The Prague Spring
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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorEvald SchormStarsJan KacerJana BrejchováDana MedrickáEngineer Jan Sebek (Jan Kacer) is undergoing treatment in a mental home after his unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide. His therapist, via discussions both with the patient and with people who know him, tries to find out what made the young and seemingly satisfied man decide to end his own life. Jan's pretty wife Jana (Jana Brejchová) claims not to know about anything but she is conducting an affair with a family friend, almost publicly and with the blessing of her parents.
- DirectorJan NemecStarsHelena PejskováJana PracharováZdena SkvoreckaA small group of bourgeois guests head for a birthday party of a prominent figure. As they go through the woods and have a picnic, they are suddenly surrounded by a bunch of suspicious strangers.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsIvana KarbanováJitka CerhováMarie CeskováAfter realizing that all world is spoiled, Marie and Marie are committed to be spoiled themselves. They rip off older men, feast in lavish meals and do all kinds of mischief. But what is all this leading to?
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsVáclav NeckárJosef SomrVlastimil BrodskýAn apprentice train dispatcher at a village station seeks his first sexual encounter and becomes despondent when he is unable to perform.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlastimil BrodskýFrantisek RehákThe friends enjoy the charms of nature - and of their guests.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJan VostrcilJosef SebánekJosef ValnohaA volunteer fire department throws a party for their former boss with the whole town invited, but nothing goes as planned.
- DirectorEvald SchormStarsAndrea CunderlíkováJana KrupickováLucie ZulováThe father of fourteen-year old Natasa is the chairman of the housing department at the Municipal National Committee. His position is probably the cause of the high living standard of his family. Natasa has everything, even a box in the local theatre, but despite all this she is still unhappy. Her parents are never able to find time for her and the group of four of her girl-classmates, to which Natasa would like to belong, envy her and misuse her. Natasa meets a boy named Petr and is going to have her first date with him. But the girls, aware of her date, lock her in the school cloakroom and hypocritically offer themselves to carry a letter of explanation to Petr. But, instead of Natasa's apologies, they write and deliver another letter in which the girl is shamelessly offering herself to him.
- DirectorJan NemecStarsPetr KoprivaMarta KubisováHana KuberováA series of loosely-connected shorts comprised of three tales representing different aspects of love: temptation, dreams, and adventure.
- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlasta ChramostováJana StehnováSet in Central Europe during World War II, a demented cremator believes cremation relieves earthly suffering and sets out to save the world.
- DirectorEvald SchormStarsVlastimil BrodskýJan LibícekJana BrejchováA verger, who likes to dress as a priest, is invited, by one of the villagers, to be the pastor at a vacant church. The atheist teacher resents the pastor, and tries to embarrass him in various ways, including being caught with the local girl, Majka.
- DirectorJaromil JiresStarsJosef SomrJana DítetováLudek MunzarIn the 1950's, Ludvik Jahn was expelled from the Communist Party and the University by his fellow students, because of a politically incorrect note he sent to his girlfriend. Fifteen years later, he tries to get his revenge by seducing Helena, the wife of one of his accusers.
- DirectorVera ChytilováStarsJitka NovákováKarel NovakJan SchmidAn experimental retelling of the story of Adam and Eve which then progresses into an allegorical depiction of loss of innocence.
- DirectorJirí MenzelStarsRudolf HrusínskýVlastimil BrodskýVáclav NeckárSet in the late 1940s, the film concerns the treatment of suspect "bourgeois elements", a professor, a saxophonist, and a milkman, who are put to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation.