1. Introduction to the history of Czech cinema


12 February


Short “trailers” typical of its various faces, genres and directors’ styles: the lyrical and
sensual tradition (Gustav Machatý: Extase, 1933), the Stalinist era and socialist realism (Vladimír
Vlček: Tomorrow, People Will Be Dancing Everywhere – Zítra se bude tančit všude, 1952), the
puppet-movies of Jiří Trnka and his world-known political parable about an artist and his destiny
under a totalitarian regime The Hand – Ruka (1965), the first Czech musical The Hop-Pickers (Starci
na chmelu aka Hop Side Story, 1964), Jan Švankmajer and his surrealist animation (Food – Jídlo,
1991).



Assigned reading:


·        Liehm, Mira and Liehm, Antonin J. 1977. The Most Important Art. Soviet and Eastern
European Film After 1945:

§  “From New Realism to Fairy Tales: Czechoslovakia 1945-1955”

§  “The Second Generation: Czechoslovakia, 1956-1962”

  * Blažejovský, Jaromír. “Czech cinema in the normalization period (1969-1989). A time of the
servants.”