Jiří Mádl's film Waves about Czechoslovak Radio in 1968 invasion premieres to standing ovation at KVIFF

Director Jiří Mádl's new film Vlny (Waves) premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Monday night to a standing ovation that continued long after the credits had rolled.

The period drama set in Czechoslovakia at the end of the 1960s, the period of the Prague Spring and 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion, tells the story of two brothers who have to make difficult decisions about what is important to them in life. The film is inspired by the true story of a group of journalists from Czechoslovak Radio’s foreign service section, the predecessor of today’s Radio Prague International, and their commitment to independent reporting in the face of mounting Soviet pressure. The main events take place in Czechoslovak Radio and its foreign service newsroom, which strove to bring listeners abroad the truth about what was happening in the country, despite censorship.

The film will be released in Czech cinemas on 15 August.