DOCAlliance: 1968 online

 

DOCAlliance, the favourite vod of filmkommentaren, the place for creative documentaries published this press release today:

Films by Jan Němec and Karel Vachek about the revolutionary Prague Spring 1968 are online at DAFilms.com

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the armies of the Warsaw Pact in 1968, DAFilms.com presents two remarkable films focusing on the Prague Spring. The Ferrari Dino Girl by Czechoslovak New Wave classic Jan Němec and Elective Affinities by Karel Vachek include authentic scenes as well as a re-enactment of the period events.

 

The Ferrari Dino Girl (2009) by Jan Němec is a re-enactment of the events of August 21, 1968 when Němec and his small film crew shot a sixteen-minute documentary on various sites of occupied Prague and smuggled the unique witness account to Austria. His scenes from occupied Prague were broadcast by the Austrian television and subsequently seen by millions of people around the world. The film has a symbolical length of 68 minutes and includes the unique archive footage in its original form as shot by Jan Němec on August 21, 1968.

Karel Vachek’s Elective Affinities capture the atmosphere of the stormy political period of March 14 to 30, 1968 between the abdication of President Antonín Novotný and the election of General Ludvík Svoboda. Politicians Alexander Dubček, Josef Smrkovský, Oldřich Černík, Čestmír Císař, Ota Šik, František Kriegel, Gustáv Husák and others are shown as they casually talk while the resulting mosaic depicts the spirit of the era and its inner charged atmosphere.

Both films are available in Czech with English subtitles. PHOTO: From Vachek’s film.

https://dafilms.com

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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