Episode Details

(1967, Comedy|Drama, Country: Czechoslovakia|Italy, Language: Czech, color)
Director: Milos Forman
Writers: Milos Forman (screenplay), Jaroslav Papousek (screenplay)
Stars: Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebanek, Josef Valnoha

A milestone of the Czech New Wave, Milos Forman's first color film The Firemen's Ball (Hori, ma panenko) 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 organizers 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.

Discussion Guest: Vaclav Paris, The City College of New York, CUNY

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