Martyrs of Love, Pearls of the Deep

Martyrs of Love is a three-part ballad that often uses music in place of dialogue in celebrating its inhibited and unsuccessful protagonists—a gesture directly opposed to the elevation of industrious heroes in socialist aesthetics. (71 mins., 35mm) Considered a manifesto of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Pearls of the Deep is an anthology of five short films, each directed by one of the era’s rising directors: Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, Jiří Menzel, Němec, and Evald Schorm. Based on a book by Bohumil Hrabal (107 mins., 35mm)