Blu-Ray BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / Region ABC
RRP: £19.99
Release Date: 16 March 2026
SRBD 103
Blu-Ray |
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From Karel Kachyňa, director of The Ear and Coach to Vienna, this landmark film views the end of WWII through the eyes of 12-year-old Oldřich. To him, the harsh realities of his home life and cruel rivalries with other boys seem more important than the retreat of the German army and the arrival of liberating Soviet forces.
Oldřich's imagination buffers his experience of the brutality around him, his fantasies and memories blur with all he witnesses. Powerful and expressive, Kachyňa’s lyrical film evokes a child’s-eye-view of the murky moralities of war, and established his reputation as one of Czechoslovak cinema's most formidable talents.
Long Live the Republic! is presented from a new HD transfer by the Czech National Film Archive, Prague, and includes a rare archival interview withKarel Kachyňa, an early short film by fellow Czech New Wave filmmmaker Jan Němec, and a booklet with new writing by author and expert on Czechoslovak cinema Peter Hames.
• Long Live the Republic! (Ať žije republika, 1965) presented from a new HD transfer of best existing materials by the Czech National Film Archive.
• The City Cinematheque Interview with Karel Kachyňa (1998): The director in conversation about Long Live the Republic! and his other films with host Jerry Carlson.
• A Memory for the Present (Paměť našeho dne, 1963):
Jan Němec's acclaimed short film reflecting on the memory and legacy of WWII.
• 20-page booklet with writing by by author and expert on Czechoslovak cinema Peter Hames.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C).
• World premiere release on Blu-ray.
Directed by Karel Kachyňa
Screenplay - Karel Kachyňa, Jan Procházka
based on the novel by Jan Procházka
Cinematography - Jaromír Šofr
Editor - Miroslav Hájek
Production Design - Leoš Karen
Set Design - Ladislav Winkelhöfer
Music - Jan Novák
Costume Design - Ester Krumbachová, Olga Dimitrovová
Sound design - Jiří Lenoch
Main Cast
Zdeněk Lstibůrek – Olda (Oldřich) / ‘Midget’
Naděžda Gajerová - Olda’s mother
Vlado Müller - Olda’s father
Gustáv Valach - Cyril Vitlich
Jurij Nazarov - Soviet officer
Iva Janžurová - Bertýna Petrželová
Jiří Chmelař - Vašák
Josef Karlík - Kaderka
Vladimír Stach - Čumát
Karel Kachyňa's acclaimed films Coach to Vienna
and The Ear, as well as more gems of Czech, Slovak and international cinema are also available on Second Run
“This lovely, epic film”
Mark Cousins, A Story of Children and Film
“This visually splendorous CinemaScope rhapsody. A whirl of memories, fantasies, and impressions... this breathless psychological epic is a by turns lyrical, caustic, and anti-heroic vision of life during wartimeThis visually splendorous CinemaScope rhapsody. A whirl of memories, fantasies, and impressions... this breathless psychological epic is a by turns lyrical, caustic, and anti-heroic vision of life during wartime”
Film at Lincoln Center
“A beautiful and visually distinctive film [...] deliberately blurs the lines between reality, memory, and fantasy [...]
Produced only 20 years after the end of the Second World War, it could be taken as an impudent riposte to prevailing national myths about the period. The film is shot through with dark humour, and in Oldřich's youthful incomprehension Kachyňa finds a way to critically depict the community's baser instincts without being overtly moralistic”
Rebecca Naughten, Eye for Film
“Retreading Czechoslovakia's post-war 'liberation' by the Soviets with typically Czech scepticism and droll whimsywith typically Czech scepticism and droll whimsy [...] it takes the form of a near psychotic stream of consciousness... intriguingly quirky” Time Out
“The events at the end of the second world war - the arrival of the Soviet army in Czechoslovakia and the German expulsion- were seen through the eyes of a sensitive 12-year-old boy. The film demythologised the legend of victory, and was eventually banned” Ronald Bergen, The Guardian
“A breakthrough film [...] With this Kachyňa established his reputation as a lyrical director, combining poetic and dreamlike images with the grim reality of the war’s final days. The impressive visual scope of the motion picture was in no small part thanks to camera operator Jaromír Šofr for whom it was a feature-film debut. Non-professional actor Zdeněk Lstibůrek excelled in the role of Olda”
Centre for Contemporary Arts
