This film is currently unavailable
All My Good Countrymen
Vojtěch Jasný’s enduring masterpiece chronicles the saga of Czech villagers forced into collective farms by their new Communist rulers.
Director: Vojtech Jasny
Overview
Jasný’s enduring masterpiece chronicles the saga of Czech villagers forced into collective farms by their new Communist rulers. In the wrong hands, law and power are used with unprecedented ruthlessness. Neighbours become informers, incompetent people decide the future of others and little remains of the elation which reigned at the end of the war. At the centre is farmer František who refuses to submit, is imprisoned and in the end takes up the management of the deteriorating collective farm. The most heartfelt portrait of the countryside and its inhabitants, it depicts the drama of human destiny in conflict with power, violence and cruelty which had a pronounced influence on later films like Edgar Reitz's Heimat and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon.
The winner of both the Best Director and the Jury Prizes at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival film, it was banned ‘forever’ by the Communist regime. The 4K digital restoration is by the Národní filmový archív, Prague. Part of the 25th Made in Prague Festival, 7 November – 10 December 2021, organised by the Czech Centre London.
moderate violence, sex referencesRelated
Sweet Sue Sweet Sue
Comedy 2022 100 mins Director: Leo Leigh
A shameless woman finds her new lover’s son wants to divide them in this cringe comic drama starring Maggie O’Neill.
Underground Underground
Comedy 1995 170 mins Director: Emir Kusturica
Set against the backdrop of 50 turbulent years of Yugoslavian history, this deeply moving and masterful tragic-farce from director Emir Kusturica earned him his second Palme d'Or.
Afire Afire
Comedy 2023 103 mins Director: Christian Petzold
Fires rage around an pompous novelist and his awkward desires in Christian Petzold’s sharp comedy drama.
Klokkenluider Klokkenluider
Comedy 2022 85 mins Director: Neil Maskell
Edgy, darkly funny and claustrophobic comic thriller, in which a hapless government whistleblower and his partner hide out in a remote Belgian cottage, accompanied by two eccentric bodyguards.
Thundercrack! Thundercrack!
Comedy 1975 160 mins Director: Curt Mcdowell
One dark and stormy night a group of strangers take refuge in a remote house, and then… Not for the easily offended.
City of Lost Souls City of Lost Souls
Comedy 1983 90 mins Director: Rosa von Praunheim
Jayne County, Angie Stardust and Tara O'Hara star in Rosa von Praunheim's trans-punk groteskes-musical.
Air Doll Air Doll
Drama 2009 116 mins Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
A life-size blow-up doll comes to life and falls in love with a video store clerk in Kore-eda Hirokazu’s haunting, melancholy meditation on urban alienation.
Floating Skyscrapers Floating Skyscrapers
Drama 2013 89 mins Director: Tomasz Wasilewski
Hailed as ‘Poland’s first LGBT film’, Tomasz Wasilewski’s striking drama follows a champion swimmer whose gay relationship causes ripples.
Sweet Sue Sweet Sue
Comedy 2022 100 mins Director: Leo Leigh
A shameless woman finds her new lover’s son wants to divide them in this cringe comic drama starring Maggie O’Neill.
Bande à part Bande à part
Crime 1964 95 mins Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Godard's playful tribute to the Hollywood pulp crime movies of the 1940s, executed with typically Gallic cool.
El Sur El Sur
Drama 1983 94 mins Director: Víctor Erice
Victor Erice’s second masterpiece, following The Spirit of the Beehive, is a rarely seen meditation on memory, deception and Spain’s 20th-century history.
Of Time and the City Of Time and the City
Documentary 2008 74 mins Director: Terence Davies
Brilliantly mixing archive film and music, Liverpool-born director Terence Davies reflects with wit and wisdom on a times of change, for good or ill