Cinema
Late August at the Hotel Ozone
Konec srpna v hotelu Ozon
Jan Schmidt · 1967
Synopsis
Years after a war that emptied the earth, a band of young girls born after the catastrophe travels through a deserted country under the guidance of an old woman, the only one to have known the world before, who dreams of finding a man so that the species can continue. They hunt, plunder, kill the animals they meet, and one day discover, in a dilapidated hotel, an old man living alone.
Context
The film grew out of a short story written in 1958 by Pavel Juráček, then a student, and published in 1965 in the magazine Mladý svět; Juráček drew the screenplay from it with the director. Produced by the Army Film studio, shot in black and white with non-professional actresses trained for their roles, notably in the vanished village of Doupov and the serpentine steppe of Mohelno, it was released on 28 April 1967.
Who it is for
Seventy-seven minutes, almost without plot, with details that are sometimes naturalistic; a harsh film, without any spectacular appeal.
Prizes and reception
Presented by the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a key work of the Czech New Wave; one of the few post-apocalyptic films in Czech cinema.