“Romance for the Bugle is a world-class film which isn’t familiar to world audiences. I was born in 1967, when it received its premiere. It was made by Otakar Vávra, a mature director surrounded by young colleagues (cinematographer Andrej Barla and costume designer Ester Krumbachová), and it was certainly a match for the best works produced by his pupils – adherents of the Czechoslovak New Wave. It’s pure poetry in a like-minded adaptation of the epic poem by František Hrubín. When I saw the film for the first time, I decided to become a filmmaker.” – Jan Hřebejk. It’s something of a miracle to take black-and-white film and use it to create the warm colours and fragrances of summer – this is the season when young Vojta encounters both love and death in the same moment, both experiences marking him for life. A carefully chosen cast, a language of allusions akin to poetic metaphors, the sun beating down, balmy nights, an exhilarating ride on a swing carousel, and also moments spent in the cottage with grampa, who has his own persistent anxieties – all these are woven into the fabric of a story whose message continues to run deep.

Introduced by Jan Hřebejk