Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival YearResultAwardCategory/Recipient(s) 1969 Won Grand Prize Dusan Hanák A government official in Czechoslovakia mistakenly believes he has cancer. He reasons his involvement in clandestine activities during the Stalin administration have fated him to die from a dreaded disease. He searches for inner peace as he feels the guilt of his past transgressions. This film tied for the Grand Prize at the Mannheim Film Festival in 1969. Slovak director Dusan Hanak was one of Czech cinema's brightest and best talents of the '60s and '70s, but because of censorship this was not manifest until the late '80s. Dusan made an impact on the film world with his auspicious debut 322 (1969). Though banned until 1988, when it was finally released, it earned international acclaim and the Grand Prix award at the Mannheim Film Festival. Hanak's sophomore effort, the documentary Obrazy Stareho Sveta/Image of an Old World (completed in 1972), was also not released until 1988 and neither was his 1980 film Ja Milujem, Ty Milujes/I Love You, You Love. Only Hanak's 1976 film Ruzove Sny/Rose-Tinted Dreams passed muster with censors and saw a timely release.

This is a very bizarre fairy tale. It commences with a wedding and singing and dancing but nearly the whole village is wiped out by wolves. The bride gives birth to a daughter several months later and promises her to the boy who saved her. Ten years later there is another disruption when Some circus folk come by and the villagers trick them into staying. Tragedy ensues... This has a strange cast, dwarfs, giants, priests and occasional intrusions from the modern world in the form of the police and a wonderer who returns bringing to the village the good news of Nostradamus. It is a long film but it honestly does not drag. and if you get bored of the plot you can always look at the sumptuous Countryside.