Miloš Forman - Audition/Talent Competition Miloš Forman

Audition (Konkurs) is Miloš Forman’s debut film and launched what became known internationally as the Czech New Wave. Although made as two separate 'featurettes', the style and themes were very similar and they were released as one film. Konkurs is important as the first work of a world-renowned director because it clearly shows the beginnings of the style and pre-occupations prominent in many of Forman's subsequently acclaimed films including A Blonde in Love, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus.

"What happened was something which until today I will never forget, I even see images from that Sunday afternoon. The curtain goes up and there is this chorus and they suddenly start to open their mouths and you don t hear anything. But suddenly-because it is such a popular opera- the audience in the cinema started to sing and the whole time people in the cinema were delivering the sound, they were singing all the arias, all the songs from the opera! This was something that was so powerful in its absurdity that it probably provoked in me some idea that this is the most powerful thing, which could happen, to show these flickering images and it can lead people to this expression, to this kind of attitude towards music." – Miloš Forman