The history of the Czech cinema since then reads like a frequently funny if terrible farce, mirroring that of the country as a whole.
Now, as abruptly as the New Wave was blotted out, even from the official histories of the Czech cinema, everything has changed again.
Milan Tomsa, the student strike leader at the Prague Film School, is not at the moment much concerned about the future prospects of the Czech cinema.
In November 2007, he published an extensive monograph dealing with post-communist Czech cinema.
He appeared in over 90 films, and is considered a key figure in the postwar development of Czech cinema.
He is considered one of the greatest actors of the Czech cinema in the first half of the 20th century.
Slovak and Czech film academics and critics still consider it the best film in the history of Slovak, as well as Czech cinema.
Otakar Vávra is often called the "father of Czech cinema".
Věra Chytilová (born 2 February 1929) is an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema.
The majority of his roles, and those for which he is best known in Czech cinema, featured Kotva as a supporting actor, often playing shy, introverted and odd personalities.