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In Czechoslovakia, in 1960, artists began to realize that the aesthetics of social realism denied the realities of daily
life. In the film world, a new movement arose in response. This work collects candid interviews with the creators of Czech
New Wave film movement. Their work put Czech film on the map of the world cinema, generating two Oscars for Best Foreign Film,
but communist officials marked them as decadent and reactionary. This book contains sixteen uncensored interviews
with filmmakers such Jan Nemec, Jiri Menzel, Sasa Gedeon, and Jan Sverak, who describe the struggle to realize their visions
in a constantly shifting political landscape: from the mid-1960s, through the repressive "Normalization" after the Soviet
occupation in 1968 (more films were banned in 1970 than during the previous twenty years of Communism), and after the Velvet
Revolution of 1989. These artists reveal their search for individual and national identity, describe living and making films
in the Czech Republic now and in the past, explore the influences of foreign films, and speculate on the future of film. Each
interview includes a short biography, filmography, and list of awards.
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