The Firemen’s Ball

(Horí, má panenko, Miloš Forman, Czechoslovakia 1967, 73 min., 35mm, Czech w/subtitles)

Parties. This thinly veiled political allegory and satire depicts the mounting mayhem that begins when a small town’s fire department decides to throw a big party. Miloš Forman’s last Czech production before going into exile, a sharp and lucid depiction of human weakness and moral decay, was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 41st Academy Awards and is considered today one of the finest examples of Czechoslovak New Wave.