Our screening on Saturday 10 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames and followed by a discussion group in The Atrium Bar.

A milestone of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Miloš Forman’s first colour film The Firemen’s Ball is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen’s ball where nothing goes right – from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organisers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was ‘banned forever’ in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman’s move to America.

Cast:
Jan Vostrčil, Josef Šebánek, František Debelka, Josef Valnoha, Ladislav Adam, Vratislav Čermák