CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS

Director - Jiří Menzel

Script - Jiří Menzel, novel by Bohumil Hrabal

Camera - Jaromír Šofr

Music - Jiří Šust

With - Václav Neckář, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodský, Vladimír Valenta, Ferdinand Kruta, Jitka Bendová, Jitka Zelenohorská, Naďa Urbánková, Libuše Havelková

Producer - Zdeněk Oves

Production - Filmové studio Barrandov

At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration and eroticism.

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS -

Academy Awards '68 – Best Foreign Language Film Mannheim-Heidelberg '66 – Grand Prize Golden Globes '68 – Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA '69 – Nomination for BAFTA Film Award for Best Film and Best Soundtrack

Jiří Menzel

Jiří Menzel is one of the most significant world film directors belonging to the Czech New Wave generation. Together with Milos Forman, Vera Chytilovά, and Jaromir Ires, his name has entered the world encyclopedia of cinema and he is acknowledged as one of the greatest masters of the comedy art in the 20th century. Menzel’s great success comes in 1967 with an Oscar for his cult movie Closely Observed Trains. Menzel won a Golden Bear in 1990 for his Larks on a String; he was also a member of the international jury at the Berlinale in 1987. In his film I Served the King of England (2006) which competed for a Golden Bear at Berlinale 2007 and won the FIPRESCI Award, Jiří Menzel cast Ivan Burnev for the part of Jan Dite. In 2007 Jiří Menzel was awarded the Sofia International Film Fest „Sofia Award” for his contribution to world cinema.

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

1966 Closely Watched Trains (Ostre sledovane vlaky)
1968 Capricious Summer (Rozmarné léto)
1976 Seclusion Near a Forest (Na samote u lesa)
1978 Those Wonderful Movie Cranks (Báječní muži s klikou)
1981 Cutting it Short (Postriziny)
1984 The Snowdrop Festival (Slavnosti snezenek)
1985 My Sweet Little Village (Vesničko má středisková)
1989 End of Old Times (Konec starých časů)
1990 Larks on a String (Skrivánci na niti)
1994 Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan (Život a neobyčejná dobrodružství vojáka Ivana Čonkina)
2006 I Served the King of England (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále)
2011 Jirí Menzel: 7 Questions – doc./short
2013 The Don Juans (Donšajni)

CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS / OSTRE SLEDOVANÉ VLAKY

Czechoslovakia, 1966, 93′, black and white, movie

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS -

Jiří Menzel