The Prague Spring was one of the most radical and brilliant bursts of creativity in film history of Czechoslovakia. The cinematography of the period was provocative, satirical, and deeply critical of authoritarianism. However, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 put an abrupt end to the era and many of the works ended up locked in the vaults unseen for more than two decades until the fall of the regime in 1989. The opening movie „The Ear“ was banned immediately after its creation and stayed in the vault until its release in late 1989 after the Velvet revolution.

The film festival is accompanied by two exhibitions, one depicting the period of late 1960’ from thawing of the political situation in the then Czechoslovakia, the second focuses at the personality of Alexander Dubček, one of the main political figures of the period.

The Film festival continues on Friday May 24 at 6:30pm by screening of the movie “Fair Play” and on Saturday May 25 by screening of the movies “All My Compatriots” at 4:00 pm and “Cosy Dens” at 6:30 pm.