escape from a train transporting them from one concentration camp to another. The film goes beyond the themes of war and anti-Nazism and concerns itself with man's struggle to preserve human dignity.
- DirectorOldrich LipskýStarsKarel FialaRudolf DeylMilos KopeckýStraight shooting Lemonade Joe cleans up Stetson City, in this musical parody of early Westerns, after shooting the pants off villain Old Pistol. Joe's endorsement of Kolaloka lemonade as the refresher that assures deadly aim, convinces the Arizona sin-town to abstain from alcohol. But Trigger Whiskey maker Duke Badman's brother the devious gunslinger Hogofogo, comes to save his sibling's saloon from Joe's allies, father and daughter temperance revivalists, the Goodmans. Based on famous Czech parody novel from the 1940s and its various stage adaptations.
- DirectorPavel JurácekStarsPavel LandovskýIvan VyskocilHana RuzickovaJurácek's feature debut is shot in two parts. In the first, a corporal accompanies a new recruit with a sore Achilles tendon for his physical, and all the girls or young women they see are played by the same actress (Ruzickova). In the longer second segment, shot with the help of the Czechoslovakia army, the soldiers pass the time during basic training and maneuvers by talking about girls. At the end of their training they plan a large dance on their base with women bused in from the local village.
- DirectorDrahomíra VihanováStarsJulian DiazFrantisek RauchS.N. MunyuaFati Farari, a black man from Africa, is completing his studies in classical piano at the Music Academy of Prague. It's the day before his first solo concert, where he is going to play Bach. While he strolls around the city he is thinking, not so much about the concert as about himself, both as a lonely foreigner and as a human being in cosmos. Here and there he encounters some racist comments, but mostly he just feels the weight of social exclusion because of his otherness, especially when it comes to women. On the morning of the day for his concert the embassy informs him that his whole family has perished. He feels totally broken, although he thinks that everyone holds some pain inside. His piano teacher, a professor at the Academy, looks him up, and tells him that he heard what has happened. The professor advises him to communicate his feelings that evening by using his Bach.
- DirectorPeter SolanStarsJana GýrováJitka ZelenohorskáStano DanciakThe action of the film takes place in the course of one night at a fashionable nightclub in Bratislava. The leading characters are two young girls who are spending their holiday in Bratislava and two boys who live there.
- DirectorStefan UherStarsFrantisek BubikAlexandr BrezinaKamil MarekA young Polish deserter and gifted organist finds shelter from the fascists in a Slovak Franciscan monastery. He gets into a conflict with the local organist and choir leader, a man limited in his world views and spiritual values.
- DirectorZbynek BrynychStarsMiroslav MachácekOlga ScheinpflugováZdenka ProcházkováA Jewish doctor in Nazi-occupied Prague risks his life by assisting a gravely injured member of the resistance.
- DirectorPeter SolanStarsJan BzduchJosef KemrJarmila KostovaIn this satire on Art under Socialism, a minor musician who plays the humble triangle becomes a tyrannical orchestra director.
- DirectorIvan PasserStarsKarel BlazekZdenek BezusekVera KresadlováOne of the most important films of the Czech New Wave 60s, it was ranked among the top ten domestic films of all time. In this original sad comedy set in a small town, two classmates meet each other for the first time in ten years. They are both musicians: one is a member of the regional symphony orchestra, while the other is a local music teacher who performs at funerals.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsHana BrejchováVladimír PucholtVladimír MensíkA factory manager in rural Czechoslovakia bargains with the army to send men to the area, to boost the morale of his young female workers, deprived of male company since the local boys have been conscripted. The army sends reservists, mostly married middle-aged men - and the local beauty Andula, spurns those bold enough to try to win her, for the jazz pianist, newly come from Prague to perform. He seduces her and impresses her, telling her "most women are round, like guitars but you are a guitar by Picasso". Staying the night with him causes a lecture on a young woman's honour at her hostel so she throws over her other suitors and makes her way to Prague to find the young man. His protective Mamma and weary Pappa are not pleased when she arrives on the doorstep with her suitcase.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsVáclav HalamaFrantisek KetzekM. CirmonováJuraj Herz adapts Bohumil Hrabal's story about a man who works in a junk shop.
- DirectorJán KadárElmar KlosStarsIda KaminskaJozef KronerFrantisek ZvaríkA carpenter in the Fascist Slovak State is appointed "Aryan controller" of a Jewish widow's store.
- DirectorKarel KachynaStarsFrank ArgusJosef BartaP. BohdaneckyIt is the spring 1945 and the front line is getting closer to the small Moravian village of Nesovice. Twelve-year old Oldrich Vareka, nicknamed Shorty for his tiny stature, observes the events around him, recalls his memories and also finds comfort in his fantasy. Although he is an only son, his father treats him harshly and brutally punishes his every trifle. Maybe he wreaks his vengeance on him for his own unsuccessful effort to compete with the richest farmers in the village. The boys from the wealthy farms poke fun at Shorty and he takes his revenge on them in petty malice.
- DirectorVera ChytilováJaromil JiresJirí MenzelStarsPavla MarsálkováFerdinand KrutaEmil IserleSet against the backdrop of a repressed Czechoslovakia, five non-related vignettes are presented, each showcasing the need and want for human connection. In "Mr. Baltazar's Death", a middle aged couple who are experts at mechanics, travel to a motorcycle race where they congregate with the masses on the section of the course where historically there has been the most action of the destructive kind. In "Imposters", two elderly hospital patients talk about their past professional glories as a journalist and light opera star respectively. Each man wants to hear about the other more than tell his own story for good reason. In "The House of Joy", two national insurance agents believe they have an easy sale when they visit an elderly goat farmer/amateur painter, who uses whatever surface as his canvass, and paints his life and his dreams. But the sale will not be as easy as the men first believe it will be. In "The Restaurant the World", a wedding reception is taking place in one part of a busy self-serve diner. The reception guests are oblivious to the sadness of real life taking place all around their small current vacuum of a world, with the bride determined to make the most of *her* night. And in "Romance", a working class lad, out on the town on his own, is mesmerized by a young Romani girl.
- DirectorHynek BocanStarsJan KacerStepánka RehákovaJosef ChvalinaA bitter-sweet comedy about the problems which come with the avoidance of saying uncomfortable truths. An assistant professor gets lost in his lies as he attempts to postpone writing a negative review of an amateur fine arts essay.