Exporting Czech Kisses: A History of Distribution and Reception of Closely Watched Trains in Western Europe and the USA
2014
Abstract
The essay details history of distribution and reception of Jiří Menzel's tragic comedy Closely Watched Trains in Western Europe and in the USA in the late 1960s. By exploring transnational dimension of Closely Watched Trains and relating its release to the history of the Czechoslovak New Wave and political and cultural situation in Czechoslovakia, the essay expands our understanding of Czechoslovak New Wave by adding so far missing international dimension (the role of Western media in constructing Czechoslovak New Wave, the impact of the Prague Spring and the Soviet 1968 invasion....).
In doing so it offers a revisionist view on both the history of the Czechoslovak New Wave and the conduct of the Communist-run Czechoslovak film monopoly.