Film in Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia had a developing film industry in the early 20th century that was destroyed by Hitler in 1938. Between then and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the industry was heavily censored.

However, there was a short liberalization in Czechoslovakia between 1961 and 1968 (when it was crushed by a Soviet invasion). In this brief era there was a fluorescence of film. This is sometimes called the Golden Age of Czech film or the Czech New Wave.

This occurred partly because the state had set up an excellent film school, the F.A.M.U., so when liberalization occurred there were well trained people to take advantage of it. Some of these, including Milos Forman, ended up in the US.