Prague Spring – The last Coup of the Soviet Empire

On the night of August 20,  1968, the rebellious state of Czechoslovakia is invaded by an army of the Warsaw Pact countries numbering 500,000 men. Forty years later, the ORF recalls the events of the fateful Prague Spring in a documentary drama directed by Manfred Christ and Michael Kreihsl. The film examines the dramatic events of the time using recent research, interviews and narrative sequences.

Michael Kreihsl directed the dramatic re-enactments, while Manfred Christ assumed responsible for the film as a whole and the voice-over. “Prague Spring” includes statements from witnesses and contemporaries including the Austrian television legends Gerd Bacher and Hugo Portisch, Helmut Zilk, the diplomat Klas Daublebsky, friends and colleagues of Alexander Dubcek, the interpreter Tamara Reimannova  and the two Czech TV presenters Kamila Mouckova and Otka Bednarova.

Alexander Dubček: Jan Hrušínský. Leonid Breschnew: Bogdan Stupka. Script: Harald Pokieser, Manfred Christ. Camera: Reinhold Vorschneider, Stephan Mussil. Edit: Adam Wallisch, Jörg Achatz. Music: Andy Baum.
A co-production of Cosmos Factory, ORF, ARTE, Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, in association with Vienna Film Fund, Austrian Television Fund and Lower Austria Film Fund.