Czechoslovak New Wave

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The Czechoslovak New Wave (also Czech New Wave) is a term used for the early films of 1960s Czechoslovak directors Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš and others. The quality and openness of the films led the genre to be called the Czech film miracle.

Trademarks of the movement contain long unscripted dialogues, dark and absurd humour, and the casting of inexperienced actors. The films often treated themes that were uncommon in communist countries, such as the love-confusion of young people or the absence of morality in Czechoslovak society. Directorally the Czechoslovak New Wave differed from the rough aesthetic of the French New Wave with whom relations were often strained; the Czechoslovak New Wave tended to present polished films often taken from Czech literature, including Jaromír Jireš' adaptation of Milan Kundera's anti-Communist novel The Joke. Forman's The Firemen's Ball, another major film of the era, remains a cult film even more than three decades after its creation.

The movement came to an abrupt end following the 1968 Soviet clampdown on the liberalization of the Prague spring; Forman, Němec, and Passer fled the country, while those who remained faced heavy censorship of their work.

[edit] Key works of the Czechoslovak New Wave

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jasmine Pogue, "Štefan Uher: The Sun in a Net (Slnko v sieti) 1963."
  2. ^ Alex Golden, "Štefan Uher: The Sun in a Net (Slnko v sieti) 1963."
  3. ^ Jana Dudková, "Elo Havetta: The Gala in the Botanical Garden (Slávnosť v botanickej záhrade), 1968."

[edit] External links and sources

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