Czechoslovakia 1968

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Infobox film Czechoslovakia 1968 (also known as Czechoslovakia 1918-1968) is a 1969 short documentary film about the "Prague Spring", the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.<ref>Czechoslovakia 1968 - U.S. National Archives on YouTube</ref> 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.<ref>Norman Gollin - IMDB</ref>

It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject<ref>Czechoslovakia 1968, 1969 - US National Archives on YouTube</ref> 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".<ref name="loc">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Controversy

In 1972, Senator James L. Buckley obtained a copy of Czechoslovakia 1968 to show on New York television stations.<ref>TV: U.S.I.A. Propaganda - The New York Times</ref> 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.<ref>czech.pdf</ref>

Accolades

• 1970 - Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject<ref>1970|Oscars.org</ref>

See also

• List of American films of 1969
• Cinema of Czechoslovakia

External links

• "Czechoslovakia 1968" essay by Robert M. Fresco at National Film Registry
• "Czechoslovakia 1968" essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 Template:ISBN, pages 656-657
• Czechoslovakia 1968 Template:Webarchive at the National Archives and Records Administration
• Template:IMDb title
• The film in its entirety on YouTube
• Czechoslovakia 1918–1968 on MUBI