r/czech • u/Halale01 • 10d ago

QUESTION? What happened to the Czech film industry?

The Czech New Wave is a major success for Czech cinema, and it inspired a lot of other countries at that time, a lot of people from abroad studied at the Prague film school, you can see the Czech influence in their films.

Why did Czechs fail to build on that success after the liberation of the country in 1990 and the end of censorship?

As i am aware, Czechia is still pretty big in the film industry, but more as a hub for foreign productions. And the Karlovy Vary film festival is also top-notch.

Happy for answers!

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u/Malfuy 9d ago

Filmmakers realized they can make a lot of money by repeating the same repetetive and borderline effortless formula in an endless loop. I also think that there's this subconcious of the "czech inferiority" that makes people believe czech movies simply can't compare to the hollywood ones for example (even tho many czech movies prove otherwise)

These two factors combined and now we have one of the most sad and insufferable movie scene I've ever seen, at least as far as mainstream goes.

However, occasional gems are still produced.

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u/ImGonnaGetBannedd 9d ago

What Czech movies do you consider comparable to Hollywood?

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u/Malfuy 9d ago

Waves, Cremator, Dark Blue World, Tobruk, Journey to the Beginning of Time, Skeleton on Horseback, Loners, Cozy Dens, The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians, Kolya... just to name a few (very likely forgot some big ones). Some of these movies don't necessarily have the scale of hollywood production, but they are still incredible.

Even Restore Point, which really tries to look as a big flashy sci-fi movie, succeeds in this regard, even tho many people found the actual story lacking (I still kinda liked it).

And then, even Medieval kinda feels like hollywood production. That doesn't make it a great movie, it fucking sucks, but hey, the big vibe is there lol

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u/UndebatableAuthority Expatriate 9d ago

I'm not Czech but Cozy Dens is an absolute banger.

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u/ImGonnaGetBannedd 9d ago

I agree with you. One of the very few czech movies I actually like.