Cannes '68: Cinema in Revolt
The Firemen's Ball
Directed by Miloš Forman • 1967 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Jan Vostrcil, Josef Šebánek, František Reinstein
A milestone of the Czech New Wave, Miloš Forman's first color film THE FIREMEN'S BALL is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen's ball where nothing goes right, from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organizers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was "banned forever" in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman's move to America.
Up Next in Cannes '68: Cinema in Revolt
Capricious Summer
Directed by Jiří Menzel • 1968 • Czechoslovakia
Two years after his worldwide hit CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS, Jiří Menzel directed this amusing idyll about three middle-aged men whose mellow summer is interrupted by the arrival of a circus performer and his beautiful assistant. A meditation on agi...
Toby Dammit
Directed by Federico Fellini • 1968 • Italy
Federico Fellini's loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Never Bet the Devil Your Head" stars Terence Stamp as an alcoholic actor who suffers from disturbing visions.
Directed by Kaneto Shindo • 1968 • Japan
In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle ...