Our screening on Wednesday 9 September will be introduced by the close friend of Jiří Menzel: film critic, broadcaster, and lecturer Phillip Bergson.

At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Wry and tender, Academy Award-winning Closely Observed Trains is a masterpiece of human observation and one of the best-loved films of the Czechoslovak New Wave.

Cast:
Václav Neckář, Jitka Scoffin, Vladimír Valenta, Libuše Havelková