28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Czechoslovak Film Feuilleton
The New Authenticity of the Czechoslovak Film Essay
“The loss of a sense of humour is one of the most serious disabilities of our time.”
The specific form of the film essay (or feuilleton) became widespread in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s. It was a response to the socio-political developments in the country and to the veristic trends in world cinema. Greater freedom of expression and space for public discussion allowed filmmakers to come into closer contact with the public and the everyday reality of ordinary people. The works for which the term “Czechoslovak New Wave” was adopted were created, and opinion polls, hidden cameras, reportage and observation were popular. Among the genres of this “new authenticity” was the film essay, which commented with ironic exaggeration on negative social phenomena.
![A Peculiar Time](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_948640-1389343.jpeg?v=)
A Peculiar Time
![A Pedestrian Missing](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951288-1389294.jpeg?v=)
A Pedestrian Missing
![A Sunday in Hluboká](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_948639-1389319.jpeg?v=)
A Sunday in Hluboká
![A Sunday in Prague](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_948641-1389352.jpeg?v=)
A Sunday in Prague
![Citizenship: Child](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951292-1385088.jpeg?v=)
Citizenship: Child
![Four Times and Again](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951282-1389321.jpeg?v=)
Four Times and Again
![Globe on a Globe](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951284-1389283.jpeg?v=)
Globe on a Globe
![Hare Hunt](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951276-1389269.jpeg?v=)
Hare Hunt
![Hey You, Our Elephant](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_947296-1389308.jpeg?v=)
Hey You, Our Elephant
![Holiday](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_947295-1389317.jpeg?v=)
Holiday
![Mud Covered City](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_947297-1389306.jpeg?v=)
Mud Covered City
![One Plus One Is Two](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_947300-1389301.jpeg?v=)
One Plus One Is Two
![Stranger Tale](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951290-1389292.jpeg?v=)
Stranger Tale
![The Judgement of Paris](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951279-1389311.jpeg?v=)
The Judgement of Paris
![The Smell of Petrol](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_948643-1389357.jpeg?v=)
The Smell of Petrol
![Wenceslas Square](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_947293-1389310.jpeg?v=)
Wenceslas Square
![What the Viewer Can't See](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_951293-1385249.jpeg?v=)
What the Viewer Can't See
![What They Didn't Teach You in History Class](/media/thumbs/films/thumb_400x280_948637-1389298.jpeg?v=)