Two-part feature-length documentary 25 from the Sixties, or the Czechoslovak New Wave presents a complex view of the Czech and Slovak New Wave phenomena within the cultural and social context of the sixties. Commentaries from filmmakers and film historians about twenty five crucial films offer dramatic insight into the golden era of Czechoslovakian cinema. This film is a sequel to a TV series, “Golden Sixties” (ČT, 2009), based on individual testimonies of filmmakers. Unlike the series, this film presents the Czech and Slovak cinematography of the sixties within national, international and intergenerational contexts. It denotes means by which the New Wave exceeded the existing art criteria and shows how it enriched the world cinema and the indelible trace it has left. The film analyzes the conditions for a filmmaker working within a state-funded film industry, where the artist is oppressed by both ideological and commercial demands. It presents the dilemma of a man and an artist balancing between contradictory social systems as well as disparate aesthetic demands. An existential drama of a man who acts freely and at the same time suffers under cruel and merciless circumstances. From this point of view, the sixties are seen chiefly as an era of a lucky constellation not only in the Czechoslovakia but also all over the world. It was an era of hope and ascension, as well as one of exemplary human decision-making and artistic search. This is what 25 from the Sixties, or the Czechoslovak New Wave wants to reawaken, too.

Writer / Jan Lukeš    Story / Jan Lukeš    DoP / Martin Štrba , Martin Šec , Ramunas Greičius    Editor / Jiří Brožek    Sound / Jan Štindl , Michal Holubec

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