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- NTC Award Ceremony
New Talent Competition gives young filmmakers from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe the opportunity to present their outstanding debut or second film to the public. Join us on Sunday 1 December at 19h - Music at ENFF
The Eastern Neighbours Film Festival welcomes special musical guests each year to enrich our program. For this 16th edition, we’re thrilled to present two talented young musicians: guitarist Antonio Peršak (CR) and violinist İdil Yunkuş (TR). Together, they will perform a traditional Balkan dance and folk song, highlighting the beauty of this music through the… Read more: Music at ENFF - Masterclass with Janez Burger
This masterclass presents a unique opportunity to explore Burger's distinct storytelling style, genre use, and exploration of contemporary social issues. Join us on Saturday 30 November at 17h - Room 5 - Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema
Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema on Friday 29 November at 18h
| Director | Jiri Menzel |
| Writer | Bohumil Hrabal, Jiri Menzel |
| Camera | Jaromir Sofr |
| Editor | Jirina Lukesova |
| Cast | Vaclav Neckar, Rudolf Hrusinsky, Vlastimil Brodsky, Jitka Zelenohorska |
| Sound | Jiri Pavlik |
| Producer | Karel Kochman |
| Original Title | SKRIVANCI NA NITI |
| Year | 1969 |
| Length | 94 min |
| Country | Czechoslovakia |
| Subtitles | English |
| Screening | Sunday 11 November | 19:00 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag |
| Section | CLOSING FILM |
A remarkable, dark, bitter comedy directed by Oscar winning director Jiri Menzel. The film was banned by the Czechoslovak government and went unseen until the fall of the Communist regime and its premiere at the 1990 Berlinale, where it won the Golden Bear. The film will be screeened in the presence of Václav Neckář, famous Czech singer and actor, who many remember from Jiri Menzel’s Oscar winning ‘Closely Watched Trains’.
Synopsis
Set in the late 1950s in communist Czechoslovakia, the story concerns the irrepressible goodness of a bunch of intelligent and educated people who are imprisoned by the government in labour camps for being ‘bourgeois elements’ and forced to work in a junkyard for the purposes of re-education. It focuses on the playful, perky and romantic interactions between the male and female groups of prisoners while in the meantime some of them are taken away in a mysterious black car, never to be seen again. A funny, bitter, satirical, allegorical and meaningful Czech classic about the significance of humour and the strength of human spirit while living under repressive regimes.
Festivals & Awards (selection)
Berlin International Film Festival, 1990 – Golden Bear Award, FIPRESCI Prize | Finale Plzen Film Festival, 1990 – Golden Kingfisher Award | Montreal Film Festival, 1990 | Locarno Film Festival, 1990 | Singapore International Film Festival, 1991 | Cottbus Film Festival, 2004
Director’s bio
Born on February 23, 1938 in Prague, the Academy Award-winning Jiri Menzel is one of the most influential names in 20th century European cinema. Alongside Milos Forman and Vera Chytilova, he is a leading representative of the Czech New Wave. Menzel’s debut ‘Closely Watched Trains’ won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1967, and he has since produced around 30 films that are marked by controversial political topics and subtle irony for which some have been censored. Menzel is an actor too, and has more than 75 film performances in his acting filmography.
