Czech Embassy Night: "The Shop on Main Street,” (“Obchod na korze”)

18.00 = CAFÉ OPENS  

19.00 =  "The Shop on Main Street,” (“Obchod na korze”)

Directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, 1965, 128 minutes

An inept Czech peasant is torn between greed and guilt when the Nazi-backed bosses of his town appoint him “Aryan controller” of an old Jewish widow’s button shop. Humor and tragedy fuse in this scathing exploration of one cowardly man’s complicity in the horrors of a totalitarian regime. Made near the height of Soviet oppression in Czechoslovakia, The Shop on Main Street features intense editing and camera work which won it the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1965. It was the first Czech film nominated for such an honor. It signaled the beginning of a renaissance in Czech cinema and is considered a leading exponent of the “Czech New Wave.” It’s based on a story by Ladislav Grosman (a Czech with Jewish roots but who grew up in Slovakia).