Ostře sledované vlaky

A small, less-than-busy railway station in the heart of rural Bohemia carries on its sleepy existence, undisturbed by the drama of World War II. Very young and very timid, apprentice train dispatcher Milos grapples with his lack of amorous expertise. Head over heels in a sequence of tragi-comic events leading to the solution of his problem, he has no time to think he might yet end up as an anti-Nazi resistance hero. The film´s poetic rendition of the atmosphere proper to the plot´s place and time, coupled with its essentially unorthodox approach to the war theme, propelled the-then-young director Jiří Menzel to a major triumph, at the age of twenty-eight winning an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film.

Year Of Production: 1966
Running time: 89 minutes
Produced by: Film Studios Barrandiov
Genre: comedy/drama/romance
Language Versions: Czech with English and French subtitles
Directed By: Jiří Menzel
Screenplay: Jiří Menzel, Bohumil Hrabal
Awards and nominations:
1966 IFF Mannheim ? Grand Prix; 1967 3rd best film of 1967 ?100 Best Films of the World?; 1968 Academy Awards ? Best Foreign Language Film; 1968 Golden Globes ? nominated for Best Foreign Language Film; 1969 British Academy Awards ? nominated for Best Film and Best Soundtrack; 1969 IFF Addis Abeba ? First Prize