Czechoslovakia 1968

Czechoslovakia 1968
Directed byDenis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco[1]
Produced byDenis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco[2]
Edited byMarvin Wallowitz
Music byCharles Bernstein[3]
Production
company
Sanders/Fresco Film Makers for U.S. Information Agency[4]
Distributed byOcean Releasing
Running time
14:36
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

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

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

See also

References

  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