Czechoslovakia 1968

1969 film by Denis Sanders

Czechoslovakia 1968

Directed by| Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco[1]
Produced by| Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco[2]
Edited by| Marvin Wallowitz
Music by| Charles Bernstein[3]

Production
company

Sanders/Fresco Film Makers for U.S. Information Agency[4]

Distributed by| Ocean Releasing

Running time

| 14:36
Country| United States
Language| English

Czechoslovakia 1968 (also known as Czechoslovakia 1918-1968) is a 1969 short documentary film about the "Prague Spring", the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.[5] The film was produced by the United States Information Agency (USIA) under the direction of Robert M. Fresco and Denis Sanders and features the graphic design of Norman Gollin.[6]

It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject[7] and in 1997, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress having been identified as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[8][9]

## Controversy[edit]

In 1972, Senator James L. Buckley obtained a copy of Czechoslovakia 1968 to show on New York television stations.[10] The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, J. William Fulbright, objected to the broadcast based on an interpretation of the Smith–Mundt Act, which would prohibit the domestic dissemination of material produced by the USIA. Fulbright complained to the Attorney General, but the Justice Department refused to intervene based on the interpretation of existing US law. In 1972, Congress amended the Smith-Mundt Act, based on this event, to explicitly prohibit the domestic dissemination of materials produced by the USIA. The USIA was abolished in 1999.[11]

## Accolades[edit]

* 1970 - Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject[12]

## See also[edit]

* List of American films of 1969
* Cinema of Czechoslovakia

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Czechoslovakia 1968-1969 - National Archives Catalog". Archived from the original on 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
2. ^ Fred Astaire Cuts Loose: 1970 Oscars
3. ^ "Charles Bernstein - Biography". Archived from the original on 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
4. ^ czech.pdf
5. ^ Czechoslovakia 1968 - U.S. National Archives on YouTube
6. ^ Norman Gollin - IMDB
7. ^ Czechoslovakia 1968, 1969 - US National Archives on YouTube
8. ^ "New to the National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
9. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
10. ^ TV: U.S.I.A. Propaganda - The New York Times
11. ^ czech.pdf
12. ^ 1970|Oscars.org

## External links[edit]

* "Czechoslovakia 1968" essay by Robert M. Fresco at National Film Registry
* "Czechoslovakia 1968" essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 ISBN 0826429777, pages 656-657
* Czechoslovakia 1968 Archived 2023-06-29 at the Wayback Machine at the National Archives and Records Administration
* Czechoslovakia 1968 at IMDb
* The film in its entirety on YouTube
* Czechoslovakia 1918–1968 on MUBI

* v
* t
* e

Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film

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* Churchill's Island (1941)
* No Award (1942)
* December 7th (1943)
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* Hitler Lives (1945)
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* Chagall (1963)
* Nine from Little Rock (1964)
* To Be Alive! (1965)
* A Year Toward Tomorrow (1966)
* The Redwoods (1967)
* Why Man Creates (1968)
* Czechoslovakia 1968 (1969)
* Interviews with My Lai Veterans (1970)
* Sentinels of Silence (1971)
* This Tiny World (1972)
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1976–2000|

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* A Story of Healing (1997)
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2001–present|

* Thoth (2001)
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* The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (2013)
* Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (2014)
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* Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl) (2019)
* Colette (2020)
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