Cinema of the Czech Republic

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The Czech Republic (both as an independent country and as a part of former Czechoslovakia) was a seedbed for many acclaimed film directors.

Three Czech/Czechoslovak movies that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film were The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze) by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos in 1965, Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky) by Jiří Menzel in 1967 and Kolya (Kolja) by Jan Svěrák in 1996. Several others were nominated.

The Czechoslovak New Wave, the golden age of Czech cinema, is most frequently associated with the early works of directors such as Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel and others, although works by older, more established Czechoslovak directors such as Karel Kachyňa and Vojtěch Jasný are also placed in this category. Encompassing a broad range of fresh and original works in the early to mid 1960s, the Czechoslovak New Wave cannot be pinned down to any one style or approach to filmmaking. Examples range from highly stylised, even avant-garde, literary adaptions using historical themes (e.g. Jan Němec's Diamonds of the Night (Démanty noci)) to semi-improvised comedies with contemporary subjects and amateur actors (e.g., Miloš Forman's The Firemen's Ball (Hoří, má panenko)). However, a frequent feature of films from this period were their absurd, black humour and an interest in the concerns of ordinary people, particularly when faced with larger historical or political changes. Cinematic influences included Italian neorealism and the French New Wave, although the Czechoslovak New Wave also builds organically on developments in Czechoslovak cinema in the late 1950s when directors broke free from the influence of Stalinism in the film industry.

Contents 1 Czech films 2 List of notable Czech directors 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Czech films

List of Czechoslovak films pre 1990

List of films from the Czech Republic post 1990

[edit] List of notable Czech directors

• Věra Chytilová
• Saša Gedeon
• Jan Hřebejk
• Jaromil Jireš
• Karel Kachyňa
• Oldřich Lipský
• Miloš Forman
• Gustav Machatý
• Jiří Menzel
• Jan Němec
• Ivan Passer
• Břetislav Pojar
• Karel Reisz, Czech-born British director
• Bohdan Sláma
• Jan Švankmajer
• Jan Svěrák
• Jiří Trnka
• František Vláčil
• Petr Zelenka

[edit] See also

• Barrandov Studios - Prague's famous film studios (Hollywood of the East).
• prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
• Film Festival Zlin - International Film Festival for Children and Youth
• Ateliery Bonton Zlin - Animation Film Production Company

[edit] External links

• GreenCine primer on Czech and Slovak Cinema
• List of essential Czech films by Prague Life