The Firemen's Ball
The Garden Cinema39-41 Parker Street, London
Tomorrow · 20:30 · £15
About this event
Our screening on Saturday 10 October will be introduced by Czech film expert Peter Hames and followed by a discussion group in The Atrium Bar. A milestone of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Miloš Forman’s first colour film The Firemen’s Ball is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen’s ball where nothing goes right – from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organisers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was ‘banned forever’ in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman’s move to America. Cast: Jan Vostrčil, Josef Šebánek, František Debelka, Josef Valnoha, Ladislav Adam, Vratislav Čermák
Dates & tickets
39-41 Parker Street, London
20:30Tomorrow· £15
16:15Sat 10 Oct· £15
15:00Sat 17 Oct· £15
Follow the thread
If this is your kind of night, these are other ways in: a collection this venue belongs to, traditions it works in, and similar cinema still playing in London this week.
This venue’s world
This venue sits in the collection, not this one title.
Traditions this room works in
Tags on the venue. Other London rooms carry the same lineage. Not a claim that this film invented the tradition.
Also playing this week
Same kind of night (cinema) in London. Spread across the week, not a ranking.
A different kind of night
Same city and close on taste. A different discipline, on purpose.
Film data from
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.