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Czechoslovak New Wave

The Czechoslovak New Wave refers to a movement of filmmakers in the 1960s, including notable directors like Miloš Forman and Věra Chytilová, who created films that challenged censorship and explored themes of absurdity and dark humor. This movement, distinct from the French New Wave, featured stronger narratives and benefited from state funding and studio access. Key films from this era include Forman's The Firemen's Ball and Chytilová's Daisies, which remain influential in the history of Czechoslovak cinema.

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36 views4 pages

Czechoslovak New Wave

The Czechoslovak New Wave refers to a movement of filmmakers in the 1960s, including notable directors like Miloš Forman and Věra Chytilová, who created films that challenged censorship and explored themes of absurdity and dark humor. This movement, distinct from the French New Wave, featured stronger narratives and benefited from state funding and studio access. Key films from this era include Forman's The Firemen's Ball and Chytilová's Daisies, which remain influential in the history of Czechoslovak cinema.

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Czechoslovak New Wave

22 languages

Czechoslovak New Wave

Polish poster of Firemen's Ball by Miloš Forman

Years active 1960s

Location Czechoslovakia

Major figures Miloš Forman, Jiří Menzel, Věra


Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jan Němec, Jaromil
Jireš

Influences Devětsil, political liberalization of


Czechoslovakia leading up to the Prague
Spring

The Czechoslovak New Wave[α] (also Czech/Slovak New Wave[β]) is a term used for the
Czechoslovak filmmakers who started making films in the 1960s. The directors commonly
included are Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Pavel Juráček, Jiří Menzel, Jan
Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Evald Schorm, Hynek Bočan, Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan
Uher, František Vláčil and others. The movement was sometimes called the "Czechoslovak
film miracle".

Overview
[edit]
The films touched on themes which for earlier film makers in the communist countries had
rarely managed to avoid the objections of the censor, such as the misguided youths of
Czechoslovak society portrayed in Miloš Forman's Black Peter (1963) and Loves of a
Blonde (1965), or those caught in a surrealistic whirlwind in Věra Chytilová's Daisies (1966)
and Jaromil Jireš' Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970). The films often expressed dark
and absurd humour in opposition to social realist films of the 1950s.

The Czechoslovak New Wave differed from the French New Wave in that it usually held
stronger narratives, and as these directors were the children of a nationalized film industry,
they had greater access to studios and state funding. They also made more adaptations,
including Jaromil Jireš's adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel The Joke (1969). At the Fourth
Congress of the Czechoslovak Writers Union in 1967, Milan Kundera described this wave of
national cinema as an important part of the history of Czechoslovak literature. [1] Forman's The
Firemen's Ball (1967), another major film of the era, remains a cult film more than four
decades after its release.

Czech film
[edit]
The majority of films shot during the New Wave were Czech-language as opposed to Slovak.
Many directors came from the prestigious FAMU, located in Prague, while the state-
run Barrandov Studios were located just on the outskirts of Prague. Some prominent Czech
directors included Miloš Forman, who directed The Firemen's Ball, Black Peter, and Loves of a
Blonde during this time, Věra Chytilová who is best known for her film Daisies,[2] and Jiří
Menzel, whose film Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky 1966) won an Academy
Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[3][4]

Slovak film
[edit]
The Shop on Main Street (1965) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in
1966,[5][6] although it is not considered part of the New Wave, because it was directed by Ján
Kadár and Elmar Klos, who were a generation older, and the film is fairly traditional. Juraj
Jakubisko, Štefan Uher and Dušan Hanák were Slovak filmmakers who were part of the New
Wave.

Key works
[edit]

1. The Sun in a Net by Štefan Uher (1962)[7][8]


2. The Devil's Trap by František Vláčil (1962)[9]
3. Something Different by Věra Chytilová (1963)
4. Black Peter by Miloš Forman (1963)
5. The Cassandra Cat by Vojtěch Jasný (1963)[10]
6. The Cry by Jaromil Jireš (1964)
7. Lemonade Joe, or The Horse Opera by Oldřich Lipský (1964)
8. Diamonds of the Night by Jan Němec (1964)
9. Loves of a Blonde by Miloš Forman (1965)
10. Intimate Lighting by Ivan Passer (1965)
11. The Shop On Main Street by Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos (1965)
12. Pearls of the Deep by Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Evald Schorm, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil
Jireš (1966)[11]
13. Closely Watched Trains by Jiří Menzel (1966)
14. Daisies by Věra Chytilová (1966)
15. A Report on the Party and the Guests by Jan Němec (1966)
16. Marketa Lazarová by František Vláčil (1967)[12]
17. The Firemen's Ball by Miloš Forman (1967)
18. The Return of the Prodigal Son by Evald Schorm (1967)
19. The Valley Of The Bees by František Vláčil (1968)[13]
20. The Joke by Jaromil Jireš (1968)
21. Capricious Summer by Jiří Menzel (1968)
22. The Cremator by Juraj Herz (1969)
23. Larks on a String by Jiří Menzel (1969)
24. Birds, Orphans and Fools by Juraj Jakubisko (1969)
25. Case for a Rookie Hangman by Pavel Juráček (1970)
26. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by Jaromil Jireš (1970)[14]

See also
[edit]

 Barrandov Studios
 Cinema of the Czech Republic
 List of Czech films
 Czechoslovakia 1968 - Oscar-winning 1968 U.S. documentary short about Prague
Spring
 The Unbearable Lightness of Being - 1988 Philip Kaufman film adaptation of
the Milan Kundera novel about Prague Spring.
Notes
[edit]
1. ^ Czech: Československá nová vlna; Slovak: Československé nová vlna
2. ^ Czech: České nová vlna; Slovak: Slovenská nová vlna
References
[edit]

1. ^ Cook, David (1996). A History of Narrative Film. p. 706.


2. ^ "DVD of the Week: "Daisies"". The New Yorker. 2 December 2013.
3. ^ "Closely Watched Trains" Wins Foreign Language Film: 1968 Oscars
4. ^ 1968|Oscars.org
5. ^ "The Shop on Main Street" Wins Foreign Language Film: 1966 Oscars
6. ^ 1966|Oscars.org
7. ^ Jasmine Pogue, "Štefan Uher: The Sun in a Net (Slnko v sieti) 1963."
8. ^ Alex Golden, "Štefan Uher: The Sun in a Net (Slnko v sieti) 1963."
9. ^ Ďáblova past (1961) | ČSFD.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2024-11-02 – via www.csfd.cz.
10.^ The Criterion Channel’s December 2023 Lineup|The Criterion Collection
11.^ "Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave". The Criterion Collection.
12.^ "Marketa Lazarová". kfilmu.net (in Czech). Retrieved 2024-10-26.
13.^ "Peripetie Údolí včel: Tlustý Kačer, šeredný Čepek a zpitý svéráz Vláčil mezi
nevybuchlými minami... - AHA.cz". Ahaonline.cz. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
14.^ "10 Essential Films From The Czech New Wave". Taste of Cinema. 27 June 2014.

Bibliography
[edit]

 Hames, Peter (1985). The Czechoslovak New Wave. Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-
1904764427.
 Škvorecký, Josef (1971). All The Bright Young Man and Women: A Personal History
of the Czech Cinema. Peter Martin Assoc. ISBN 9780887781100.
 Owen, Jonathan (2011). Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak Cinema,
Surrealism and the Sixties. Berghahn. ISBN 978-0857459015.

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