Larks on a String(Skřivánci na niti)

This deceptively sunny satire, set in the aftermath of the 1948 Communist coup, centres on a group of bourgeois dissidents, who are assigned to work on a scrap heap for ‘re-education,’ but all the while they defy control and flirt with the female prisoners in the adjoining camp. A flawless balance between moments of satirical humour and sobering reminders of authoritarianism's human toll, Menzel’s most political film, again co-written with Hrabal, deservedly received the Berlinale Golden Bear when it was finally released, 21 years later after the Communist ban.

Berlin International Film Festival: Golden Bear for Best Film and FIPRESCI Prize – Honorable Mention