Czechoslovak Newsreels No 35 & No 36, 1968, 26mins
Confusion, dir. Evald Schorm, 1968/1989, 35mins
Jan (69), 1969/2002, 7mins
Any hopes of creating ‘communism with a human face’ out of the Prague Spring revolt were brutally crushed by the Soviet invasion of August 1968. Newsreels revealing tanks rolling into Prague, and astonishment and anger changing into the nation’s passive resistance provide emotionally strong testimony of these crucial days. Evald Schorm’s silent and lyrical documentary reinforces the idea of a national tragedy capped by the death of young student Jan Palach in January 1969 and foresees ‘normalisation’.
Introduced by H.E. Jan Winkler, Czech Ambassador Tue 6 May | 6.45 pm | TB1
